Issue Area 2: The Office of Judges Has Improved Its Compliance in Making Final Decisions Within Thirty Days But Still Meets the Time Line in Less than Half of All Protests.
OOJ's 1997 performance evaluation showed an average compliance rate of approximately 25% on making final decisions within thirty days as required by WVC §23-5-9. This update shows an increase in the average compliance rate of approximately 40%. The OOJ achieved a high of 51% for the month of August 1998. This is the first time that the OOJ has achieved over 50% compliance in writing final decisions while operating at full capacity.
The number of protests that have had final hearings and are
awaiting decisions has decreased from 3,254 in 1997 to 2,072 as of
October 31, 1998. Of cases that are past the thirty day
requirement, this is a reduction of 52%. The 1998 number also
represents the approximate number of decisions that the OOJ writes
each month which is around 2,000 decisions. This means that the
majority of protests waiting final decisions should be completed
within the mandated thirty day time period.
Issue Area 3: Backlog of Permanent Total Disability Cases Decided
by the Workers' Compensation Division Is Beginning
to Impact the Caseload of the OOJ.
The OOJ has inherited a backlog of Permanent Total Disability
(PTD) cases from the Workers' Compensation Division as a result of
a court order made on October 9, 1997 by Judge James Holliday;
Judge Holliday was appointed by the Supreme Court of Appeals of
West Virginia and is situated in the Circuit Court of Kanawha
County to conduct all proceedings pertaining to Workers'
Compensation on behalf of the Supreme Court of Appeals. This
order forced the Workers' Compensation Division to render
decisions on approximately 1,500 "Old Law" Permanent Total
Disability (PTD) cases by February 15, 1998 and approximately
2,500 Ferrel "Old Law" PTD cases by June 15, 1998. The OOJ
expects a two-thirds appeals rate from these cases. This has
already caused an increase of seven times from 1997 and an
increase of thirteen times from 1996 in the number of PTD cases
protested to the OOJ.