Municipal Court Announces Expanded Court Schedule to Improve Service Delivery

From the City of Atlanta

Beginning September 8, 2014, the Municipal Court of Atlanta will adopt new docket times for its traffic, criminal, DUI, community court, and housing/code enforcement court divisions in order to enhance access to the judicial system and accelerate efficient case processing.

Chief Judge Herman Sloan announced the changes were being implemented to more efficiently handle the cases that are annually docketed at the Court, anticipate increases in case load, and provide the level of service that the citizens of Atlanta demand, without a compromise to fair and equitable administration of justice. Court Administrator Christopher Patterson added, “The Municipal Court is committed to ensuring the highest level of customer service for both our residents and visitors. Expanding the number of dockets held each day not only adds capacity to handle an ever-increasing workload, but also produces shorter wait times and improves the overall court experience for constituents, attorneys, and other judicial stakeholders.”

The Court will double – from two to four – the number of daily dockets held at the court Monday through Friday. Start times for the expanded court calendars are 8:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

The Municipal Court of Atlanta is the busiest trial court in the state, processing more than 200,000 cases annually. The Court exercises jurisdiction over state traffic and certain misdemeanor offenses, and local ordinance violations.