Forty Years in the Making, Harris County Finally Gets More Civil District Courts

Prior to this most recent legislative session, the last time lawmakers agreed to fund more civil courts in Harris County, the Astros were still playing in the Astrodome, the region was recovering from Hurricane Alicia and the second-tallest skyscraper in downtown Houston, now called the Wells Fargo Plaza, had just opened. 

Back then, in 1983, the population of Harris County was about 2.7 million, compared to an estimated 5 million residents today. As the population increased so, too, did the number of civil lawsuits filed. The judges who presided over those courtrooms, while stretched thin, were diligent in their efforts to keep pace, data show, juggling caseloads twice the size of their colleagues in Dallas and four to six times larger than judges in Bexar and Travis counties.