Civil Case Rules Set to Ease Jan. 1
By CHRIS CZIBORR
Rules designed to get civil cases to trial quicker are set to be eased in the New Year.
The San Francisco-based Judicial Council of California, which sets policy for the courts, recently voted to modify the rules, which stem from California’s Trial Court Delay Reduction Act. The act took effect on a pilot basis in 1987 and extended to all civil cases by the early 1990s.
But judges and attorneys complained the rules were unreasonable.
“They’ve modified it so the judges have more discretion now,” said Todd Gordinier, a partner at Newport Beach law firm Stradling, Yocca, Carlson & Rauth. “Judges will get more time allowed for cases, rather than having to meet demands that almost all cases get dealt with in a year.”
Under the old rules, 90% of all cases were to be handled within 12 months, 98% within 18 months and 100% within two years.
Starting next year, 75% of cases will have to be handled within a year, 85% within 18 months and 100% within two years.
“It’s extremely commonsensical to me,” Gordinier said. “The notion that every case had to go to trial within a certain period of time ignores the reality that different cases require different amounts of work.”
The downside: easing the rules could cause delays in getting cases heard.
“If they less stringently apply the Trial Court Delay Reduction Act that won’t be beneficial,” said Tom Salinger, partner and head of the litigation department at Costa Mesa law firm Rutan & Tucker LLP. “But it’s hard to into the crystal ball and see if the changes will have much effect.”
The old rules had achieved notable results. By last year, 65% of civil cases of more $25,000 were handled within a year. And 85% of cases worth less than $25,000 were being done within a year.
“Before you could only be certain of getting a case to trial within five years of date of filing,that was disastrous,” Salinger said. “The act hasn’t been a panacea for all the ills of the judicial system, but it has helped bring cases to trial in a quicker fashion.”
Walter Yoka, former president of the Los Angeles-based Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, spearheaded efforts to modify the rules on behalf of defense attorneys.
“It just doesn’t work to take statistical applications and make them apply to the dynamics of lawsuits,” Yoka said.
