Abstract

Previous reform efforts have not fully addressed the underlying issues facing civil litigation. In response, the Civil Justice Improvements (CJI) Committee produced thirteen recommendations to do just that. To test the effectiveness of these recommendations, demonstration pilot projects were funded by the State Justice Institute to empirically test their effects on civil case processing and litigation.

In 2016 the Circuit Civil Division of the 11th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, Miami-Dade County, implemented one of the first demonstration projects: the CJI Pilot Project (CJIPP). The focus of the evaluation would be on Recommendation 7, which describes the civil case management team (CCMT) model. The purpose of the CCMT is to streamline civil case processing by assigning specialized roles with a team to monitor and enhance case processing. Four teams were formed consisting of a judge, case manager, judicial assistant, and bailiff. To test the effects of the CCMT, outcomes of cases assigned to CJIPP judges were compared to those of non-CJIPP (baseline) judges. This evaluation highlights the benefits gained by use of the CCMT model, but also describes the challenges to effective utilization. CJIPP, as with most pilot projects, encountered obstacles that were met with creative and cooperative solutions to ensure proper implementation and full benefits. Lessons learned are described to support the adoption of this model in other state courts.

This abstract has been taken from the authors' executive summary.

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

4-2019

Publication Information

National Center for State Courts (2019)

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