The Winchester-Frederick General District Court is in the Twenty-sixth Judicial District of Virginia. It has original jurisdiction over traffic infractions and misdemeanor cases for traffic and criminal divisions. This office holds preliminary hearings for felony cases and has jurisdiction over all civil cases where the amount of monies involved are $25,000 and under, Personal Injury cases up to 50,000. Examples of civil cases are landlord and tenant disputes, contract disputes and personal injury actions, garnishments and interrogatories. The District Court handles protective orders and mental commitment hearings. Virginia’s Judicial System is online at www.courts.state.va.us.

The Circuit Court strives to administer its cases fairly, efficiently, and courteously. (Strategic Plan Goal 3)

Objectives:

• To resolve disputes justly.

• To conduct all proceedings in an expeditious and fair manner, applying the rules of the law.

• To schedule cases using segmented dockets to reduce the amount of waiting time for the public.

Trends:

Caseload 2019 Actual 2020 Actual 2021 Actual 2022 Actual 2023 Estimated

New Cases 31,815 20,774 21,145 23,000 27,000