Preappeals Programs in American Courts

Abstract

That American courts now face ever increasing demands is an observa tion that needs little, if any, documentation. Spiraling caseloads have prompted varied relief efforts. Changes in decisional law to limit access to courts and in statutory law to modify jurisdictions are dramatic, but often cumbersome or unpopular, examples of the reform movement. Alternative forms of dispute resolution, moreover, are prominent considerations in the debate. More common perhaps are self-generated innovations designed to promote more efficient and effective judicial management. To reduce dock ets and work time, trial and appellate courts have usually restructured al ready scarce resources. Many of these experiments are reported and evalu ated in the professional literature. This essay reviews selected studies of recent preappeals programs in fed eral and state courts, and attempts to integrate relevant and potentially useful monographs and articles. Research pieces that have appeared in pre vious issues of the Journal are excluded (Mack, 1975; Olson and Chapper, 1983). One should note at the outset that, largely because few jurisdictions have experimented with these procedures, the literature is not voluminous. Despite a common subject matter, the studies that do exist vary markedly in nature, approach, length, and sophistication, resulting in a regrettable but unavoidable unevenness in this review. Some treatments are thorough and analytical; others are merely cursory and descriptive. Some attempt to test relationships through measures of statistical significance, while others are largely impressionistic. As readers may appreciate, any evaluation of evaluations must address the experiments themselves. It is infeasible and probably undesirable to separate totally these reviews from their subjects. For the sake of clarity and continuity, in fact, it may be helpful to use the programs to frame the analysis that follows. The nomenclature varies with the jurisdiction, but the programs ? preappeals, prehearing, preargument ? share certain common elements. First, they affect intermediate appellate courts and civil litigation. Second, they are implemented in jurisdictions with identifiable delay problems.