CHANGES COMING TO GENERAL SESSIONS COURT DOCKETS IN SEPTEMBER
Beginning September 1, 2014, the Judges of the Davidson County General Sessions Court will implement a new docket schedule and format which is designed primarily to improve and facilitate the flow of the misdemeanor and felony criminal cases through the court system at the General Sessions level. Under the new format, the eleven judges will divide into five teams of two and one team of one. Each team will be assigned to a permanent courtroom in the Justice A.A. Birch Building to hear various criminal dockets as those cases wind their way through the system. The team members and each team’s permanent courtroom assignment are currently set as follows:
TEAM A Judges Higgins / Holt Courtroom 3A
TEAM B Judges Bell / Walker Courtroom 5C
TEAM C Judges of Div. 2 / Div. 9 Courtroom 3B
TEAM D Judges Mondelli / Turner Courtroom 3C
TEAM E Judges Dalton / Robinson Courtroom 4B & 4C
TEAM F Judge Moreland Courtroom 4D
On the civil side of General Sessions, the judges will also work in the same team format. There will continue to be two General Sessions civil dockets held five days a week. However, in order to accommodate the new schedule, the civil docket currently being held in Courtroom 5C will be moving to Courtroom 1B on the first floor of the Birch Building effective September 1st. In addition, the new civil docket in 1B will have a new start time of 9:45 a.m. rather than the current start time of 8:45 a.m. The civil docket currently held in Courtroom 5D will remain in the same place at the same time under the new schedule with no changes whatsoever.
On the subject of the pending move of the Courtroom 5C civil docket to Courtroom 1B, attorneys and practitioners who generate their own 5C Civil Warrant or Detainer Warrant forms rather than utilizing forms provided by the Clerk’s office will need to modify their forms accordingly regarding the new courtroom number and start time for all cases in which it is anticipated that the hearing will be set after September 1st.
As for other changes, a new Domestic Violence docket will take place five days a week in Courtroom 4B to hear all criminal cases involving domestic violence charges and to hear all petitions for an Order of Protection not otherwise assigned to Circuit Court or Juvenile Court. Currently, petitions for an Order of Protection are only heard Monday through Thursday in various courtrooms throughout the Birch Building depending on the particular week. Under the new docket schedule, Order of Protection hearings will now also take place on Friday and will always be held in Courtroom 4B.
The remaining General Sessions civil dockets do not change. There will continue to be an emergency committal docket held each Wednesday and Friday at 10:00 a.m. at Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute and the Environmental Court / Metro Codes docket will continue to be held each Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. in Courtroom 5D.
