DIFFERENTIATED CASE MANAGEMENT
In response to the growing public perception that civil justice in U.S. takes too long and costs
too much, Congress adopted the Civil Justice Reform Act (CJRA) of 1990 which required each district court to implement a delay and cost reduction plan by the end of 1993.
Under the Act, the Northern District of Ohio was one of two districts required to "EXPERIMENT with systems of differentiated case management that provide specifically for the assignment of cases to appropriate processing tracks that operate under distinct and explicit rules, procedures, and time frames for the
completion of discovery and for trial." 28 U.S.C. § 482.
In response to that congressional mandate, as well as the Sixth Circuit's request that all district courts review their local rules, the Northern District of Ohio adopted new local rules effective January 1, 1992 which incorporate a differentiated case management plan along with a broad menu of court annexed ADR techniques. Because these rules were adopted at the beginning of 1992, the court was also designated a CJRA Early
Implementation District. The designations as both a demonstration district and an early implementation district place the Northern District of Ohio in the national spotlight and it is anticipated that many of the components of the court's new DCM and ADR systems will eventually be adopted on a national basis.
The Local Rules set forth the Differentiated Case Management (DCM) plan adopted by the Court.
DCM: DCM is a case management system that rejects first-in, first-out
and other forms of hands-off case processing in which all cases are treated as if they were alike. It formalizes and standardizes the active brand of case supervision long favored by the Judicial Officers of the Northern District of Ohio. DCM remains flexible to meet the unique aspects of each case.
GOAL: Reduce cost and avoid unnecessary delay without compromising the independence or the authority of either the judicial system or the individual judicial officer
METHODS OF IMPLEMENTATION:
DCM:
1 Provides early and continuing judicial intervention
2 Establishes "event date" certainty for case management conferences, status hearings and for trial
3 Relies upon cooperation between bench and bar
4 Establishes discovery cutoffs and motion deadlines
5 Limits discovery; promotes phased discovery; streamlines approach to resolving discovery disputes
6 Utilizes Alternative Dispute Resolution
7 Assigns cases to one of five case processing tracks
DCM TRACKSEXPEDITED:
issues are few and clear | to be completed in 9 months 100 days of discovery | STANDARD:
issues are typical | to be completed in 15 months | COMPLEX:
issues are numerous or complex | to be completed in 24 months discovery cutoff established at initial case management conference | MASS TORT:
for asbestos, Multi District Litigation, etc. | afforded special treatment in accordance with unique aspects of the litigation | ADMINISTRATIVE:
social security reviews,
student loan defaults, etc. | can generally be resolved on the pleadings or by motion no discovery permitted without leave of court where appropriate, referred directly to a Magistrate Judge for a report and recommendation |
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KEY DCM EVENTS:
Case Management Conference LR 16.3(b): (usually held within 90 days of filing)
Assign case to track
Determine whether to utilize electronic filing
Set deadlines for joining parties and amending complaints
Establish the applicability of the initial disclosure provisions of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)
Establish discovery limitations, encourage voluntary exchange of discovery and phased discovery
Set discovery cutoffs and motion deadlines
Schedule status hearing
Explore ADR (typically, early neutral evaluation)
Status Hearing LR 16.3(d): (usually held midway between CMC and discovery cut-off date)
Review case progress and appropriateness of track assignment, discovery limitations and discovery and motion deadlines
Set firm trial date
Schedule final pretrial conference
Explore ADR (typically, mediation-settlement conferencing)
Final Pretrial Conference LR 16.3(e): (usually held about one week before trial)
Finalize Witness Lists
Address Motions in Limine
Mark Exhibits
Propose Voir Dire
Propose Jury Instructions
Explore ADR (typically, an adjudicative form of ADR such as arbitration, the summary jury trial or the summary bench trial)
Firm Trial Date LR 16.3(d):
If the assigned judicial officer is unable to hear the case within one week of its assigned trial date, the case shall be referred to the Chief Judge for reassignment for prompt trial.
Discovery Disputes LR 37.1:
The Court has adopted a streamlined method to resolve discovery disputes which requires a party to certify that a sincere good faith
effort has been made to resolve the dispute before it can be brought to the attention of the judicial officer. Upon certification, the rules encourage judicial officers to attempt to resolve the dispute through a telephone conference and then by an exchange of letters. If the dispute remains unresolved, the parties may simultaneously file their respective memoranda in support of and in opposition to the
requested discovery by a date set by the judicial officer, who will also schedule a hearing on the motion to compel to be held within three days after the date the memoranda are to be filed. No discovery dispute may be brought to the attention of the judicial officer and no motion to compel may be filed more than ten days after the discovery cut-off date.
Motion Practice LR 7.1 (b-k):
All motions, unless made during a hearing or trial must be in writing LR 7.1(c).
Length of memoranda are governed by LR 7.1(g).
Dispositive motions shall not exceed 10 pages in length for expedited cases, 20 pages for standard and administrative cases, 30 pages for complex cases and 40 pages for mass tort cases. Memoranda relating to all other motions shall not exceed 15 pages in length. All motions exceeding 15 pages, except those in social security review cases, shall have a table of contents, a table of
authorities, a brief statement of the issues and a summary of the argument presented. | 
