The Court of Claims of Ohio in 2012 eliminated backlogs and cut costs by more than half a million dollars, according to the court’s 2012 annual report released June 14.

The Court of Claims is given original jurisdiction to hear and determine all civil actions filed against the state of Ohio and its agencies.

Court of Claims Clerk Mark Reed said the court had a 102 percent clearance rate for cases last year. The court received 924 new or reactivated cases and closed 945 cases in 2012.

“Our staff has worked diligently to get cases closed and get cases out the door,” Reed said.

In addition, cost-cutting measures – including reducing staffing levels by seven full-time employees – allowed the court to reduce expenditures in 2012 by more than $500,000 or 13 percent.

“We reduced staffing to the correct size, through attrition. We’ve also been able to use some outsourcing of services that previously we did in-house and then just over time we reduced our services and our vendor contracts. We do a lot of things internally now that we used to do externally,” Reed said.

Reed said he expects the court will save a total of $1.2 million by the end of 2013, and said his staff worked hard to be more efficient while still maintaining quality in the court.

“Here was a court that essentially had the potential to be a great court but had not been sort of modernized as it should have been over time. We’ve brought those changes here, and this court is on its way to becoming a great court,” Reed said.

In February, the Ohio Association for Justice recognized Reed and Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor for the reduced time it takes the Court of Claims to decide cases and other efficiencies.

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