Baltimore County Circuit Court, coun- sel can request a modification or extension of a scheduling order deadline by letter instead of by motion.33 Abbott advised that Baltimore County Circuit Court now refers contract cases, tort cases from district court, and worker’s compensation cases to mediation in ad- dition to a settlement/pretrial conference. Mediation costs $150 per hour and is shared by the parties. A maximum of two hours is allotted for mediation, but the time can be extended if all counsel con- sent. Abbott reports that mediation has proven quite successful in clearing the court’s docket. As of August 31, 2000, 2,400 cases were referred to mediation. Only 140 cases were removed because a party or an attorney requested to opt out of the mediation. Results were reported on 1,644 cases. Of those cases, 610 cases were settled, dismissed or stayed prior to mediation. Of the 1,034 cases remain- ing, 433 cases (42%) settled at the mediation session.34
All cases, except for
those that have been successfully medi- ated, will be scheduled for a settlement conference with a judge. Abbott reports that for the past four years, a majority (74% to 82%) of the cases referred to settlement conferences settle. Baltimore County Circuit Court as- signs trial dates with the scheduling order. However, a case may not always be tried on its assigned trial date. Baltimore County Circuit Court prioritizes cases for assignment and employs a standby policy when there are not enough judges to hear the cases scheduled for trial.35
The court
prioritizes cases using the following crite- ria:
• Age of the case in relation to oth- ers;
• Whether a case has carried-over from the previous day;
• Whether a case has been specially assigned;
• Whether a case has been granted a “right-of-way” status (cases previ- ously postponed or given special status because of an out-of-state party);
33
Interview with Richard F. Abbott, DCM Coordinator, Baltimore County Circuit Court. (Dec. 7, 2001).
34
Baltimore County Circuit Court, “Alterna- tive Dispute Resolution in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County” (Aug. 2001).
35
Circuit Court for Baltimore County Civil Differentiated Case Management Plan (2001), available at
http://www.co.ba.md.us/ p.cfm/agencies/circuit/
civilmgmtplan.cfm
Summer 2002
• Whether a case is on standby from the previous day;
• Whether the case has been regularly scheduled for trial;
• The estimated length of trial; • Whether there is a judge available to hear the case for the length of time expected.
Jury cases may remain on the standby list for two days and non-jury cases may remain for up to a week, after which time they are postponed, assigned another trial date and given a right-of-way status.36 When asked if he had any advice for attorneys litigating in Baltimore County’s Circuit Court, Abbott advised that coun- sel should read the scheduling orders and be prepared before a mediation and settle- ment conference.
C. Circuit Court for Baltimore City DCM was first implemented in Balti- more City’s Circuit Court in 1995.37
Its
coordinator, Associate Administrator Marilyn Bentley (“Bentley”), has been managing the system since 1997. The DCM system is similar in many respects to the DCM systems of Baltimore County and Montgomery County Circuit Courts; however, there are some differences. Bal- timore City Circuit Court categorizes cases on the following tracks:
Expedited Types of cases: administrative appeals, worker’s compensation appeal (non- jury), appeals from district court and orphan’s court, foreclosures, guardianships. Trial is set 30 to 120 days after the
defendant’s Answer or the record is filed.
Standard-Short Types of cases: torts with actual dam- ages up to $7,500; contract claims up to $20,000; worker’s compensation appeal (jury), condemnations; injunc- tions and declaratory judgments. Trial is set 7 months after the
defendant’s Answer. 36
Id.; Interview with Richard F. Abbott, DCM Coordinator, Baltimore County Circuit Court. (Dec. 7, 2001).
37
Telephone interview with Marilyn Bentley, Associate Administrator, Baltimore City Cir- cuit Court (Dec. 28, 2001). Comments in this article attributed to Mrs. Bentley are from the December 28, 2001 telephone in- terview.
Trial Reporter
Standard-Medium Types of cases: torts with actual dam- ages over $7,500, but less than $50,000; contract claims over $20,000, products liability, medical malpractice. Trial is set 12 months after the
defendant’s Answer. Lead-paint/Asbestos
Specially-Assigned Cases Types of case: technology cases, patent cases - cases designated by the Admin- istrative Judge because of the type of case, complexity of issues, pretrial mat- ters or trial time. Trial is typically set 18 months af- ter defendant’s Answer is filed.38
Other than type of case, Bentley also considers factors such as proposed trial length and number of parties when cat- egorizing a case. In approximately 80 percent of the cases, the defendant will file a case information sheet and choose a track. If the plaintiff chooses the Stan- dard Short track and the defendant chooses the Specially-Assigned track, Bentley advised that the court would place the case on the Standard-Medium track.39 A party can file a motion with the court if the proposed tracking is inappropri- ate.40 Baltimore City Circuit Court gener- ally does not specially assign cases to judges.41
Upon written motion, the Ad-
ministrative Judge specially assigns a case to a particular judge. Bentley advised that the motion should explain why the case should not be handled on the regular docket, focusing on factors such as com- plexity of subject matter and/or legal issues, type/extent of damages, number of parties, number of experts expected to be called, number of motions expected to be filed. A specially assigned judge will work with counsel to draft a scheduling order
(Continued on page 22) 38
Baltimore City Circuit Court, Differentiated Case Management System (2001), available at
http://www.baltocts.state.md.us/civil/ dcm.htm
39
Telephone interview with Marilyn Bentley, Associate Administrator, Baltimore City Cir- cuit Court (Dec. 28, 2001).
40Id. 41
Baltimore City Circuit Court, Differentiated Case Management System (2001), available at
http://www.baltocts.state.md.us/civil/ dcm.htm; Telephone interview with Marilyn Bentley, Associate Administrator, Baltimore City Circuit Court (Dec. 28, 2001).
21
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