Efforts to resolve pandemic-related case backlogs
During the COVID-19 pandemic, health concerns affected the ability of all courts to safely hear cases in person. Under the guidance of the Michigan Supreme Court, courts implemented a variety of remote proceedings. While effective, these tools could not replace in-person, on-site trials and domestic, general civil, and criminal cases became backlogged. As the second largest general jurisdiction trial court in Michigan, the delays described above resulted in the Sixth Circuit Court for Oakland County developing significant trial backlogs.
The Sixth Circuit’s settlement program will target pending civil cases on the court’s Civil/Criminal dockets and domestic cases on the court’s Family Division dockets. The benefits of the program are two-fold. First, it will allow parties in designated civil and domestic cases to meet with a facilitator at no cost and work towards resolving the dispute. Cases that do not settle will receive expedited trial dates before the assigned judge or a visiting judge. Second, the resolution of the older civil and domestic cases will enable judges to focus more time and attention on criminal and delinquency cases. This will enable judges to spend more time conducting hearings and trials for those cases, specifically (though not exclusively) those cases involving in-custody defendants.
The net result of the settlement program will be the resolution of many pending cases. This will provide parties and those affected by the cases with finality as the Court takes another step towards normalcy following the historic disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In October of 2023, the Sixth Circuit Court for Oakland County will order approximately 600 general civil and domestic cases into its settlement program. With the assistance of the Oakland County Bar Association, several attorney facilitators will be assigned days during the settlement program period to resolve cases. Immediately following their facilitative settlement time, the parties will be directed to a visiting judge (appearing by zoom) to place their settlement on the record. Cases which are not settled during the process will be set for expedited bench/ jury trials (based on case age) before a visiting or the assigned judge from October 2023 through March 2024. The court’s case management office will send jury trial notices within one week of the case settlement date.
The settlement program will schedule Family Division cases on October 9 and 10. Civil Division cases will be set for October 16th, 17, 19, and 20. Motion call for October 18 will be conducted as usual.
Questions concerning the Sixth Circuit Court’s settlement program may be directed to the Case Management Office at 248-858-0350.
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