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John Kutzman
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John Kutzman is a judge of the 8th Judicial District Court in Montana. He was appointed by Governor Steve Bullock on June 16, 2015, to replace Judge Kenneth Neill. Kutzman took his seat on July 1, 2015.[1]
Kutzman ran for election to his seat in 2016. As an incumbent running unopposed, he faced a retention election on November 8, 2016. He won retention in the election.[2]
Biography
Kutzman received both his undergraduate degree and his J.D. from the University of Montana. At the time of his appointment, Kutzman was a partner of Paoli Kutzman, P.C.[1]
Elections
2016
Montana held general elections for local judicial offices on November 8, 2016. A primary election took place on June 7, 2016. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was March 14, 2016.[3] John Kutzman was retained in the Montana District 8 (Department 3) election with 84.43 percent of the vote. [2]
| Montana District 8 (Department 3), 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes votes | |
 John Kutzman | 84.43% | |
| Source: Montana Secretary of State, "2016 General Election Results," accessed November 10, 2016 | ||
Selection method
- See also: Nonpartisan elections
The 43 judges of the Montana District Courts are chosen in nonpartisan elections for six-year terms. At the end of their term, they must run for re-election. If a judge is unopposed for re-election, it becomes a retention election instead.[4]
The chief judge of each district court is chosen annually on the basis of seniority.[4]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a judge must be:[4]
- a U.S. citizen;
- a state resident for at least two years;
- a resident of the district represented; and
- licensed to practice law in the state for at least five years.
Approach to the law
Kutzman's application for the judgeship was quoted on KRTV.com:
| “ | The most important qualities for a good district court judge are fairness, patience, curiosity, and diligence.
The judge's work begins and ends with fairness to the parties, the public, and the system within the constraints imposed by the controlling law. The judge's sense of fairness is a double check on what the statutes and decisions require; if the statutes and decisions lead to an intuitively just result, the judge's decision will easily communicate the fairness of the law and the system. If the statutes and decisions lead to an unfair result, the judge's decision should communicate the constraints at issue that compelled the result. To get to fairness the judge must be patient with the parties and their lawyers. The judge is trying to manage a difficult case load but most of the parties within that case load will be having what they hope is their one lifetime contact with the court system. The legitimacy of the system depends on the judge treating the parties with dignity and respect, and balancing the judge's own time constraints against the parties' legitimate need for time and scope to present their cases. The judge's responsibility to the system and the general public requires intellectual curiosity: the parties may be relying on the wrong legal theories, the wrong authority, or both. Obviously the judge cannot take over for the lawyers, but neither can the judge be a mere passive bystander if the parties are advocating for incorrect legal reasoning. Ultimately, the judge must be diligent in keeping the docket moving. No state or federal judge anywhere has too much time and not enough cases to decide. This is especially true in an urban judicial district like ours. The practice of law is not a 9 to 5 job for an attorney who takes it seriously, and the judge must similarly do what it takes to keep the docket current.[5] |
” |
| —John Kutzman[1] | ||
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 KRTV.com, "Kutzman appointed as new judge in Cascade County," June 16, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Montana Secretary of State, "2016 Candidate Filing List: Non-Legislative," accessed March 21, 2016
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 Election Calendar," accessed December 7, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 American Judicature Society, "Methods of Judicial Selection: Montana," accessed July 31, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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Federal courts:
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: District of Montana • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: District of Montana
State courts:
Montana Supreme Court • Montana District Courts • Montana Courts of Limited Jurisdiction • Montana Water Court • Montana Workers' Compensation Court
State resources:
Courts in Montana • Montana judicial elections • Judicial selection in Montana
