Case Management Work Group

June 1, 2000

Workgroup Members Present: Judge Michael Donohue, chair; Judge Jeff Tolman; Judge Pamela Payne; Judge Gerald Knight; Judge Stephen Dwyer; Nettie Jungers, Nancy Jewett, Yolande Williams;

Guests: Judge Michael Roewe, Paul Steere, Kathy Gerke

Staff: Jenni Christopher, Doug Haake, Yvonne Pettus

Welcome/Introductions

Judge Donohue introduced himself and welcomed the workgroup members. Workgroup members introduced themselves.

Charge of the Workgroup

Members discussed the charge of the workgroup.
1. Evaluate the current case management statistics
2. Evaluate the use of courthouse facilitators for use in cases other than domestic relations
3. Evaluate current strategies used to manage cases.

The workgroup discussed the following issues:

• Whether civil cases are actually being heard in the trial courts;
• Use of retired judges;
• Use of arbitration and mediation;
• Courts of limited jurisdiction workload and ability to use other judges;
• Use of mediation as a case management strategy for small claims cases; and
• Need for more flexibility for judicial officers to hear cases at other court levels.

Project Timeline

Judge Donohue walked through the timeline as established by the Project 2001 Committee. Kathy Gerke discussed the need for sequencing requests for funding to the Legislature - not asking for $100 million at one time but over a period of several years.

Issue Discussion and Work Assignments

Courthouse facilitators - should there be financial guidelines, should there be a user fee. Judge Tolman and Nancy Jewett will prepare a proposal for the workgroup's consideration.

Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution/Expanded use of pro tem judges - Judges Donohue and Dwyer will prepare a proposal for the workgroup's consideration.

District Court Issues - do judicial officers need to hear mitigation hearings, should the jurisdiction of the traffic violation bureaus be expanded, are they some types of cases that non-judges could hear, e.g., name changes, small claims, tobacco violations, etc. Judges Tolman and Payne and Nancy Jewett and Yolande Williams will prepare a proposal for the workgroup's consideration.

Capacity of the superior court to meet the time standards - are the current reports adequate. Judge Knight will ask Bob Carlberg to prepare some information for the workgroup.

Superior Court Efficiencies - Nettie will provide a description of efficiencies from the clerk's perspective.

Differentiated Case Management - this may be an item for future study. Nancy Jewett and Linda Storck will prepare some information for the workgroup.

Election of County Clerks - Judge Donohue raised the issue of whether county clerks should be elected officials. The county clerks' role as the clerk of the superior court was discussed as a future study topic. Yolande Williams will prepare some information regarding the experience of the unification process in California regarding county clerks and other issues.

Automated Case Management - Judge Dwyer raised the issue of what the court record looks like during the course of the case. He would like to see real time entry in the computer system in the courtroom. He will prepare a description of his vision for this.

Circuit Riding Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Judges - the concept of several municipalities hiring a full-time judicial officer to serve as judge for various cities was discussed. Kathy Gerke described the circuit riding city manager program. She will provide the workgroup with some written description of the program.

Future Meeting Dates

The meeting was adjourned.