Unit of Count:  Civil

 

A petition or civil complaint begins a civil case in most trial courts.  The civil complaint informs the defendant of the facts and legal grounds upon which the plaintiff bases a claim for legal redress and requests that legal action begin. Count the filing of the complaint/petition with the clerk of court as the beginning of a civil case.  The Grand Total Dispositions figure should be an aggregate count of the total number of cases in that case type category disposed by the court during the reporting period.  Report the number of civil filings and dispositions by case type, according to the subject matter at issue as defined in the Civil Case Type Definitions.  The Manner of Disposition matrix provides a means to report the manner in which trial court civil cases were disposed.  For cases involving multiple parties/issues, the manner of disposition should not be reported until all parties/issues have been resolved.  When there is more than one type of dispositive action in a case, count as the disposition that action which requires the most judicial involvement.  In other words, prioritize the dispositive actions as follows:

 

·        Jury trial

·        Bench trial

·        Summary judgment

·        Settlement

·        Default judgment

·        Dismissed–want of prosecution

·        Transfer to another court

·        Other

 

            Notes:

 

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR):  When a case has been referred by the court to alternative dispute resolution, we recommend that the court note the referral and track subsequent case activity under the case number initially assigned.  The court should also report the number of cases resolved through ADR processes in the Alternative Dispute Resolution column of the Manner of Disposition matrix.

 

Consolidated case:  This is a case in which two or more actions are combined and tried/processed as one case.  In reporting trial court dispositions, all the cases except the one into which the cases were consolidated should be reported as disposed at the time of consolidation, and the disposition(s) should be reported in the Manner of Disposition matrix under Other Civil Dispositions.  When the consolidated case has been decided, the disposition should be reported under the appropriate manner of disposition category.

 

Inactive case: Cases that are administratively classified as inactive should be reported in the Caseload Summary matrix as Placed on Inactive Status. When the case is reactivated, report it as a Reactivated case, classified by case type.  For example, a civil case should be placed on inactive status if one of the parties has filed for bankruptcy, and the case is subject to an automatic stay.

 

Reopened case: Cases in which a judgment has previously been entered but which have been restored to the court’s pending caseload due to the filing of a request to modify or enforce that existing judgment should be reported in the Caseload Summary matrix as Reopened. When the reopened case is disposed of, report the case in the Caseload Summary matrix in the Dispositions column in the column labeled Reopened.  For example, a civil case that was previously disposed, but later returned to the court’s pending docket due to a motion that requests periodic payments on a judgment should be considered a reopened case.