Superior Court Statistical Reporting Manual

8. CASES COMPLETED

Case processing time standards are published in the Washington Rules of Court. The time standards identify three major milestones in the life of a case: filing, resolution, and completion. Case "resolution" occurs when the case is "tried, settled, or otherwise concluded;" that is, resolution is defined for juvenile dependency cases when a court decision has been rendered regarding the initial petition filed.

Case "completion" occurs when all necessary dispositive documents have been filed with the clerk.

A case must be resolved before it can be completed. In certain situations, resolution and completion can occur simultaneously (e.g., order of dismissal). The case resolution date must be on the same day or prior to the case completion date entered on the SCOMIS basic screen.

The following are examples of orders that may result in case completion.

Judicial Orders

Order of Disposition*
Order of Closure
Order of Dismissal
Order Terminating Parent Child Relationship
Order Appointing Guardian*

*Note: This document does not always complete a dependency action; further review hearings or case processing may be required to complete the case.

Cases reopened are discussed on page 7-4.

CASE COMPLETION CATEGORIES - Case completions are reported under the single category "judgment/order/decree filed." Documenting case completion entails recording the "JODF" code and date that completion occurred on the SCOMIS basic screen.

8.A JUDGMENT/ORDER/DECREE FILED (JODF)

Case completion due to the filing of final dispositive documents by parties or their representatives (e.g., change of venue, order of dismissal, order terminating parent-child relationship, order of disposition in truancy cases, dismissal after final review).

8.B. UNCONTESTED COMPLETION (UNCL)

Case completion for an uncontested matter that is not dismissed.

*Statistical Completion (STCL) - The statistical completion code should only be used for a previously resolved and completed pre-SCOMIS case that is added to the system to file a document or record a proceeding held. "STCL" resolutions and completions are not counted in the caseload statistics.

As an alternative to the "STCL" completion code, the appropriate resolution and completion codes can be used so that the legal record more accurately reflects the case outcome (see Historical Resolution and Completion Codes in Appendix E). If this method is used, it is important to enter the correct resolution and completion dates so that these events are not (re)counted in the caseload statistics and do not distort pending caseload reports.