Report on Standardization of Operating Procedures and Best Practices in the Special Civil Part

REPORT ON STANDARDIZATION OF OPERATING PROCEDURES
AND BEST PRACTICES IN THE SPECIAL CIVIL PART

Note: These reports are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. PDF documents preserve the look and feel of the original print documents. However, in order to view PDF documents, you must install the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free of charge from the Adobe web site.Access.adobe.com provides a set of free tools that allow visually disabled users to read documents in Adobe PDF format. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader

• Report on Standardization
• Appendix A: Resolution of the Conference of Civil Presiding Judges
• Appendix B: Charge letter dated 3/18/99 from Chief Justice Poritz to the Chair of the Committee of Special Civil
  Part Supervising Judges
• Appendix C: Letter dated 7/1/99 from Committee Chair Hon. Patrick McManimon to Ann R. Bartlett, Esq,
  President, NJSBA
• Appendix D: Memorandum dated 7/13/00 from Administrative Director Richard J. Williams to Judge
  McManimon granting extension of time for completion of report.
• Appendix E: Checklist for Review of Affidavits of Proof
• Appendix F: Extract from the 2000 Report of the Civil Practice Committee re Rule 4:59-1 Execution
  
  Published herewith is the September 2000 Report of the Committee of Special Civil Part Supervising Judges on Standardization of Operating Procedures and Best Practices, including appendices “A” through “F”. The Report is the product of a year long effort by the Supervising Judges, acting as a Committee of the Conference of Civil Presiding Judges, that included extensive dialogue with the organized bar, Civil Division Managers, Special Civil Part Clerks, and the Supreme Court Committee on Special Civil Part Practice. The Judicial Council has reviewed the Report and recommended to the Supreme Court that the recommendations contained therein be approved with the following exceptions:

1. In calendaring small claims and other Special Civil Part actions for damages, the complementary dispute resolution event provided for in Recommendations #9 and #20 should be scheduled for the same day as the trial so that unnecessary multiple appearances by litigants are avoided, not merely “minimized” as stated in Recommendation #9.
    
2. Recommendation #13, calling for an amendment to Rule 1:13-7(b) regarding the restoration of actions dismissed because of lack of service, should be approved in part. However, the Judicial Council recommends that motions to restore a case more than one year after its dismissal should be made ex parte, rather than on notice to the defendant as proposed by the Committee. This would require that the amendment to that rule include a provision that explicitly preserves defendant’s right to raise a statute of limitations defense in the main case if the court orders restoration of the case.

The Supreme Court invites written comments on this Report and the recommendations that it contains. Please send any such comments by Monday, July 23, 2001 to Hon. Richard J. Williams, Administrative Director of the Courts, Hughes Justice Complex, P.O. Box 037, Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0037. Comments may also be submitted by e-mail to the following address: Comments_mailbox@njcourts.gov. All comments must include the author’s name and address (or e- mail address).

Comments submitted in response to this notice will be maintained in confidence if the author specifically requests confidentiality; in the absence of such a request, the author’s identity and comments may be subject to public disclosure.