As of: March 15, 2024, 6:00 a.m
By: Hans Moritz
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Reinforcement: The Erdinger district court directors Ingrid Kaps (l.) and Markus Nikol welcome their new judge colleague Franziska Meixner.
© Hans Moritz
The Erding District Court has presented its annual balance sheet for 2023.
Anyone who works here should know that they have to have a lot of stamina.
What does that have to do with the nearby airport?
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A lot, because when everything comes to a standstill at Munich airport, 20 kilometers away at the Erding district court you know that a few months later you can work day and night - at least if you are one of the 18 civil judges.
The trend of passengers and airlines fighting in court over travel costs in the event of delays and cancellations continues, not least thanks to litigation service providers.
Even if aviation has not yet completely escaped the Corona crisis, conditions have long since returned to the civil department of the Erdinger district court as if there had never been a pandemic.
Its director Ingrid Kaps and her deputy Markus Nikol made this clear at the annual press conference.
Civil Court
Last year alone, almost 12,000 new civil cases were filed on Münchener Straße, “and 95 percent concern air passenger rights,” said Nikol.
According to Kaps, this means a burden of 223 percent for the judges. This means that each judge does more than twice the workload.
Among white-collar workers, the imbalance is even more stark: 283 percent.
What one person does here is equivalent to employing almost three people.
According to Kaps, there are currently 23 judges in Erding spread across 20.25 positions.
18 deal with civil matters, four with criminal law.
There are also three investigating judges, three family judges and two guardian judges.
Kaps and Nikol know that there are far too few of them given the strain.
They did the math: In order to reach 100 percent workload, twelve more judges, 25 new employees and 2.5 additional judicial officers would be needed.
“That corresponds to the size of a small district court,” she made a drastic comparison.
The shortage is known and Kaps is repeatedly granted additional positions.
Above all, however, the director is grateful to her employees and their commitment: “Without them, none of this would be possible.” The Landshut Regional Court and the Munich Higher Regional Court saw the need in Erding and tried to provide relief - in addition to new positions, also secondments like the one currently in place Freising District Court and the Higher Regional Court itself. But the phenomenon of a shortage of skilled workers is also known in the judiciary.
Kaps and Nikol are all the more grateful for the access of judge Dr.
Franziska Meixner, who has been in Erding since mid-February and works as a civil and guardianship judge.
Meixner is 31 years old and studied in Munich.
Previously, she worked for the Landshut public prosecutor's office for three years and in the Bavarian Digital Ministry for one year.
In her personal life, she likes to go to the mountains, do sports, read or do crafts, she revealed during her introduction.
Meixner follows Christina Waldinger, but with a higher share of the position - a drop in the ocean of Erdinger's justice system.
But what does the high level of workload do to the staff?
“We can still fill the positions, but there is a letter from the Judicial Council drawing attention to the burden,” said Kaps.
The fact that we are still able to ride out the wave of lawsuits is “mainly due to the extraordinary commitment of our colleagues,” says the director.
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But isn't there a danger that the quality of the judgments will suffer?
Nikol denies that.
“Of course we have a lot of experience with passenger rights.
That makes the process easier.” And of course you can work with text modules when making the judgments, says Nikol, while Kaps assumes that one day you could also benefit from artificial intelligence.
When it comes to travel law, the legal requirements are actually clearly formulated across the EU.
“But there are airlines that take a chance – in the hope of having to reimburse less,” said the deputy director.
And because many of those affected sold their rights to law firms like “Flightright”, every case goes to court.
Family court
The number of family proceedings remained constant at 1,100, according to Kaps, who reported 459 divorces and 253 custody and visitation proceedings.
However, it is “clearly evident that the procedures are becoming increasingly complex”.
She is convinced: “Corona and the isolation have left noticeable traces in many families.”
criminal court
The four criminal judges received 1,423 cases last year, more than 100 fewer than in 2022. According to Kaps, however, juvenile criminal cases have increased significantly: from 234 to 326. The investigating judges processed 393 cases, 308 of which were deportations.
Guardianship Court
In 2023, the Erding District Court received 666 new applications for care - primarily for older people, but also those with severe impairments.
The inventory is 1703 cares.
793 cases involved accommodation.
Probate Court
Inheritance is always a case for the judiciary.
The probate court processed 4,116 cases.
Land Registry
Every change of ownership of real estate, as well as mortgages, must be certified by Justitia.
The land registry office was occupied with 9,521 matters within the previous year.
Lack of space
More work, more judges – the justice building has long since become too small.
The land registry office is located in the Stadtwerke building on Gries, the probate court is on Gestütring, where parts of the civil department have now also moved.
The probation officers have moved to Berghamer Strasse.