The "Best Practices" amendments to the New Jersey Court Rules became effective September 5, 2000. Unlike many other amendments to the New Jersey Court Rules over the years, Best Practices may have a significant impact on new and existing environmental cases filed in New Jersey state courts. The amendments seek to improve the efficiency and pace of the litigation process, with the guiding principle being that a single judge for pretrial case management and realistic discovery periods would yield an enforceable discovery completion target date. This, in turn, would allow a credible trial date to be set, thus putting an end to the common expectation that a case will reach trial only after multiple adjournments.
The Best Practices amendments institute state-wide uniformity on various matters throughout the litigation process that currently are discretionary, such as discovery deadlines, trial calendars, and adjournments of trial dates. At the initial filing stage, for instance, a plaintiff will file a complaint and a new form of Case Information Statement ("CIS") that classifies the case as one of four tracks. The tracks, called Track I, II, III, and IV in ascending order of complexity, determine how a case will progress thereafter.
A case's track assignment determines the discovery period, ranging from 150 days for Track I, to 300 days for Track II, and 450 days for Tracks III and IV. Each case is also assigned a particular judge for all pretrial purposes. That judge is responsible for the management of the case until the Trial Information Statement ("TIS") (also amended under the new rules) is filed. A judge assigned to a Track IV case, however, will retain the case through trial. It is important to note that after the court notifies parties of the track assignment for a case, each party has the ability to move to change that assignment.
Some environmental cases fall within Track III, others in Track IV, and still others are not specifically addressed by Best Practices. For instance, toxic tort cases are designated Track III and environmental coverage litigation cases are assigned to Track IV. However, actions brought under the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act for the recovery of cleanup and removal costs are not explicitly assigned to either track. In such cases, the plaintiff will need to provide a description of the action in the CIS and the clerk of the court will determine upon which track to place the matter.
Case management conferences are not ordinarily conducted in cases assigned to Tracks I, II and III. A party may request or the pretrial judge may decide to conduct a case management conference, however, if it appears that such a conference will "assist discovery, narrow or define the issues to be tried, or otherwise promote the orderly and expeditious progress of the case." A Track IV case, on the other hand, is required to have a mandatory case management conference, typically within 60 days of filing the complaint. The expected level of involvement by the pretrial judge is clearly suggested by the track of the case. Therefore, for environmental cases not explicitly assigned to a given track, litigants should ensure that the description of the case provided to the clerk makes the strongest case possible for the desired level of pretrial oversight.
Following the end of discovery, a TIS must be served within ten days certifying that discovery is complete and the case is ready for trial. The parties are then given an eight week notice of trial. Pretrial conferences have been replaced by attorney conferences and mandatory exchanges of specified trial information seven days before the initial trial date.
One of the most significant changes made by Best Practices regards the timing of trials. If a case is not reached for trial during the week to which it initially was assigned, a date will be set by the court after consultation with counsel. The amendments also adopt a strict adjournment policy. Namely, if an adjournment has already been granted because of the unavailability of an expert, no further adjournments will be allowed for that reason, and a party seeking a second adjournment for that reason will be required to proceed to trial with the expert's videotaped deposition.
Best Practices seek to provide relief to busy court dockets. Best Practices also may provide the tools necessary to bring even the most vigorously litigated environmental matters to faster and less costly conclusions. In the end, Best Practices represent a thoughtful effort to relieve a significant amount of strain currently placed on the judicial system and to reduce the cost to litigants associated with that strain.
