On Friday, Porter County Circuit Judge Mary Harper announced that the county circuit and superior courts will hire local attorney Mary DeBoer who be assigned to Porter County Superior Court #1 to assist Magistrate James Johnson in hearing his probate and divorce cases currently backlogged.

A public hearing was held in Harper’s court Friday morning where the judge ruled it is “essential that the litigants receive decision on their cases.”

“To those who are waiting, I bet this is about as much fun as getting a root canal,” Harper told those sitting in the gallery. “I hope we can get your interests taken care of promptly.”

Two Valparaiso women spoke out during the hearing hoping they may be able to receive closure on their divorce cases.

Linda Moore, whose case is one of those pending before Johnson, said she filed for divorce in September last year and has had two hearings but is not sure when her case will be ruled upon. The wait she said is causing her pain to increase even more.

Janet Miller, who later told the Chesterton Tribune her case sits at the decision of other the county magistrate, Katherine Forbes, said she filed for divorce more than five years ago and so far has only had 15 hours of court time. Her divorce filing went through but the judge still has not decided on an order for her assets.

Miller came to Friday’s hearing to encourage the idea of speeding up rulings of the cases backlogged. She said legal fees have already stacked up to $65,000 and that Forbes is not scheduled to hear her case again until next March.

Harper during the public hearing read four articles of correspondence from local attorneys endorsing the order of appointment. She and the five other county judges met in a closed meeting on Wednesday where they jointly agreed the issue needed to be addressed and that an appointment was needed “in the immediate future” to help Johnson get caught up.

Harper issued a press release a few hours after the public hearing on Friday announcing DeBoer as the appointed probate commissioner. DeBoer will be hired on a part-time hourly basis for the next 60 to 90 days without benefits. The amount of pay DeBoer will receive remains undisclosed, but Harper mentioned the judges felt the option would be most cost effective.

Half of DeBoer’s workload will be probate cases and the other will be divorce cases. Johnson is highly involved in the family courts hearing divorce, guardian and probate cases.

The number of cases on Johnson’s backload reaches somewhere in the 80s. At the last quarter on June 30, it was mentioned that Johnson had 97 cases still lingering under advisement. The county judges will be monitoring his progress until October.

According to the release, DeBoer is a 1993 graduate from the Valparaiso University School of Law. She has served as Magistrate of the Starke County Circuit Court in 2005 and 2006. DeBoer has since worked in the Starke County Prosecutor’s office as well as working for a period of time in the Porter County Prosecutor’s office.

DeBoer previously served as temporary judge in Porter Superior Court while Johnson was receiving medical treatment, the statement said.

Posted 7/26/2010