Evening star., 1939-08-13
BY Sudduth


fashion, prepared their respective sides
of the lawsuit. Now there are three
parties preparing the lawsuit for trial,
IN order that justice might be done
namely, the lawyer for the plaintiff,
the lawyer for the defendant and the
pretrial judge"
Sponsors of the pre-trial program say
that cases that normally would have
required at least several hours of rigor-
GUS trial in the courtroom are now
settled in 10 minutes, with a conference
between opposing counsel and the jurist
with both sides laying their cards on
the table"
And the National Capital, where cases
on the civil side of the calendar are
some 20 months behind their filing date
before they come to trial, as a rule, is
about to try the pre-trial procedure
method. Justice Bolitha J. Laws Of
District Court, at the instance of his
colleagues, went to Detroit and Boston
in December of last year to observe at
first hand the actual working of the
program. Assisting him in formulating
the groundwork here were such promi-
nent Washington attorneys as Charles
w. Arth, Wilbur L. Gray, George P.
Hoover, Edmund L. Jones, Lawrence
Koenigsberger, Frank F. Nesbit, Alvin L.
Newmyer, Henry L Quinn, H. Mason
WEIGH, H. Winship Wheatley. Godfrey
L. Munter and Percy H. Marshall.
Named on Special Committee.
District Court had designated Justices
Daniel w. ODonoghue, Oscar r Luhring
and Laws as special committee to
inquire into pre-trial procedure. Then,
the court, in general term, on June 6,
adopted an order, directing that the
pre-trial practice be Instituted here this
coming term. And so Justice Laws, who
advocated the program for the National
Capital has been designated as the pre-
trial justice and on September 18 pro-
poses to launch the actual work of win
moving out the facts of each case which
can be agreed upon before trial-or
compromising cases-or even throwing
out those lacking real merit
Justice Laws, writing in the journal
for July of the District of Columbia Bar
Association, has thus summarized the
virtues of pre-trial procedure 1t brings
about compromises in great number of
cases which otherwise would be tried:
in number of instances, attorneys for
the plaintiff become convinced at the
pre-trial session that they have no cause
OF action against certain defendants and
the cases against such defendants are
dismissed; the pleadings are analyzed
in the light of what is expected to be
proved, and any amendments necessary
to be made are permitted to be filed and
any issues on the pleadings with regard
to which there is no cause for question
are stipulated, and thus it becomes un-
necessary for a number of witnesses to
be called and kept waiting at the trial
Former Attorney General Homer Cum
mings, in March, 1884, forwarded to Con-
gress the draft of measure to empower
the Supreme Court of the United States
to prescribe rules to govern the practice
ana procedure IN civil actions at law.
The bill was designed to promote sim
plicity and uniformity of practice in all
Federal courts.
Unified System of Rules.
Congress enacted such a measure and
it became law on June 10, 1884 A year
later the Supreme Court entered an order
to prepare unified system of general
rules. Assisting the highest tribunal
were eminent lawyers and law teachers.
Judges, bar associations and the lawyers
generally had hand in the gigantic
task. Out of the mass of suggestions
came the proposed rules of civil pro-
cedure.
And SO, in June of last year, after the
House Judiciary Committee had investi-
gated the program, Chairman Summers
OF that body was able to report that the
new rules be permitted to take effect.
And Congress interposed no official OBJ
lection and so they became, in effect, the
law of the land.
And the program for pre-trial proceed
ure is grounded on rule 16, under which
a Federal District Court may direct tha
attorneys for the parties to appear be-
fore it for conference to consider sim
plification of the issues, the necessity
or desirability of amendments to the
pleadings, the possibility of obtaining
admissions of fact and of documents
which will avoid unnecessary proof, the
limitation of the number of expert wit.
nesses, the advisability of a preliminary
reference of issues to master for find
ings to be used as evidence when the
trial is to be by jury and other peril
nent matters that might aid in the dis
position of the action.
The Federal courts all over the land
are taking up the pre-trial procedure.
as well as other features of the new
civil rules, and they are expected to
prove the polar star by which the State
judicial ships will set their compasses,
as well. State courts in Detroit, Boston
and Los Angeles, among others, have
already proven the worth of the pre-.
trial practice. before 1t was adopted by
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