Fall 2017 FINAL-Summer 2017 Gavel | Page 20

By Hon. Frank L. Racek, Presiding Judge, East-Central Judicial District and Matthew Dearth, J. D., Law Clerk, East-Central Judicial District

Introduction

North Dakota district courts annually have over 159,000 new case filings. 1 Another 26,000 cases are reopened. What are some of the keys to managing such a docket with 51 general jurisdiction judges, five referees, and declining court staff? What role do judges have in managing their caseloads?

Successful docket management requires an organized system of case resolution. Timely case resolution reduces unnecessary delay and cost to the court and litigants. It is necessary to meet the court’ s mission of“ fair and timely resolution of disputes.” By having the court control the pace of litigation, judges can reduce the lifespan of a case to a level that allows for timely disposition, while being able to respond to the ongoing surprises of modern litigation. Over time, the size of the court’ s docket will shrink as cases are more timely heard and resolved.

In constructing a system for timely case resolution, a judge’ s role is to set the parameters of the system. The implementation is left to administrators, clerks, staff attorneys, and court reporters. When properly implemented, the system has the ability to run itself, allowing judges to focus only on matters requiring the judge’ s attention.

A system of timely case resolution has four essential components. The system should be:( 1) workable;( 2) capable;( 3) flexible; and( 4) effective. Each component works to support the others and one deficient component dramatically reduces the system’ s overall ability to resolve cases in a timely manner. The details may differ by district or locality, but the essential four components will be part of a successful system. Emphasize the use of personal initiative, shared workload, and division of labor within every case management structure. Get the“ system” to do the work, so that individuals within the system are free to focus on their respective tasks.

A Workable System

In the context of case management, a workable system is one that clearly delineates the path and process for cases, from the initial filing point through to final disposition. When a case is first filed with the court, the system provides for its assignment, scheduling deadlines, and expected time of disposition. Scheduling cases and assigning judges provides notice to the parties of the court’ s intention to“ move the case along,” removing unnecessary expense and delay.

A workable system is built around the principle of eliminating any bottlenecks that hamper effectiveness. Often the performance of the entire court system is limited by a small number of resources that must be available and coordinated for a case to move forward. These“ pinch-points” are created around the availability of needed resources, including:

This list is not exhaustive. When one or more of these resources are necessary, but unavailable, the result is a delay in case resolution.

As an example, consider a situation where a criminal motion is scheduled for hearing. The defendant and his court-appointed counsel must be present. At the same time, in a different courtroom, a second judge schedules the same public defender to appear in an unrelated case. Counsel cannot be at two places at the same time, and so one judge must inevitably yield and reschedule the hearing. But now someone must also re-coordinate court staff, court security, jail transportation, counsel, and other necessary resources. The lack of a functional case management system will perpetually result in these unnecessary delays that clog the court.

Contrast this with a systematically functional system. Now the court has a formal scheduling procedure, based on availability of needed resources. Events are scheduled into time slots set aside for specific case types, determined by required resources. Judges now each have a time and place suitable for their assignments every day. Such a system is designed to eliminate pinch points and empower the court staff to keep cases moving by knowing when and how each type of case is to be scheduled.

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