STATE OFFICIALS SILENT AS OCEAN COUNTY CIVIL COURT HEAVILY BACKLOGGED DUE TO TWO VACANCIES

Appointments for civil court judge positions in the New Jersey State Judiciary are made by nomination by the governor and confirmation by the senate.

Well... technically.

Realistically, there is an unspoken rule that the hometown senator specifically controls the situation.

Which means that when there are politics at play, judge positions remain vacant.

Over the past few weeks, the Ocean vicinage has seen two retirements, with no new judges being nominated.

Back on July 16, 2024, the Judiciary’s annual calendar listed a total of 21 judges for Ocean County. This included Francis Hodgson, Jr. as the Assignment Judge, Craig L. Wellerson as Presiding Civil, Robert E. Brenner, James Den Uyl, and Valter H. Must as civil court judges; and Therese A. Cunningham and Sean D. Gertner as General Equity judges.

Over the past number of weeks, however, Judges Cunningham and Den Uyl retired.

Judge Wellerson moved over to fill the vacant Presiding Chancery Division position. Judge Brenner moved up to fill the vacant Presiding Civil position.

At this point, there are just two judges sitting in the civil division - Brenner and Must - where, just weeks ago there were four judges.

The effect doubling of the workload is obvious.

To alleviate some of the situation, the Supreme Court has announced that Superior Court Judge Vincent J. Grasso, already serving on recall since October 15, 2024, is now additionally temporarily assigned to the General Equity Division.

Just this week, Michael J. Blee, recently appointed Acting Administrative Director of the Courts, exorted the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee to do its part in filling the vacancies.

"We must continue to ensure that our criminal justice system works to protect the rights of individuals and the safety of the public at large.

"When it comes to issues of justice, the Judiciary is also guided by the axiom “Justice delayed is justice denied.” At its most basic level, our court system is responsible for resolving disputes - and it is our job as a court system to make sure disputes are resolved fairly, efficiently, and promptly.

"One main goal is to reduce our backlog to pre-Covid levels. In the past fiscal year, the number of cases that have been resolved increased by nearly 12 percent, lowering our total backlog by 21 percent. This is an improvement, but it falls short of our present goal. We look forward to continuing to work with the Legislature to fill judicial vacancies, which will help us reduce that backlog and provide timely justice for all," Blee stated.

Trenton lawmakers have not yet responded with any concrete plan to fill the judicial vacancies.

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