The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury issued the FY 2018-19 Tennessee Judicial Weighted Caseload Study in March 2020. The state has estimated a net deficit of 8.53 full-time equivalent judges. In the previous year, there was a deficit of 6.51 judges and, in 2017, there was a deficit of 6.51 judges. In 2018, four judicial positions were added across the state.
Judicial districts 13 (Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, White counties), 19 (Montgomery, Robertson counties), 22 (Giles, Lawrence, Maury, Wayne counties), and 30 (Shelby county) showed the highest demand for additional judicial resources in 2019. In the map to the right, the counties in red show a deficit while the counties in blue show an excess.
Criminal cases, which make up 46 percent of cases, increased about 1.37 percent while civil cases, which make up 25 percent of cases, increased by 2.74 percent. Domestic relations cases, which make up 29 percent of cases, decreased by over 3.5 percent. With an increase of 1,129 case filings compared to last year, Felony A and B cases saw the largest net change in filings. The other case types with the greatest change compared to FY 2018 were Orders of Protection (-854), Probate/Trust (+585); Felony C, D, and E (+582), Contract/Debt/Specific Performance (+531), and Misdemeanors (+518).
