News Item
‘Rocket Docket’ pilot expands to Olmsted County District Court on July 1

Posted: Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Olmsted County District Court will soon be participating in a pilot project known as ‘Rocket Docket,’ an expanding effort by the Minnesota Judicial Branch to reduce the duration and cost to litigants of processing certain civil cases.

Officially known as the Expedited Litigation Track (ELT), the pilot is already in place in three locations: Hennepin County District Court, Dakota County District Court, and St. Louis County District Court in Duluth. A recent Supreme Court order added Olmsted County District Court in Minnesota’s Third Judicial District to the pilot, effective July 1, 2016. 

In these pilot counties, certain civil cases are assigned to the ELT pilot track, and are managed through a process that assures early involvement by a judge and requires automatic disclosure of relevant information, while limiting the overall amount of time parties can conduct discovery. Cases assigned to the pilot are given a trial date within four to six months of the filing of the action or the assignment to the ELT, and the pilot curtails subsequent continuances of trial dates.

The civil case types assigned to the ELT pilot track are: Consumer Credit Contract, Other Contract, Personal Injury, Other Civil, and Conciliation Court Appeals. These case types represented more than half of all Major Civil cases filed in Minnesota in 2015. Assignment of cases to the ELT is mandatory, subject to the right of a party to bring a motion within a certain time period to opt out.

In 2015, the Minnesota Judicial Branch completed an evaluation of the ELT pilot based on the early results from Dakota and St. Louis counties. The evaluation showed modest improvement in the time to disposition of the cases involved in the pilot, which led to the expansion of the pilot into Hennepin County. In addition, attorneys and litigants involved in the pilot reported through survey responses that the ELT improved the overall quality of justice and access to the courts. 

“The goal of the ELT pilot is to reduce delays in litigation and to make the process more efficient and less costly for Minnesotans to resolve their civil cases in our courts,” said Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Christopher Dietzen, liaison to the Minnesota Supreme Court Civil Justice Reform Task Force that recommended the pilot program.

Minnesota Third Judicial District Chief Judge Jeffrey D. Thompson said that judges in Olmsted County, led by the efforts of Judge Christina Stevens, are looking forward to being part of this pilot.

“The Olmsted County judges are looking forward to joining the ELT pilot,” said Judge Stevens, who will run the pilot in Olmsted County. “Olmsted County has enjoyed success with its family court management using Early Case Management/Early Neutral Evaluation, and the judges saw value in offering ELT to the people we serve in civil court. The Olmsted County judges actively sought out ELT, and we are pleased to have the support of the local civil bar in bringing this innovative program to our community.”

Find more information on the Expedited Litigation Track pilot project.