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US Vote SmartHome » 2020-03-03 Republican primary » Montgomery County » 457th District Judge |
| 457th District Judge | |
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 Montgomery County |
457th District Judge
office
The district courts are the trial courts of general jurisdiction of Texas. District courts have original jurisdiction in felony criminal cases, divorce cases, cases involving title to land, election contest cases, civil matters in which the amount of money or damages involved is $200 or more, and any matters in which jurisdiction is not placed in another trial court. While most district courts try both criminal and civil cases, in the more densely populated counties the courts may specialize in civil, criminal, juvenile, or family law matters.
Major Issues
- HD 15 Steve Toth's HB 1437 approved this new court in 2019 legislative session to eliminate civil court cases
- Main issue - there is a serious backlog of court cases, primarily civil, because of a shortage of court/s. Civil caseloads have increased over 40% since the last civil court was activated back in 2007.
- In an attempt to prevent the new court from being changed from civil to another, the local Board of Judges(comprised of the District and County Court at Law Courts) (re)iterated in their July 12. 2019 meeting, as well as to the State Legislature and the Montgomery County Commissioners Court, that this new court (457th), while a general jurisdicitional court, would process civil case exclusively, to eliminate the backlog of civil cases.
- In addition to electing a judge, need to hire a Court Coordinator, Court Reporter and Assistant Coordinator w/a budget of between $300,000 to $350,000 (exluding the judge, who's paid reportedly appx. $140,000 by the state).
- While the court was created for Civil Law case management, it's also responsisble for a few criminal matters as well, such as overseeing two grand juries, issuing, set bonds and working on call shifts reviewing search warrants (24/7).
