A white paper is now available from the Civil Justice Initiative that explores the feasibility of using data elements that are routinely collected in court case management systems to triage cases into the most appropriate pathway for civil case processing.

The study is based on actual case complexity as measured by the degree of judicial involvement in resolving more than 500,000 fully disposed civil cases in Arizona, Missouri, and Palm Beach County, Florida.  Using information collected from case pleadings (complaint and answer), the algorithms included in the final triage model assigned civil cases to the correct pathway in 93 percent of cases filed in limited jurisdiction courts/divisions and 74 percent of cases filed in general jurisdiction courts/divisions.  The paper concludes with geographical and structural considerations for automated civil case triage, and implementation recommendations.

This project gained momentum when the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) endorsed the work of the CCJ Civil Justice Committee, inclusive of recommendations that called for maximizing the efficiencies of court processes to minimize civil caseload delay.