Sunday, June 6, 2010

Will Beth keep June 9th court date?

Will Beth Bentley keep her court date on June 9th at the McHenry County courthouse?

McHenry County Circuit Court records indicate a date for conference scheduling on Wednesday, June 9th, at 9:00AM in Room 201 at the courthouse. No judge's name appear for the case, which is over a year old. Case No. 09LA000073 is a case filed by Benedetta ("Beth") Bentley against Violet M. Abbink for Money Damages over $50,000. Another defendant named in court records is Albert Adams.

Limited information is available from online records of the Circuit Court, but Bentley's lawyer is Thomas J. Popovich, and Abbink's lawyer is the Law Office of Lawrence Cozzi.

Court records indicate the usual pattern of delay, common to so many cases in McHenry County. For some reason, continuances are routinely granted. A certain and limited number of continuances, if for good reason, would be understandable.

Why don't the judges hold an expectation of the lawyers that they will actually do something between court dates and not just send out bills? "Conference - scheduling"? What's that? Lawyers put their heads together, glance at their appointment calendars and set a date for trial. That's the way it should be.

Maybe the judges ought to set trial dates when cases are filed, and set the date for about three months out. And tell the lawyers to be ready for trial "or else". Then maybe the merry-go-round would stop in the McHenry County court system.

Of course, I'm really thinking of other cases as I write this, but my thoughts about those cases apply here, too.

1 comment:

Another Lawyer said...

I "continue" to agree with you wholeheartedly ... let's set every trial in two weeks ... NO Continuances allowed.