Sec. 473. Content of civil justice expense and delay reduction
plans
- (a) In formulating the provisions of its civil justice
expense and delay reduction plan, each United States district court, in
consultation with an advisory group appointed under section 478 of this
title, shall consider and may include the following principles and guidelines
of litigation management and cost and delay reduction:
- (1) systematic, differential treatment of civil cases
that
tailors the level of individualized and case specific management
to such criteria as case complexity, the amount of time
reasonably
needed to prepare the case for trial, and the judicial
and other
resources required and available for the preparation
and disposition of
the case;
- (2) early and ongoing control of the pretrial process
through
involvement of a judicial officer in -
- (A) assessing and planning the progress of a case;
- (B) setting early, firm trial dates, such that the
trial is
scheduled to occur within eighteen months after the filing of
the complaint, unless a judicial officer certifies that -
- (i) the demands of the case and its complexity
make such a
trial date incompatible with serving the ends of
justice; or
- (ii) the trial cannot reasonably be held within
such time
because of the complexity of the case or the number or
complexity of pending criminal cases;
- (C) controlling the extent of discovery and the time
for
completion of discovery, and ensuring compliance with
appropriate requested discovery in a timely fashion; and
(D)
setting, at the earliest practicable time, deadlines for
filing
motions and a time framework for their disposition;
- (3) for all cases that the court or an individual
judicial
officer determines are complex and any other appropriate cases,
careful and deliberate monitoring through a discovery-case
management conference or a series of such conferences at which
the
presiding judicial officer -
- (A) explores the parties' receptivity to, and the
propriety
of, settlement or proceeding with the litigation;
- (B) identifies or formulates the principal issues in
contention and, in appropriate cases, provides for the staged
resolution or bifurcation of issues for trial consistent with
Rule
42(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure;
- (C) prepares a discovery schedule and plan
consistent with
any presumptive time limits that a district court may
set for
the completion of discovery and with any procedures a district
court may develop to -
- (i) identify and limit the volume of discovery
available to
avoid unnecessary or unduly burdensome or expensive
discovery; and
(ii) phase discovery into two or more stages; and
(D) sets, at the earliest practicable time, deadlines for
filing
motions and a time framework for their disposition;
- (4) encouragement of cost-effective discovery through
voluntary
exchange of information among litigants and their attorneys
and
through the use of cooperative discovery devices;
- (5) conservation of judicial resources by prohibiting
the
consideration of discovery motions unless accompanied by a
certification that the moving party has made a reasonable and
good
faith effort to reach agreement with opposing counsel on the
matters set
forth in the motion; and
(6) authorization to refer appropriate cases to
alternative
dispute resolution programs that -
- (A) have been designated for use in a district
court; or
- (B) the court may make available, including
mediation,
minitrial, and summary jury trial.
- (b) In formulating the provisions of its civil justice
expense and delay reduction plan, each United States district court, in
consultation with an advisory group appointed under section 478 of this
title, shall consider and may include the following litigation management and
cost and delay reduction techniques:
- (1) a requirement that counsel for each party to a case
jointly
present a discovery-case management plan for the case at the
initial pretrial conference, or explain the reasons for their
failure to do so;
- (2) a requirement that each party be represented at each
pretrial conference by an attorney who has the authority to bind
that party regarding all matters previously identified by the
court
for discussion at the conference and all reasonably related
matters;
- (3) a requirement that all requests for extensions of
deadlines
for completion of discovery or for postponement of the trial
be
signed by the attorney and the party making the request;
- (4) a neutral evaluation program for the presentation of
the
legal and factual basis of a case to a neutral court
representative selected by the court at a nonbinding conference
conducted early in the litigation;
- (5) a requirement that, upon notice by the court,
representatives of the parties with authority to bind them in
settlement discussions be present or available by telephone
during
any settlement conference; and
(6) such other features as the district
court considers
appropriate after considering the recommendations of the
advisory
group referred to in section 472(a) of
this title.
- (c) Nothing in a civil justice expense and delay reduction
plan relating to the settlement authority provisions of this section shall
alter or conflict with the authority of the Attorney General to conduct
litigation on behalf of the United States, or any delegation of the Attorney
General.
[Updates |
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