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Thursday, January 05, 2012
Ind. Courts - "Clark County courts have new names: consolidation takes efect"
Matt Thacker has the story here, in the Jeffersonville News & Tribune. Some quotes:
Clark County’s court consolidation took effect with the start of the new year, eliminating the superior courts.Clark County Circuit Court is now Clark County Circuit Court No. 1. Superior Courts No. 2 and No. 3 were renamed Circuit Courts No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Superior Court No. 1 is now Circuit Court No. 4.
“We hope a lot of this will be eliminating some of the confusion about the different names of courts,” said Circuit Court No. 1 Judge Dan Moore, who led the consolidation efforts.
Circuit courts in Indiana are established by the state constitution, while superior courts are created by state statutes. Circuit and superior courts generally have the same jurisdiction.
“Trial courts have different names primarily due to accidents of legislative history and local custom, not true differences in the nature or purpose of the courts,” according to the state judiciary’s website.
A bill passed earlier this year allowed for the consolidation of courts in Clark, Henry and Madison counties. Moore said five counties in the state have this unified system.
“It would be my belief this probably would become statewide legislation,” Moore said. “I think it’s very modern.”
He said the judges have done a good job in recent years of transferring cases. If a defendant has three pending cases in different courts, those will often be transferred to one court.
As a result of the consolidation, the courts will now submit a combined budget, and they will be able to transfer cases between county and municipal courts. There will now be one probation department for the county rather than one for each court.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 5, 2012 10:10 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts