DAYTON, Texas — If you drive around Liberty County, you may see a judge holding court outside.
Judge Larry Wilburn's "courtroom" is now under a big tree in Dayton because the Liberty County Courthouse Annex where he usually works flooded earlier this month. The building was undergoing renovations when a storm dropped three inches of rain in it.
“All of a sudden, rain just started pouring into the building,” Wilburn, the Justice of the Peace for Precinct 4, told KHOU 11. “And it was just kind of chaos.”
Wilburn, along with other staff, tried to save as much of the equipment and furniture as possible, moving it to areas of the building not experiencing water damage. The rain left an estimated $200,000 in water damage and forced the building to close.
While court business for criminal cases could be delayed, the same could not be done for eviction cases.
“By statute, we’re required to handle those cases no less than 10 days, no more than 21 days after the case is filed,” Wilburn explained.
Given upcoming eviction cases on the calendar, it was uncertain if the county could notify plaintiffs and defendants in time to make them aware of a venue change.
“So, in the interest of justice, we decided, well, we have this big yard here and this big tree and there’s nothing that says that we can’t have court outside so we just decided just go old school and have it here,” Wilburn said. “So, here we are.”
The outdoor court setup featured all the bare necessities: folding chairs and folding tables for the judge, defendant and plaintiff. The court clerk and constables were also on hand.
Wilburn said he was grateful for the perseverance of his staff to keep the justice system going.
“Everyone working together, doing the best we can with what we have to work with,” Wilburn said.
Thursday was the final day for the outdoor court hearings. Judge Wilburn will be working out of a Precinct 1 courtroom in Liberty until the annex repairs are completed. We’re told that's supposed to happen by the end of November.
Anyone with court business for Liberty County Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 is asked to go to Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 at 2103 Cos Street in Liberty or they can also contact that office at 936-336-4558 extension 2.
