With just over three months left in 2021, Cole County judges are working to get potential criminal trials taken care of before the end of the year. That means most civil trials are being planned for 2022.
A backlog of cases involving violent crimes still exists because those proceedings couldn't be held for several months last year due to the pandemic.
Cole County Presiding Judge Jon Beetem said he has been telling people involved in civil trials that their trial might be delayed because there are people facing criminal trials who are in custody and their cases must be done.
Among one of the more notable civil cases being impacted is the 2012 lawsuit filed by Missouri corrections officers over overtime pay; the case was sent back to Cole County by the Missouri Supreme Court in June.
The lawsuit, filed Aug. 14, 2012, accused the Corrections Department of requiring corrections officers to work before and after assigned shifts without being paid for mandated work, which included going through security, signing in, getting keys and going to their duty assignment locations for the day.
In August 2018, then-Cole County Presiding Judge Pat Joyce awarded $113.7 million in damages to a class of corrections officers and post-judgment interest for breach of contract, pertaining to payment for the time spent performing pre-shift and post-shift activities.
The Supreme Court affirmed Joyce's judgment to the extent it found the retrieval of keys and radios and the supervision of inmates while walking to and from the corrections officers' daily posts are compensable, but in all other respects, the judgment was vacated and sent back to Cole County Circuit Court.
The case is now in Cole County Judge Cotton Walker's court and is currently scheduled for a jury trial in June 2022.