More Crappy Foreclosure Rulings By Florida Trial Judges Forthcoming? One Local Chief Judge Expects Problems Processing Backlog Of Cases In 2016 (ie. More Rubber-Stamped Foreclosure Judgments?)

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Daily Business Review reports:

• It might take help from Florida's 19 other judicial circuits to keep Broward's foreclosure division afloat in coming months.
  
  Already serving one of the hardest hit regions after the U.S. housing market collapse, deep budget shortfalls and dozens of lost employees left court administrators struggling to find a way to continue to work through thousands of foreclosure cases clogging the dockets.
  
  And another loss this year will likely make that job harder after state legislators failed to renew specially allocated funding for 381 days' worth of pay for senior judges in Broward's foreclosure divisions.
  
  That's why next spring, Broward Circuit Chief Judge Peter Weinstein plans to approach judicial circuits less affected by the housing crisis to borrow from their allocation of senior-judge days.
  
  "If I can't, then we're going to have a problem," he said.
  
  The chief judge already steps in to preside over foreclosure suits at least twice a week.
  
  Most of the cases last hours, but some cut through entire mornings or afternoons, leaving the chief judge and others with full civil calendars increasing their caseload to support a division still reeling from the economic collapse.
  
  "I'm doing my share, and other judges are doing as much as they can," Weinstein told the Daily Business Review.
  
  The worst might be over, but the fallout from the market crash continues to plague the Broward court system.
  
  As of September, the court's 11th division—which handles foreclosures from 2011 and later—had 6,023 pending cases. That month, it disposed of 774, but saw 363 new filings added to the 955 it reopened.
  
  "We're doing what we can, but it's a big caseload," Weinstein said.

For more, see Broward Hopes to Borrow Hours for Senior Judges in Foreclosure Cases.

Editor's Note: The situation described above can only lead to more bad trial court rulings, more appeals, and more reversals. See generally, Florida Appeals Courts Spent A Busy 2015 Reversing Trial Court Screw-ups In Foreclosure Cases.