Litigation

FL Courts Face Large Funding Shortfall

By Peter Hardin

With a wave of foreclosure cases halted, a primary source of revenue for Florida’s courts under a revised funding formula has been affected, and a $45 million shortfall in court funding now looms through the end of the fiscal year, ending June 30.

The Pensacola News Journal decries the situation in an editorial entitled “Faulty court funding formula.” Barring a sudden upsurge in foreclosure cases, the editorial says,  legislators must act to ensure fully functioning courts for the remainder of the year. It underscores the importance of doing so:

“The courts are crucial to the functioning of civil society. Criminals must be dealt with, and people and businesses need timely resolution of disputes, appeals of government action and other legal needs filled by the courts.”

To reduce pressure from the general fund, the editorial explains, the court funding formula was changed earlier to rely heavily on filing fees from an expected increase in foreclosure cases.

But that wave, the editorial states, “has broken over a hidden reef: last year’s sudden and unanticipated halt in foreclosures as a result of errors and faulty documentation by law firms and banks filing foreclosure cases.”

You can learn more about ways different states are affected by court funding shortfalls and cutbacks from Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 21, 2011 (boomark / email).