Judge Kristina Blum Keeps Justice on Track

Words by Arlinda Smith Broady

s the person in charge of the largest court in Georgia’s second largest county, Gwinnett County Chief Magistrate Judge Kristina Blum is always looking for ways to make life easier to manage for her constituents. She presides over one of the busiest courts in the State of Georgia, which handles approximately 100,000 matters a year.

AAs the largest court in the Gwinnett Judicial System, the Magistrate Court hears a vast breadth of cases in criminal and civil matters. It serves as the county’s “Boots-on-the-Ground” court. That makes it important for Blum to consider its investments of time and resources. With her staff, she has enacted programs to facilitate dispute resolution and to process the vast number of cases heard in the Gwinnett County Judicial System.

Judge Blum began her legal career in 1994. After spending seven years as a Senior Assistant County Attorney for Gwinnett County, she was appointed to the Magistrate Court in 2005 and became the Chief Magistrate on January 9, 2013.

Blum participated in a candid discussion at the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce’s First Friday breakfast in April. Due to the Spring Break holiday, the event was held on the second Friday, April 14.

The Magistrate Court has six full-time judges and 15 part-time judges, Blum said.

“The difference between full time and part time is really just an HR code in my world, be- cause our full-time judges primarily provide judicial assistance to the other courts,” she explained. “Our community has probably the most efficient court system in the state, if not in the southeast.”

If a Superior Court judge is in a long murder trial and can’t handle other duties, such as a modification of custody case, child support, divorce or contempt matters, Blum has to assemble a kind of ‘musical chairs’ scenario to get legal matters handled.

“There is no difference in qualifications. In fact, some of my judges are actually some of the most experienced judges in the county, so we handle all of those matters,” Blum said. “My 15 part-time magistrates run the court. They are the ‘ER doctors’ — and they’re amazing at it.”

■ Civil claims involving contract disputes, personal injury, property damage and any other disputes where the amount in controversy does not exceed $15,000.

■ Dispossessory action which are landlord/tenant matters and evictions.

■ Personal property foreclosures which are actions seeking the return of personal property pursuant to security agreements, contracts retaining title, vehicle titles, commercial contracts or lease agreements.

■ Trover which is actions for the recovery of damages for the wrongful taking of personal property.

■ Garnishments which are post-judgement collection actions filed against a third party, usually an employer or bank, to gain access to money or property owed to a judgement debtor, where the judgment does not exceed $15,000.

■ Abandoned motor vehicle actions where towing and storage firms are authorized to remove vehicles from public and private property at the request of law enforcement officers and/or private property owners.

■ Arrest warrants for the arrest of a person based on a judicial determination of probable cause.

the accused in jail on the warrant(s) issued and where authorized, the court may consider motions related to setting or modifying bond.

Judicial Assistance Division are all the cases and calendars handled for other courts by special designation. They can include State Court, Family Violence Division, State Court Garnishment Division and Superior Court judicial assistance as well as miscellaneous judicial assistance.

Although she considers herself a “process driven person,” Blum peppers those processes with common sense. She knows that even though a resident can obtain an arrest warrant for a neighbor who doesn’t return borrowed tools or money, the chances are they just want their money or belongings back — not to see their neighbor behind bars.

Blum has a process where both the plaintiff and the defendant are present and have the opportunities to work things out.

“I have mediators there. Then [the plaintiff] says, ‘I’m not going to go forward with this if you just figure out how to pay me and we can do a payment plan right there on the spot.’ So we’re looking at ways …to divert people away [from lawsuits]. We do the same action with child support,” Blum said.

Even through the pandemic, Blum kept the judicial train on the tracks. She’s famous for quoting, “Justice delayed is justice denied.” ##

In 2022, the Gwinnett County Magistrate Court processed 103,392 cases (not including judicial assistance).

26,350 dispossessory cases

20,574 general civil cases

25,348 Magistrate garnishments

There’s also an executive director who keeps everyone on track, which is no small task, according to Blum.

In addition to a staff attorney, the office has four calendar coordinators that handle all of the civil cases. There is also a Clerk of Court who assigns court processes to about 30 clerks. With all those people, you might think that Blum’s job is easy. You’d be wrong.

Blum’s Magistrate Court handles a large caseload covering a variety of legal issues.

■ Search warrants for the search of a person, property or location based on a judicial determination of probable cause.

■ Civilian warrant application hearings where a private citizen can obtain an arrest warrant against another person only if a judge finds probable cause.

■ First appearance hearings where the accused is brought before a judge for an explanation of their charges and rights and bond review. The accused may apply for appointed counsel.

■ Preliminary or committal hearings where the court determines whether probable cause exists to continue to hold

5,028 State court garnishments

20,550 arrest warrants 1,395 search warrants

953 warrant applications

193 shoplifting citations

3,001 temporary protective orders

Source: Gwinnett County Magistrate Court