Judge McVeagh Says He Has "Experience On Steroids"

General Sessions Judge Alex McVeagh, who is running for Circuit Court judge, told the Civitan Club on Friday that his office hears as many as 60,000 criminal cases per year and as many as 15,000 civil cases a year. He has presided over 80,000 cases himself, he said.

“You want to talk about experience on steroids,” he said.

Judge McVeagh attended at the request of Civitan Neal Thompson, an attorney who represents people with mental illness who are committed to a facility against their will.

Judge McVeagh is running against attorney Michele Coffman in the Republican primary election March 5 for Hamilton County Circuit Court Judge Division III. Judge Marie Williams retired from the seat Jan. 3 this year after serving 28 years.

“I have the utmost respect for Michele,” Judge McVeagh said. “If she is elected, she’d be a great judge.”

“I’m not asking you to vote against my opponent. I’m asking you to vote for me,” he said.

The primary winner will run against Democrat Kisha Cheeks in the August general election.

“Your judge shouldn’t be talking about politics,” Judge McVeagh said. “The referee shouldn’t be affecting the game.”

Judge McVeagh said Circuit Court judges hear civil cases including adoption, divorce and complex corporate disputes. He said his six-and-a-half years as a General Sessions judge has prepared him for the role of Circuit Court judge.

“They don’t teach you how to be a judge in law school,” he said.

The lifelong Republican is from Lafayette, La., where he graduated top of his class. He graduated from Vanderbilt University, where he also attended law school. He was a Senate judiciary research analyst in Nashville and moved to Chattanooga to practice at Chambliss Bahner & Stophel.

He listed as mentors firm partner Max Bahner, former Tennessee Supreme Court Chief Justice Muecke Barker, and Chambliss colleague Criminal Court of Appeals Judge Tom Greenholtz.

“I got to work with some of the best legal minds of our community,” he said.

“I’m a bit of a nerd,” he said, and that he likes writing, researching and rules.

Judge McVeagh was appointed to General Sessions Court in 2017 at the age of 31 by Governor Bill Haslam to complete the term of Judge David Bales. He was elected to the same seat in 2022.

Judge McVeagh called General Sessions Court “the wild, wild West,” a sort of emergency room in the court system, where he hears cases ranging from homicide to eviction.

DRUG CYCLE

Judge McVeagh has founded a misdemeanor drug recovery court program for nonviolent offenders who cycle in and out of the court system, “wreaking havoc” on the streets, their families and on their own bodies, he said. Participants, whose primary diagnosis is not mental illness, receive inpatient and outpatient care, group therapy and drug screening to move on and earn a GED, get their kids back, buy a house or start a business.

Graduates of this two-year local program have a 15 percent recidivism rate, he said, far below the national average of 70 percent.

“This works,” he said. “It breaks the cycle.”

The program relies on volunteers and costs $29 a day, while time at the county jail costs $79 a day, he said.

EFFICIENCY

Judge McVeagh said he wants to make the court system more efficient with technology and mediation programs.

A third-shift police officer could testify in court via Zoom instead of sitting in a courtroom for hours waiting for his case on the docket, he said. A victim could interact with an aggressor via Zoom, too, he said.

Judge McVeagh has spearheaded an eviction mediation program for tenants to meet with a budget counselor, find out if federal aid is available to them, or work with a trained mediator to reach an agreement, sometimes without going to court.

“People are able to reach their own agreements,” he said.

Since the program’s inception, he hears only 20 eviction cases a week, he said, down from 200 a week.

MEDICAL DEBT

Medical debt “oftentimes is out of your control,” Judge McVeagh said. “Folks can be pretty blindsided by it.” Some make payments with a credit card and make things worse.

Judge McVeagh said he sees suits from hospitals for unpaid bills from $1,000 to $20,000. He set up a debt mediation program that works via text. A trained mediator, paid by the state, texts with patients and hospitals to work out a payment plan. He said many patients who owe money don’t answer the phone, they don’t open their mail, but they text.

“People that are in cycles of debt, they put their head in the sand,” he said.

“I’m really proud of my service to the community,” Judge McVeagh said.