NCJ Number
98020
Date Published
1984
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the growing backlog of cases in the Nation's civil court system, reports on the movement to divert some types of cases to alternative mechanisms for dispute resolution, and addresses court-administered arbitration.
Abstract
Increases in civil cases filed in the Nation's courts have resulted in serious problems of congestion and delay. One of the leading causes of the problems, discovery, is now the target of much of the current movement toward judicial management of cases. Across the country there is a growing trend of diverting certain kinds of cases from the trial process to such alternative mechanisms as arbitration and mediation. Court arbitration programs may be established by State statute, as in New Jersey, or by rule of a State supreme or local court. All programs authorize the courts to compel arbitration of civil damage suits that fall within a specified jurisdictional limit. Researchers in two Institute for Civil Justice studies -- one an evaluation of the first operational year of the California arbitration program and the other a study of a much older program in Pittsburgh -- concluded that arbitration can significantly reduce congestion, costs, and delay. Researchers found that the Pittsburgh program offers an efficient and essentially fair procedure for resolving civil disputes to a broad cross section of citizens. New Jersey pilot arbitration programs in Burlington and Union Counties, in effect since spring 1984, were also evaluated. Preliminary results indicate a high degree of satisfaction by both attorneys and litigants.