| Members Present Judge Allan Schmalenberger, Chair Birch Burdick Judge Ralph Erickson Ted Gladden Judge Benny Graff Judge John Greenwood Doug Johnson Sherry Mills Moore Steve Mottinger Brenda Neubauer Connie Portscheller | Members Absent Steven Johnson Judge Debbie Kleven Judge John McClintock Judge William McLees Rick Volk |
The minutes of the March 22, 2002, meeting were approved.
Civil Case Management Plan
Judge Schmalenberger opened the discussion on the proposed Civil Case Management Plan. He directed Committee members' attention to the letter received from staff counsel to the Joint Procedure Committee. Discussion then focused on the proposed plan, in light of comments received from Mr. Mike Hagburg. It was concluded that the plan needs to be advanced to the Council of Presiding Judges. It provides a meaningful framework for managing civil cases. If cases are to be processed within the standards contained in AR-12, the court must assert early oversight and management of all cases. The comments made by individual Committee members did not focus on any specifics of the plan that could be addressed. There was discussion that the proposed plan may have gotten caught up in a discussion involving a number of other rule amendments under consideration by the Joint Procedure Committee and that many members may not have understood the intent of the plan. Following discussion, Judge Schmalenberger agreed to visit with Justice Sandstrom regarding the proposed plan.
IT WAS MOVED BY JUDGE GRAFF, SECONDED BY JUDGE ERICKSON, TO AMEND THE FIRST SENTENCE OF THE PLAN TO STRIKE "TELEPHONIC" AND INSERT THE WORDS AFTER CONFERENCE, "WHICH MAY BE CONDUCTED TELEPHONICALLY," AND REFER THE PLAN TO THE COUNCIL OF PRESIDING JUDGES FOR APPROVAL AND ULTIMATE SUBMISSION TO THE SUPREME COURT FOR ADOPTION. THE MOTION CARRIED.
Criminal Case Scheduling
Ted Gladden reviewed the misdemeanor case management plans submitted by the various districts. He indicated the reason for requesting the information was that it was his sense a disproportionate number of misdemeanor cases took more than 180 days to process, which meant a large number of these case types were on docket currency reports. This led to a general discussion of case setting procedures around the state and continuance policies that are in place. There was a sense that most districts have reasonable case management procedures in place, but there needs to be more stringent monitoring of continuances.
After considerable discussion, IT WAS MOVED BY JUDGE ERICKSON, SECONDED BY STEVE MOTTINGER, TO ADOPT AN AMENDMENT TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE RULE THAT NO CONTINUANCE BE GRANTED BY A TRIAL JUDGE UNLESS AN ALTERNATIVE DATE FOR TRIAL IS APPROVED WITHIN THE DOCKET CURRENCY STANDARD, EXCEPT FOR GOOD CAUSE SHOWN.
The burden should be on the lawyer requesting the continuance to ensure that if the continuance is granted it will be disposed of within the standard as provided in AR-12.
THE MOTION PASSED.
Ted Gladden was directed to draft a rule amendment for consideration at the next Committee meeting.
The meeting adjourned.