Superior Court Statistical Reporting Manual

1. CASES FILED

A filing is the initiation of a case in court by formal submission of a document alleging the facts of a matter and requesting relief. A separate filing is reported for each petition filed (e.g., each case number assigned). Each unique adoption/parentage case number is reported as a single filing, no matter how many litigants or causes of action.

Cases Reopened - A reopened case is one which was previously completed but is reopened to supplement or change the original case resolution (e.g., vacating a judgment, remanding a decision for retrial).

A reopened case is not counted as a new filing.

A reopened case is treated like any other case when scheduling or reporting a proceeding. All adoption/parentage proceeding-held codes are available for use and are counted in their appropriate categories (e.g., non-jury trial, motion hearing).

For a reopened case the resolution and completion codes and dates should be removed and the case should proceed as if it was never resolved or completed. (Example: When there is an order vacating judgment, change the resolution and completion codes and dates to blank to reflect that the case is no longer resolved.) When all issues in the reopened case are resolved, enter the appropriate resolution code and date. When the reopened (and newly resolved) case reaches completion, enter the appropriate completion code and date.

This may create a very small increase in resolutions since a few cases could have two resolutions reported in different calendar years. The reprocessing of monthly SCOMIS statistics in January for the previous year will eliminate the duplications that may have occurred during the previous calendar year.

Cause Code Migration - Cause code "migration" is the changing of an initial cause-of-action code once a file is opened. Among adoption/parentage causes of action, cause code migration is only allowed in two situations.

(1) If an initial pre-placement report ("PPR") is filed prior to the adoption petition, cause code migration can be made to "ADP" when the adoption papers are filed.

(2) If an adoption is expected to follow relinquishment or termination actions, the initial cause of action should be for an adoption ("ADP"). When the adoption is not anticipated at the time of filing, migration can be made from "REL" (relinquishment) or "TER" (termination) to "ADP" when the adoption petition is filed.

Do not migrate any cause code to "MOD" (modification). The "MOD" cause of action should only be used to open a new file for the modification of a decree or order previously entered in another county or state. Case activities related to the modification of a decree or order entered in the same county should be recorded in the original case file.

If cause code migration occurs, (1) change the cause code, and (2) remove the case resolution and completion codes and dates if applicable.

This may create a very small increase in case resolutions since a few cases could have two resolutions reported in different calendar years. The reprocessing of monthly SCOMIS statistics in January for the previous year will eliminate the duplicated filing counts that occurred for these cases during the previous calendar year.