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The Nevada Supreme Court is taking aggressive steps to resolve a lingering problem in the District Courts in Clark County – a backlog of medical malpractice cases. During the month of May, two-judge teams of senior judges will conduct settlement conferences in medical malpractice cases at a rate of two a day. Eighteen or more conferences will be set each week.
This innovative process has been referred to as the “medical malpractice settlement marathon.”
Justice Michael Cherry, who supervises the Senior Judge Program, said the settlement program will target the 216 oldest cases. Of those, 109 were filed more than two years ago.
“This process will provide unique access to the justice system and to some of our most experienced judges,” Justice Cherry said. “Attorneys with pending medical malpractice cases were sent letters about the settlement program and have been very enthusiastic about submitting their cases for the conferences.”
In his State of the Judiciary speech on March 24, Chief Justice James W. Hardesty told a joint session of the Nevada Legislature that “more than 400 medical malpractice cases are pending today.” These do not include the approximately 430 cases involved in the endoscopy litigation in Clark County.
“While the courts would like to have taken these non-endoscopy cases to trial within the time frames established by the Supreme Court and the Legislature, that simply could not be accomplished in nearly a quarter of these cases because there are not enough judges or courtrooms to do so,” Chief Justice Hardesty stated in his address.
The Legislature set a time limit of two years for medical malpractice cases to be resolved or go to trial. The Supreme Court rule sets the deadline at three years.
“We realize that we will not be able to resolve all pending cases during May, but we do not expect that all litigants will choose to enter the settlement program,” said Justice Cherry. “The response so far has been exceptional and if we get more cases than we can accommodate in May, we will extend the program into June.”
“The Eighth Judicial District Court is extremely thankful for the leadership and support of the Supreme Court in helping Clark County attempt to resolve these medical malpractice cases,” said Chief District Judge Arthur Ritchie. “The Eighth Judicial District would not have been able to provide an opportunity for litigants to settle these cases without the assistance of the Supreme Court and its Senior Judge Program.”
Resolving older cases has become critical because of an influx of new cases.
Presiding Civil District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez stated in a March 25 letter to the Supreme Court: “In February of 2009, we experienced a substantial increase in Med Mal filings, which may further impact our ability to manage these cases. The total filings for the month of February 2009, was 237, of those, 218 were endoscopy cases.”
On April 13, judges involved in the marathon will meet with attorneys involved in those pending cases to set the settlement conference schedule.
In the letter announcing the May settlement conferences, attorneys were notified that conferences must be attended by all parties and attorneys, plus an insurance carrier representative “with full settlement authority – not an adjustor or some person who has no independent decision making authority.”
A week before a settlement conference, parties must submit a confidential settlement brief including facts of the case, a history of the case, a confidential analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the client’s case, any unusual legal issues, and a bottom line settlement figure.
Copies of key expert witness reports must also be submitted.
Justice Cherry noted that if all settlement conference slots during the marathon are not filled voluntarily, the courts will mandate attendance by litigants and lawyers and impose sanctions on those who do not comply.
“Our intent is to get as many cases resolved as possible so only the most serious and complex go to trial,” said Justice Cherry. “The number of judges we have is limited and we want to make the best use of their time and the time of our citizens who are called to jury duty.”
“Both the Supreme Court and the Nevada Legislature understand how important it is to conclude medical malpractice cases fairly and in a reasonable amount of time,” added Chief Justice Hardesty. “We believe this marathon will assist in reaching those goals.”
“If this settlement program is as successful as we believe it will be, we hope to conduct such marathons twice a year,” Chief Justice Hardesty said.
CONTACT
Bill Gang
Public Information Officer
Nevada Supreme Court
702-486-3232 office
702-279-6375 mobile
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