Kentucky

Let's increase district court maximum jurisdiction to $25,000!!!!!

The jurisdictional limit of district court has not been adjusted for inflation since it was enacted in 1976. If we wanted it to remain constant with 1976 dollars then it needs to be bumped up to $14,758.79!  The current jurisdictional limit for District Court in Kentucky is $4,000. See, 24A.120.

Thus the jurisdiction for district court has been continuously shrinking; plus the creation of family courts has created a shrinking jurisdictional base, too.  Of course, I would suspect that the number of misdemeanors and traffic offenses has been increasing, but I have not examined those statistics.

Nonetheless, the civil jurisdiction of district court is shrinking so much that is of marginal significance in today's world.  Plus, small claims court jurisdiction also impacts upon that as well. Pending legislation to increase small claims court jurisdiction to $5,000 is a good idea but somewhat fractured in its implementation as it would exceed the current district court jurisdicitional limit.  See, Bill Proposed to Increase Small Claims Jurisdiction.

To simply return the numbers to status quo ante before 30+ years of inflation requires amending the statute, and not just the small claims portion.  Thus, now is a good time to consider whether district court civil jurisdiction dollars will whither away or become a viable forum.

My suggestion would be to incease district court jurisdiction from $4,000 to $25,000 and small claims jurisdiction from $1,500 to $5,000.

I surmise that more personal injury cases (such as those from car accidents) would be filed in district court for minor injuries.  The amount would be per claim so that any PIP intervention by the carriers would not cause the case to be bumped to circuit court (and consistent with today's practice many opt for arbitration rather than intervention anyway).  The juries are smaller, and the cases should move quicker.  The defendant is less exposed for a personal judgment since there would be a cap of $25,000 (which matches the minimum limits of car insurance). 

What about the underinsured motorist claims?  Since jurisdiction would be limited to $25,000 per claim, there would be no UIM exposure either and the UIM carriers should be pleased.

If the claimant thinks the case is worth more and wishes to implicate the UIM coverage, then file in circuit court.

Of course, the dynamics of the district court practice for practitioners and judges would change immensely. 

Any thoughts or comments?