SJI NEWSLETTER SJI NEWSLETTER

In this Issue 

Page 1 

Volume 27, No. 2 

Hon. Jim Hannah 

Honored by the NCSC 

1 

Access to Justice for 

Native Peoples 

2 

New RFP for Civil Justice Technical Assistance 2 

Expedited Actions 

Rules in Texas 

3 

November 2016 

Grant 

Deadlines

If you would like to apply for a 

grant from SJI, our next deadlines for FY 2017 are as follows: 

February 1, 2017 ; May 1, 2017; 

and, August 1, 2017. 

Our Facebook and Twitter offer 

the latest SJI updates and our 

grantees’ work! 

Former SJI Board 

Chair Chief Justice 

Jim Hannah was 

posthumously inducted into the 

Warren E. Burger 

Society during the 

National Center for 

State Court’s 

(NCSC) Annual 

Recognition 

Luncheon on November 17, 2016. Chief Justice Hannah, who passed 

away in January 2016 at the age of 71, had served as 

SJI Board Chair since 2010, and also served as President of the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and 

Chair of the NCSC Board of Directors. Attendees 

included 18 members of his family, along with members from the SJI Board of Directors. The ceremony 

was hosted by Kentucky Chief Justice John Minton, 

CCJ President and Chair of the NCSC Board of DiChief Justice Jim Hannah Inducted 

Into the Warren E. Burger Society 

rectors. The Burger Society honors individuals who 

have volunteered their time, talent, and support to the 

NCSC in exceptional ways. It is named for the former Chief Justice of the United States who helped 

found the NCSC in 1971. 

Other inductees included: Wallace Jefferson, former 

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas and 

current Partner at Alexander, Dubose, Jefferson & 

Townsend in Austin, Texas; Donna Melby, Partner 

with Paul Hastings, LLP in 

Los Angeles; Edward Mullins, Jr, Partner with Nelson, 

Mullins, Riley & Scarborough, LLP in Columbia, 

South Carolina; and Myron T. 

Steele, former Chief Justice 

of the Supreme Court of 

Delaware and current Partner 

with Potter, Anderson & Corroon, LLP. 
Page 2 

SJI Newsletter Volume 27, No. 2 November 2016 

Improving Access to Justice for 

Native Peoples in the State Courts 

The New Mexico Administrative Office of 

the Courts (NMAOC) 

has released a new 

video documentary on 

Improving Access to 

Justice for Native 

Peoples in State 

Courts. The project was supported with SJI grant funding. 

The primary objective of this project was to develop a training and 

qualification process for court interpreters of the Navajo language and 

the languages of New Mexico’s Pueblos, which is culturally appropriate 

In July 2016, the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) approved a resolution endorsing the Recommendations of its Civil Justice Improvements 

Committee. The Committee’s report, Call to Action: Achieving Justice 

for All, encourages the state courts to improve their civil justice systems by providing 

13 recommendations. Since then, the Call to 

Action and supporting materials have been 

accessed, downloaded, and reviewed thousands of times, garnering attention from all 

stakeholders, including state courts, academia, and the media. 

The Civil Justice Initiative is supported by a 

partnership between the National Center for 

State Courts (NCSC), and Institute for the 

Advancement of the American Legal System 

(IAALS) at the University of Denver. With 

continued support from SJI, the NCSC and 

IAALS will promote the implementation of 

these recommendations in state courts across 

the nation. This collaboration includes providing education, technical assistance, and 

practical tools to assist state and local courts in improving civil justice 

systems. 

and protects the rights of tribal members as they access the state court 

system. The project is intended to be replicable in other states with 

tribal populations, and includes training for judges and state court personnel. As you will hear and see in the documentary, participants from 

New Mexico’s Pueblos and the Navajo Nation engaged in deep and 

useful dialogue as they grappled with issues of language access in state 

courts. 

The NMAOC’s project team maintains a robust online presence including a website featuring a calendar of events, the project’s cumulative 

history, training, information about court interpreter credentialing, language access certification, and other resources. For more information, 

visit the New Mexico Center for Language Access. 

Technical Assistance Available 

to Improve Civil Justice in the State Courts 

Expert technical assistance is available to state and local courts to implement the Recommendations of the CCJ Civil Justice Improvements 

Committee. To be considered for this technical assistance, please 

download and complete the full 

CJI Implementation Request for 

Technical Assistance form, and 

email to Blake Kavanagh, at 

bkavanagh@ncsc.org. 

An NCSC representative will 

contact you to discuss the request, including identification 

of appropriate experts and the 

scope of work anticipated. 
Page 3 

SJI Board of Directors

Chair 

Chase T. Rogers 

Chief Justice 

Supreme Court of Connecticut 

Hartford, CT 

Vice Chair

Daniel J. Becker 

State Court Administrator 

Utah AOC 

Salt Lake City, UT 

Secretary 

Gayle A. Nachtigal 

Senior Circuit Court Judge 

Washington County Circuit Court 

Hillsboro, OR 

Treasurer 

Hernan D. Vera 

Principal 

Bird Marella P.C. 

Los Angeles, CA 

Jonathan Lippman 

Chief Judge of New York (ret.) 

Of Counsel 

Latham & Watkins, LLP 

New York, NY 

David V. Brewer 

Justice 

Oregon Supreme Court 

Salem, OR 

Wilfredo Martinez 

County Judge 

9th Judicial Circuit of Florida 

Orlando, FL 

Marsha J. Rabiteau 

Executive Director 

Legal Policy Strategies Group 

Bloomfield, CT 

John B. Nalbandian 

Partner 

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP 

Cincinnati, OH 

Isabel Framer 

President 

Language Access Consultants, LLC 

Copley, OH

Jonathan D. Mattiello 

Executive Director 

The State Justice Institute is a federallyfunded, non-profit corporation established by 

federal law in 1984 to improve the quality of 

justice in the state courts. 

SJI Newsletter Volume 27, No. 2 November 2016 

New Report on the Impact of 

Expedited Actions Rules in Texas 

With support from SJI, the National Center for State Courts 

(NCSC) and the Texas Office of 

Court Administration partnered 

to evaluate the impact of the 

Texas Expedited Actions Rules, 

which were enacted in 2013 to 

reduce expense and delay in 

civil litigation. The rules are 

mandatory for almost all civil 

cases involving monetary damages of $100,000 or less 

(“expedited actions”), and damages awarded for expedited 

actions cannot exceed 

$100,000. 

The evaluation compared characteristics and outcomes of civil cases 

filed both before and after the expedited actions rules were enacted. It 

also surveyed attorneys about the expedited actions rules and the impact on civil case management. Students from Baylor University 

School of Law interviewed judges and attorneys to provide a more nuanced context about how the rules impacted strategic decision-making 

and calendar management in individual cases. Analysis of the case-level 

data indicated that the Expedited Actions Rules had a positive impact on 

civil case processing. In contract cases, settlements increased at the 

expense of summary judgment and trial outcomes, while trial rates grew 

in tort cases, replacing summary judgments. The new rules also decreased time to disposition for cases that settled. Cases disposed by trial 

or summary judgment experienced some initial delays, presumably due 

to the relative complexity of those cases, but cases lasting longer than 9 

to 12 months resolved more quickly under the new rules. It has already 

been observed that the apparent impact of the new rules appears to be a 

function of routine communications about the new deadlines and restrictions by court administration, rather than conscious decisions by judges 

and attorneys to change case management practices, which tends to highlight the importance of including court administration in educational 

programs about civil justice reforms. 

The full report is online and will be featured in upcoming editions of the 

NCSC’s @TheCenter publication, and a new civil justice newsletter that 

will launch soon.