Kalamazoo County, Michigan
The courts are
overloaded.
The Michigan Supreme Court says Kalamazoo County needs almost 3 more judges to handle its caseload. Every judge is working at 119% capacity. The state recommends adding 2 judgeships. The data is buried in government PDFs. We pull it out.
Average Workload Per Judge
Source: 2025 SCAO Judicial Resources Recommendations
Current Judges
across 3 courts
Judges Needed
per SCAO formula
Recommended
+1 circuit, +1 district
Cases Filed (2024)
all 3 courts combined
2025 SCAO Recommendation
“The courts need 17.81 judges. They have 15.”
The State Court Administrative Office estimates that the 9th Circuit, Kalamazoo County Probate, and 8th District Courts need 17.81 judges to appropriately handle the workload. These courts currently have 15 judges with an outstanding need of 2.81. The resulting workload per judge would drop to 105% if the recommended judgeships were added.
Kalamazoo County was not flagged in the 2019, 2015, or 2013 reports. This is the first time in over a decade.
9th Circuit Court
6 judges
8th District Court
6 judges
Probate Court
3 judges
Legislative Action
2022 PA 277: Legislature added a new circuit judgeship effective 2025.
2012 PA 19: Legislature approved a reduction by attrition of one district judgeship.
Case Filing Trends
The numbers keep climbing.
Total case filings across all three Kalamazoo County courts, sourced from the SCAO Judicial Resources Recommendations report.
| Year | Circuit (C09) | District (D08) | Probate (P39) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5,883 | - | - | - |
| 2024 | 6,387 | 41,998 | 1,430 | 49,815 |
| 2023 | 6,409 | 35,818 | 1,294 | 43,521 |
| 2022 | 5,827 | 36,080 | 1,297 | 43,204 |
| 2021 | 5,755 | 33,697 | 1,377 | 40,829 |
| 2020 | 5,186 | 34,728 | 1,201 | 41,115 |
| 2019 | 6,914 | 45,507 | 1,338 | 53,759 |
Source: SCAO Judicial Resources Recommendations (2025). Circuit = Appeals + Criminal + Civil + Family. District = Traffic + Civil Infractions + All Others.
Meanwhile, the FOC answers to no one
18 grievances.
0 corrective actions.
No oversight committee.
While the courts are overloaded at 119% capacity, the FOC investigates complaints against itself and finds nothing wrong every time. There is no Citizen Advisory Committee reviewing whether those denials are justified. Only 2 of 75 FOC offices in Michigan have one.
Michigan law allows every county to establish a CAC. The county board of commissioners can make it happen. The chief judge can support it. We are making sure they hear the demand.
What the data shows
The numbers speak for themselves
119% judicial workload capacity.
Kalamazoo County judges are handling more cases than the state formula says they should. The SCAO recommends adding 2 judgeships.
100% grievance denial rate.
Every grievance filed against the FOC was either denied or deemed nongrievable. Not a single complaint was acknowledged in full or in part across 5 years.
Zero corrective actions taken.
Across 18 grievances over 5 years (2020-2024), the FOC made no changes to office operations and took no personnel actions. Every complaint resulted in nothing.
No Citizen Advisory Committee.
Kalamazoo County has no independent body reviewing FOC grievance decisions. Only 2 of 75 FOC offices statewide have one.
15 judges. 17.81 needed.
The state says Kalamazoo needs almost 3 more judges to handle its caseload. This is the first time Kalamazoo has been flagged in over a decade.
The law already allows a fix.
Michigan law authorizes every county to establish a Citizen Advisory Committee. The county board of commissioners can create one at any time.
“The committee shall review and investigate grievances concerning the friend of the court and advise the court and the county board on the office's duties and performance.”
MCL 552.504a
Friend of the Court Act
How it works
Collect. Track. Publish.
We extract
Government reports are published as PDFs that nobody reads. We pull the data out and structure it so you can actually use it.
We publish
Every dataset becomes a free, open API endpoint. No keys. No authentication. Just the data, available to anyone who wants it.
We expose
When the numbers tell a story the agency does not want told, we make sure that story gets seen. Zero corrective actions is not a statistic. It is a pattern.
We demand
Data without action is just numbers. We use it to push for real oversight, starting with a Citizen Advisory Committee for the FOC.
119% overloaded.
Zero oversight.
Help us change that.
Call your county commissioner. Write the chief judge. Show up to board meetings. The data is on your side. Use it.
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