Colorado’s federal trial court last year saw civil cases take an unprecedented amount of time – more than 43 months since filing, on average – to reach a jury trial, as well as a historically high rate of acquittals in criminal cases.

On Aug. 30, U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael E. Hegarty presented a wide-ranging statistical report about the business of Colorado’s U.S. District Court in 2022. Although the presentation was chiefly intended to inform attorneys about what to expect when litigating their cases, Hegarty and two of his fellow judges in attendance added their own observations about behind-the-scenes logistics and trends.

Specifically, Hegarty emphasized how the appointment of two new district judges and the hiring of three magistrate judges in 2022 alone affected the court’s workload.

“I’ve been in this district since 1990. The turnover is not just unprecedented, it’s mindboggling what’s happened in the last 3-4 years,” said Hegarty, the court’s most senior magistrate judge who worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office prior to his 2006 appointment. “One thing is for certain: All this turnover creates inefficiencies on our part in getting things out. That’s not going to disappear anytime soon.”

Workload

The 2022 statistical report, prepared with the assistance of law clerk Michelle Bradshaw, documented 3,374 civil cases filed in Colorado’s U.S. District Court last year. Although the number of cases has increased in the past two decades, 2022’s total was lower than the previous three years’.

On the other hand, felony criminal cases dropped substantially in recent years, with only 376 felony filings last year compared with a high of nearly 600 in 2018.

“I’m not gonna speculate as to why. It’s just remarkable,” Hegarty observed.

Although criminal and civil cases were on the decline, U.S. Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter explained the trend did not necessarily translate into less work. Since 2021, there have been frequent vacancies on the district court bench, requiring the president to nominate and the U.S. Senate to confirm a replacement. Some of those district judges came from the ranks of magistrate judges, triggering a different, lengthy process to fill those vacancies.

“The elevation of a magistrate judge to a district judge is exciting and we’re psyched about it,” Neureiter said, “but it does impose more work on the other magistrate judges” who inherit those cases in the near term.

In Colorado, civil cases are randomly assigned to either a district judge or a magistrate judge. Although magistrate judges are permitted to handle cases entirely on their own, the parties must consent first. Last year, parties consented approximately 34% of the time to a magistrate judge, although the annual percentages have ranged from a high of 49% to a low of 26%.

“Call it ‘judge shopping,’ whatever you want,” Hegarty said. “You get to choose a judge in that context.”

If the parties do not consent to a magistrate judge presiding over their case, the court assigns a district judge and the magistrate judge remains on the docket to handle pretrial issues and, occasionally, make recommendations to the district judge on key motions. In total, each magistrate judge had 331 civil cases on their dockets at the end of 2022, and each active district judge had 234.

Timing

Only 56 cases made it to trial in 2022, with 29 civil cases and 22 criminal cases ending in a jury verdict. The remainder were tried before judges, which is known as a “bench trial.”

For civil cases, the average time between filing a lawsuit and beginning the jury trial was 43 months, the largest gap since the court began recording statistics in 2004. Excluding two outlier cases that were first filed in 2013 and tried in 2022, the delay was in excess of 38 months.

However, U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney suggested those numbers were slightly misleading. She said she has repeatedly proposed bringing cases to trial quickly, but the parties balked at her offer.

“You can get a trial date much faster than this is reflecting,” said Sweeney, who President Joe Biden appointed to the court last year. “I think you’ll find, with at least the five new judges here in the last two years, there’s a real interest in picking the pace up.”

“My judicial philosophy,” added Hegarty to the lawyers present, “is you’re big boys and girls and I’m not going to parent you. If you want your case to drag on, it’s your case.”

He also noted the tiny fraction of civil cases that even make it to trial: fewer than one out of 100.

“Me, I want jury trials. Why else would I want to be here?” Hegarty said.

If the parties to a case are concerned about a judge’s delay in deciding a motion, Hegarty advised asking for oral argument, a conference or an expedited ruling, depending on the circumstances.

“Some things deserve to go to the top of the pile because that’s what’s going on in the case,” he said. “Something that determines whether this person is homeless? That should matter.”

Outcomes

Hegarty disclosed that he has recently seen more seven-figure settlements in civil cases than ever before. Jury awards are also more generous, he believed, with an average of $2.7 million for plaintiffs who won their cases last year. For any defense attorney who ignores that trend, “you’re gonna get whacked in trial,” he warned.

Plaintiffs were also successful in a higher percentage of lawsuits last year, prevailing in 52% of jury trials. Among all cases that were appealed to the federal court with jurisdiction over Colorado, appellate judges only reversed the outcome 4% of the time.

The most notable development was the relative lack of success federal prosecutors had in bringing criminal defendants to trial. Of the 22 felony trials before a jury, the government obtained convictions only 55% of the time – a far cry from the 100% conviction rate prosecutors experienced for several prior years and the lowest rate since data collection began in 2012.

“Losing 10 of 22 trials is simply a remarkable statistical occurrence – no comment further,” Hegarty said.

Cole Finegan, the U.S. attorney for Colorado, did not offer an immediate explanation for the numbers. Some cases are “harder than others,” he told Colorado Politics, “but we will not hesitate to bring them because they are hard.”

Finally, Hegarty discussed civil cases brought by self-represented plaintiffs, many of whom are incarcerated. Without making a decision about whether a prisoner will win their case, Hegarty said he contacts lawyers occasionally about representing plaintiffs whose claims “have some legs.”

“We have, I would say, a lot of meritorious cases,” he said, “and they just need a lawyer. … I go to prisons to settle cases. I went to a prison last week and the person had a good case, but no lawyer.”

Four of the civil jury trials last year involved incarcerated plaintiffs. All eventually obtained lawyers, but only one of them prevailed on their claims.