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The annual statistical report for the Vermont Judiciary presents considerable detail about the
cases filed, disposed and pending in Vermont's courts: the Supreme Court, Superior Courts,
District Courts, Family Courts, Vermont Traffic and Municipal Ordinance Bureau,
Environmental Court and Probate Courts.
Reversing a six year trend, filings in Vermont's Superior Court increased by three percent
during FY1996. Filings in Environmental Court more than doubled. There was also an increase
in cases filed in Vermont Probate Court. All other courts - Supreme, District, Family and
Vermont Traffic and Municipal Ordinance Bureau - reported decreased filings, ranging from a
2.9% decline in District Court cases added to a 11.4% reduction in traffic complaints filed at the
Traffic and Municipal Ordinance Bureau.
The summary table compares the case filings and end-of-year
pending caseload this year and last in each court.
Highlights of the report include:
Supreme Court
Supreme Court filings decreased slightly during FY1996, with 653 new cases added compared
to 675 in FY1995. Six hundred ninety four cases were closed, an increase of nearly 5%. As a
result, the Court's pending caseload was the lowest since 1982.
Superior Court
The number of cases filed in Vermont's Superior Courts increased for the first time since
FY1990, with 6,839 cases added in FY1996, compared to 6,651 new filings in FY1995. There
were 6,874 cases closed. Although the number of pending cases increased, from 4,970 at the
end of FY1995 to 5,275 at the end of FY1996, there were fewer older cases - the number more
than two years old decreased by eight percent.
District Court
New filings in Vermont's District Courts decreased by 2.9 percent, with 31,698 cases added in
FY1996 compared to 32,657 in FY1995.
Criminal filings remained at FY1995 levels. There were 16,501 cases closed, compared to
16,871 in FY1995, a two percent reduction. The pending caseload increased by 11%, to 8,679.
Small claims filings also remained at FY1995 levels. Although there was a slight increase in the
number of cases disposed, more cases were pending at the end of FY1996 - 2,656 - than at the
end of FY1995. However, there was a substantial reduction in the number of older cases. The
number of cases not resolved within 1 year decreased by 46%.
There were also decreases in Civil Suspension, Uniform Traffic Ticket and Fish and Wildlife,
Snowmobile and Boating case filings. The number of Traffic Appeal filings increased by 8%.
Vermont Traffic Bureau
There were 65,959 traffic complaints filed at the Vermont Traffic and Municipal Ordinance
Bureau during FY1996, an eleven percent decrease from the 74,438 filed in FY1995. There
were 65,864 cases closed, leaving 8,728 cases pending at the end of the year.
FY1996 was the first full year for which Municipal Ordinance violation filings were available.
There were 1,394 complaints filed and 1,204 were disposed.
Family Court
New filings in Vermont's Family Court decreased by nearly four percent, with 16,394 new filings
in FY1996 compared to 17,055 in FY1995.
There was a five percent increase in Post Judgment filings in divorce and other domestic cases,
which involve the modification of existing court orders, such as parent/child contact and spousal
maintenance, but not including child support. Despite this increase, the pending Post Judgment
caseload was seven percent lower than at the end of FY1995, due to a 19% increase in the
number of cases disposed,. Interstate Child Support Enforcement (URESA) filings also
increased by five percent.
Divorce, Annulment, Desertion and Separation filings decreased slightly while Parentage
filings declined sharply. There were also decreases in Juvenile, Mental Health and Relief from
Domestic Abuse filings. As a result, fewer cases were pending in these dockets at the end of
FY1996; the reductions ranged from 4.3% (Juvenile) to 36.7% (Parentage).
FY1996 was the first year for which Child Support Establishment and Enforcement filings were
available. There were 7,464 child support actions filed and 8,543 were disposed.
Environmental Court
The Environmental Court docket grew substantially in FY1996, with 213 new filings, compared
to 103 cases added in FY1996. Despite a 92% increase in the number of cases disposed,
there were 93 cases pending at the end of FY1996, compared to a backlog of 32 cases at the
end of FY1995.
Probate Court
New filings in Vermont's Probate Courts increased slightly in FY1996; Testamentary Trust,
Guardianship and Adoption dockets grew by 27.1%, 3.3% and 19.3% while there were four
percent fewer Decedent Estates filings than in FY1995. There were 3,772 cases disposed and
848 other petitions processed during the year. The number of cases pending at the end of the
year grew slightly, from 13,572 cases in FY1995 to 13,966 cases in FY1996. |
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