Florida foreclosure courts to get money to speed cases

Florida’s courts will get a $4 million boost to hire additional judges and case managers who can tackle the state’s foreclosure backlog.

The one-time stipend, which is in the 2012-2013 state appropriations bill released this afternoon, still faces legislative approval.

It isn’t yet decided how the money will be allocated among the state’s 20 circuit courts, but Palm Beach County Chief Judge Peter Blanc said the statewide amount is “meaningful.”

“It will give us an opportunity to bring down some of the backlog,” Blanc said. “A lot of the debate these days is why are the cases still there and we do have some difficulty getting timely hearings sometimes.”

Statewide there is a 368,000 case backlog, including about 34,800 pending cases in Palm Beach County.

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