11th Judicial Circuit of Florida
For Immediate Release
January 10, 2017
Contact: Eunice Sigler, Director
Office of Government Liaison & Public Relations
Phone (305) 349-7189 Fax (305) 349-7190 Cell (786) 348-7381
The Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida has been selected as the first of three jurisdictions nationwide to conduct demonstration projects to study the implementation of innovations aimed at reducing cost and delay in civil cases. The Miami-Dade project will focus on the effects of active case management on the timely and cost effective resolution of these cases.
The project arose from recommendations of the Civil Justice Initiative (CJI), a three-year effort by the Conference of Chief Justices, supported by the National Center for State Courts and the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, to evaluate evidence-based best practices within the nation’s civil courts and their impact on cost and delay.
The Miami demonstration project is made possible by a $100,000 grant from the State Justice Institute, administered by the National Center for State Courts. The Eleventh Circuit has created a team of trained case managers and support staff to assist judges in four circuit civil divisions selected to participate in the project. Attorneys whose cases are blind-filed into the four pilot sections are receiving letters with detailed information on the program and its responsibilities and expectations.
Judges Monica Gordo, Norma Lindsey, Thomas Rebull, and Rodney Smith have been chosen to participate in the project at start, and the project will expand to county court in the future. The program utilizes staff on routine matters, such as deadline reviews, so that judges can focus on the important due process and substantive issues in the case.
“Active Case management provides real-world solutions for the real-world problems of cost, access and delay that litigants and lawyers experience every day,” said the Honorable Jennifer Bailey, administrative judge of the Miami-Dade Courts’ Circuit Civil Division, who is spearheading this project. “If it costs too much and takes too long, cases will no longer be entrusted to state courts. It is the court’s job to assure timely and cost-effective resolution, with the appropriate staffing, monitoring and enforcement of the existing rules of civil procedure, existing case management tools, and firm and realistic trial dates.”
Judge Bailey served on the 24-member Civil Justice Improvements Committee charged with reviewing the evidence behind the best practice recommendations. She also served as Chair of the subcommittee on court operations, one of two subcommittees on CJI.
More information on the Civil Justice Initiative may be found here.
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If you are a person with a disability who needs any accommodation in order to participate in this proceeding, you are entitled, at no cost to you, to the provision of certain assistance. Please contact the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court’s ADA Coordinator, Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse Center, 175 NW 1st Ave., Suite 2702, Miami, FL 33128, Telephone (305) 349-7175; TDD (305) 349-7174, Fax (305) 349-7355 at least 7 days before your scheduled court appearance, or immediately upon receiving this notification if the time before the scheduled appearance is less than 7 days; if you are hearing or voice impaired, call 711.