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Monday, November 28, 2011

Ind. Courts - "Lazy judge" rule changed, effective Jan. 1st

From an article by Tom Carusillo in Indiana Court Times, headed "A New Process for Withdrawing Jurisdiction Due to Delay in Ruling":

Currently, after a party files a motion to withdraw with the clerk of the court where the case is pending and recorded in the clerk’s praecipe book, the clerk reviews the chronological case summary (CCS) and determines if the judge has delayed ruling as alleged. If the clerk determines that the record shows that the judge has delayed ruling, the clerk notifies the judge, the parties and the Supreme Court that the submission was withdrawn as of the date of the praecipe.

The new procedure will commence in the same fashion as the current rules, except that instead of the clerk making a determination about delay in ruling, the clerk will forward the praecipe and CCS to the Executive Director of State of Court Administration, who will determine if delay has occurred. * * *

The clerks ... have often expressed to the Supreme Court their discomfort with this duty and the difficulty they experience in assessing some of the more subtle issues that have an impact on whether or not withdrawal of the case from the trial judge is warranted. The Court was persuaded by their comments, and therefore this burden is being removed from the clerks.

Here is a list of earlier ILB entries referencing "lazy judge."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 28, 2011 03:01 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts