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Civil Justice Reform Act Expense and Delay Reduction Plans: A Sourcebook

NCJ Number
158541
Author(s)
D Rauma; D Stienstra
Date Published
1995
Length
364 pages
Annotation
This sourcebook is a reference for the civil case management procedures and techniques contained in the Civil Justice Reform Act (CJRA) expense and delay-reduction plans adopted by the U.S. district courts.
Abstract
The sourcebook's 17 tables summarize this information in terms of common civil case management elements, such as service of process, motions, and alternative dispute resolution. To create the sourcebook, a summary of each district's plan was drafted and sent to the clerk of court for that district with a request to review the summary for accuracy and completeness and to supplement it with citations to local court rules. Clerks in 90 of the 94 courts reviewed and returned the summaries. The tables are best viewed as an overview of the U.S. district courts' CJRA expense and delay reduction plans. Regarding patterns among the plans, the courts are nearly unanimous in their adoption of some form of individualized or case-specific case management. Many districts have created differentiated case management systems that place cases into broad categories or tracks. Among those districts without a formal system, the majority subscribe to the principle of individualized case management, to be implemented through such techniques as case management plans jointly prepared by the parties and their attorneys, periodic status conferences, and final pretrial conferences. Virtually all of the district courts authorize some form of alternative dispute resolution, and many districts have one or more court-annexed programs. Among the most common alternative dispute resolution techniques are court-hosted settlement conferences and mediation. 17 tables