The 2010 statistical report released by the Ohio Supreme Court says that a year after seeing a 10-year low in the total number of new cases filed in Ohio courts, that number dropped even further in 2010. While that is true as far as the State of Ohio, it’s not necessarily true here in our area for all of our municipal courts.
In 2009 and 2010, total new traffic filings in municipal and county courts remained the primary contributor for the overall state decline, as this category also bottomed out at a 10-year statistical low according to the Supreme Court report. Compared to 2009, new traffic cases filed in municipal and county courts decreased by 4 percent in 2010 and by 20 percent since 2001 for the state of Ohio.
Some local courts did see an overall decrease in new cases filed from 2009 to 2010, Lucas County Common Pleas Court overall new filings were 11,621 in 2009 and 10,881 in 2010. New foreclosure filings were also down with 4,491 in 2009 and 4,232 in 2010. The total foreclosure caseload dropped about three hundred cases from 2009 to 2010.
Criminal case filings were also down in Lucas County, 2,137 new filings for 2009 and 2,116 filings in 2010. Of the 2,602 cases terminated in 2009, 452 guilty or no contest plea to original charge, 1,472 guilty or no contest to reduced charge was recorded. Of the 2,273 cases terminated in 2010, 370 guilty or no contest plea to original charge, 1,295 guilty or no contest to reduced charge.
While the Lucas County Common Pleas Juvenile Division saw fewer new cases filed in 2010, 13,827 compared to 2009, 15,154, one case category showed increased new case filings. Dependency, Neglect or Abuse new filings was 297 in 2009, this filing category rose to 388 new cases filed in 2010. Delinquency case filings dropped from 4,285 in 2009 to 3,445 in 2010.
When it comes to municipal courts, Maumee had a very similar number for new cases overall with 11,527 in 2009 and 11,524 in 2010. Oregon Municipal Court showed increased new cases filed for 2010 of 7,070 compared to 6,994 in 2009. Toledo Municipal Court also had increased filings with 108,233 in 2010 compared to 107,483 in 2009. However Housing Court filings were down to 7,697 in 2010 from 8,314 in 2009.
Perrysburg Municipal Court had 12,014 new cases filed in 2009 and 11,705 in 2010. Sylvania Municipal Court recorded 14,864 new cases in 2009 and 14,294 in 2010.
Misdemeanor case filings decreased from 2009 to 2010 in all of the local municipal courts. In the Operating while under influence category, Maumee increased it’s new case filings from 261 in 2009 to 270 in 2010 as did Perrysburg with 433 cases in 2009 and 472 in 2010. Sylvania reported 805 cases in 2009 and 670 in 2010, this compared to Toledo which had 784 in 2009 and 561 in 2010. Oregon filings for this category were 218 in 2009 and 193 in 2010. Statewide 58,195 of these cases were filed in 2009, 52,970 were filed in 2010. This was also the only major category where a suburban court had more filings than Toledo Municipal Court.
Traffic case filings were up in Toledo from 24,680 in 2009 to 26,391 in 2010. Traffic cases were also slightly up in Maumee with 7,326 in 2009 and 7,395 in 2010 and in Oregon where 3,008 cases were filed in 2009 and 3,087 cases in 2010. Perrysburg and Sylvania saw decreases in their traffic cases filed, 2009 saw 6,550, 2010 saw 6,277 cases in Perrysburg. In Sylvania 6,661 were filed in 2009, 6,472 in 2010.
Eviction cases were also down in all municipal courts but two. Oregon had 90 new case filings in 2009 and 142 in 2010 and Maumee which saw a slight increase from 92 cases filed in 2009 to 101 in 2010. Perrysburg had 367 filings in this category in 2009, 342 in 2010. Sylvania had 570 in 2009, 441 in 2010. Toledo Housing Court had 6,194 filings in 2009 and 6,034 in 2010.
Small Claims Court filings increased in Toledo Municipal Court with 5,485 in 2010 compared to 4,381 in 2009. Sylvania recorded the largest decrease in filings from 426 in 2009 to 253 in 2010.
If you’d like to delve into the statistics, the reports are downloadable here
