The return to court took place at the courthouse of the Johannine city, this Friday, January 13. “The recovery is there, but the activity remained very impacted. The concerns are the same, to reduce stocks and business processing times”, declared the first president Catherine Gay-Vandame.
Lengthening deadlines
And to evoke the “cry of alarm of the young generations” in the face of lengthening deadlines, in the face of “a deterioration in legal decisions for lack of time”.
37 %
This is the share of cases handled in the criminal field which saw 2,089 cases completed (1,470 in 2021) for 2,541 opened. Stock in progress: 1,495 cases. The average time ranges from 3.4 months (for the instruction) to 22.5 months (for the assizes).
63 %
This is the share of civil cases dealt with in court. 2,461 cases were completed in 2022 (compared to 2,754 in 2021), 2,210 were opened, for an ongoing stock of 3,612 cases. The average duration of these ranges from 6.4 months (for the emergency room) to 27.7 months (for labor law)…
“Attentive to the allocation of resources”
Welcoming recent announcements from the government, which promises to increase the Justice budget from 9.6 to 11 billion euros, Catherine Gay-Vandame promised that “locally, we will be attentive to the allocation of resources”.
And to point out the projects for 2023 (establishment of departmental criminal courts, creation of a detention center in the fall in Olivet), all “at constant staff”. “The term heroism is inexaggerated,” she said, citing a recent study.
“It puts a little pressure”: a Loiretan, witness at a trial at the assizes in Orléans, recounts his experience
Environmental damage in the line of sight
Attorney General Denis Chaussée-Laprée “called for everyone’s discipline, especially lawyers” to “bite into stocks”, and halve the number of cases referred.
It has set its first objective for 2023: the fight against environmental damage. A regional hub dedicated to dealing with these cases has also been set up in Tours. One of the proponents: “Sanction more firmly, administratively and criminally, for environmental offenses”.
Two new magistrates
The first president welcomed two new magistrates to the Orleans Court of Appeal.
Nathalie Lauer. After having been a judge in Nancy, vice-president of the Epinal district court, adviser to the Court of Appeal of Reims then Versailles, she was appointed president of the commercial chamber of social security.
Lionel DaCosta Rome. After the first years at the Public Prosecutor’s Office, then positions as a liberty and detention judge in Le Havre, and a seat as president of the court in Lisieux and Blois, he will work here as an adviser to strengthen the correctional appeals chamber and the criminal chamber of the court
The future of the courthouse
In order to end this return to school on a positive note, Catherine Gay-Vandame announced the launch, in January, of a plan for the overall renovation of the “cramped, dilapidated, insufficiently secure” courthouse, not responding to the handicap or environmental standards, too small to accommodate reinforcements, “unworthy of justice”.
After an initial phase of study and analysis, two or three scenarios will be presented in the fall: relocation, renovation, new buildings?…
Caroline Bozec
