Buckeye Needs to Update Its Website

In Arizona, both superiors courts and limited jurisdiction courts can hear criminal matters. Limited jurisdiction courts are “limited” in that they only hear misdemeanors, not felonies. We have both county and municipal limited jurisdiction courts.

In a county limited jurisdiction court, or justice court, criminal cases are prosecuted by the county attorney. In a city limited jurisdiction court, they usually have their own prosecutor. In some places, it’s your typical prosecutor’s office. Others just contract with private attorneys to prosecute cases. Some town prosecutors are actually defense attorneys with prosecuting contracts. I couldn’t imagine representing defendants half of the time and prosecuting defendants half of the time.

Sometimes, there will be a city court and at least one justice court in the same building. They may even share a single courtroom or have the same judge. In Buckeye, the town court and the justice court share the same facility. G.M. Osterfeld is both the justice of the peace for the justice court and the magistrate for the town court.

The reason I’m posting about this is because the court situation in Buckeye and other jurisdictions can be extremely confusing. It’s particularly problematic in Buckeye, as the town’s website makes matters far worse.

Here is the web page for the court for the Town of Buckeye. I’m glad to see the court “upholds the law and administers justice fairly and efficiently and adjudicate to all cases brought,” whatever that means, but I’d like a little bit more information about the Buckeye courts. Luckily, there’s a link to the Buckeye Justice Court.

This is where the link takes me. The page tells me that “[t]he Buckeye Magistrate Court is not the same court as the Buckeye Town Court.” What? Didn’t I just get to this page from what should have been the page for Buckeye’s town court? Didn’t that court’s page refer to the town court as the “Buckeye Magistrate Court?” Didn’t it say G.M. Osterfeld was the “Town Magistrate” for the “Buckeye Magistrate Court?” This page should be for the justice court, not the magistrate court. The caption on court filings from the town court says “Buckeye Magistrate Court.” My head hurts.

Looking at the Buckeye courts’ websites, I see other problems. Why does each court need two phone numbers? Why do they need separate fax numbers? Why is the justice court open 8:00AM – 5:00PM Monday through Friday, while the town court is open 7:00AM – 6:00PM Monday through Thursday? Wouldn’t it be easier to have the same hours? It’s the same facility. How many cases could they possibly handle?

I’m also worried by the fact the page suggests the Buckeye Town Court, which may or may not be the Buckeye Magistrate Court, is not a court that “upholds the law and administers justice fairly and efficiently and adjudicate to all cases brought,” whatever that means. The Buckeye justice court’s page not only steals the title of magistrate court, but belittles the poor town court. The town court does more than just issue orders of protection and injunctions of harassment and charge fees for public records requests. I’ve handled criminal matters in both courts.

Based on Buckeye’s website, here’s what I know: the “Buckeye Justice Court,” which calls itself the “Buckeye Magistrate Court,” refers to the “Buckeye Town Court” as something different. What should be the website for the “Buckeye Town Court” calls the town court the “Buckeye Magistrate Court.”

Although the staff at both courts, which may or may not consist of the same people, are very adept at dealing with confused lawyers and defendants alike, maybe I can save them a little trouble by explaining to you what I think is going on.

No court is formally called the “Buckeye Justice Court.” The “Buckeye Magistrate Court” is the town court, and the “Estrella Mountain Justice Court” is the justice court. I’m not sure, but I suspect that the Estrella Mountain Justice Court was once called the “Buckeye Justice Court” or the “Buckeye Magistrate Court.” Many justice courts have changed their names over the years. If they did indeed start calling what was once called the “Buckeye Town Court” the “Buckeye Magistrate Court” after the justice court previous changed its name from the “Buckeye Magistrate Court” to the “Estrella Mountain Justice Court,” that was a profoundly stupid decision. The whole municipal versus county limited jurisdiction court thing is confusing enough without misleading websites and identical names for different courts.

All of this brings me to my points. First, Buckeye needs to update its website. The whole justice court versus town court thing is confusing enough as it is. Second, I don’t think each court needs two different phone numbers, separate fax numbers, and different days and hours of operation. They can’t handle that many cases. Even if lawyers mess up captions, which they will, can’t the staff just look at the case number and the defendant’s name and figure out which court should be hearing the case?

I’m crossing my fingers and hoping Buckeye reads this, updates its website, and eliminates the needless extra phone and fax numbers. I also hope Buckeye sends me some kind of award for my tireless work promoting government efficiency. If you’re reading this, Buckeye, you can send the trophy to my law firm’s address.