The Pine Bluff division of the federal courts for the Eastern District of Arkansas closed its one-person office Wednesday with the retirement of Brenda Johnson, a 14-year employee of the U.S. district clerk's office.
As with the district's unstaffed offices in its Batesville and Helena-West Helena divisions, federal civil cases centered in the counties encompassing and surrounding Pine Bluff will still be considered "filed" in the Pine Bluff division -- but only electronically.
U.S. District Clerk Jim McCormack said Thursday that the unstaffing of the divisions is part of a plan that has been in the works for years, as the federal judiciary implements cost-cutting measures across the country. The court's lease on the Pine Bluff space was due to expire in June 2017, so when Johnson decided to retire rather than join the staff in the main division in Little Rock, McCormick said, he saw no reason to fill her position.
The district's other division outside of Little Rock that continues to be staffed by a deputy clerk is in Jonesboro.
But McCormack said a federal statute designating five divisions in the Eastern District is expected to change in a matter of weeks or months to establish three divisions. The Northern Division will be based in Jonesboro, the Delta Division will be based in Helena-West Helena, and the Central Division will be based in Little Rock, which is now known as the Western Division.
Criminal cases have always been based in Little Rock, though judges have sometimes traveled to the outlying divisions of the district to hear criminal cases. Mostly, though, judges have traveled to courtrooms in the other divisions strictly to hear civil cases.
McCormack said until the divisions are reformulated, judges are expected to continue traveling as needed to hear cases in any of the five divisions where courtrooms remain for the time being.
But when the 41 counties making up the state's Eastern District are distributed between three divisions instead of five, judges will hold court only in those three divisions.
"We have a pending plan," McCormack said, noting that the plan has received congressional support, but it hasn't yet been formally proposed.
The uptick in electronic filings over the years has made the staffed divisions less essential, and McCormack noted that as federal courts go, "it's not unusual to have an unstaffed office."
While most documents in federal court are now filed electronically, some of them, such as original lawsuits, are required to be filed conventionally -- that is, on paper, with an inked stamp of acceptance.
"Next week, we'll start the process of moving all conventional files to my office" from the Pine Bluff division, McCormack said.
That means all paper documents, files and folders will be moved to the district's headquarters. McCormack said it won't be a big operation, as all the paperwork should fit in one carload.
A public notice announcing the change was posted Wednesday on the district's website and in email notifications for cases based in the Pine Bluff division. The notice reads: "Pleadings, motions and other papers are to be filed with the Clerk's office, 600 W. Capitol Ave., Room A149, Little Rock, AR 72201. In addition, all Pine Bluff records will be relocated to the Clerk's office in Little Rock."
"I'm happy for B.K.," McCormack said, referring to his nickname for Johnson. "But it's kind of sad for the division."
Metro on 12/09/2016