Recent budget cuts have led to increased clogging of court dockets that are already overburdened by litigants in financial distress. Attorneys are constantly reminded of how the budget cuts are impacting their clients. Forget the minimum statutory notice period for law and motion — now parties may be waiting for months before hearing dates are available in many courts. With the reduction in hours that courts are open for business, pleadings are processed slower, increasing costs to litigants trying to ensure that their documents are timely filed. And as a result of court staff layoffs, it can take weeks, if not months, for orders to be entered. Some judges have even stopped holding oral argument on ex parte applications and instead take the matters under paper submissions only, thus increasing the time it takes to obtain an order on an application that was filed on an emergency basis. As a result of these budget cuts, litigation has become more expensive and will take longer to resolve with the reduced access to the courts.
To that end, alternative dispute resolution options are becoming increasingly critical in the current economic climate. While in banking and real estate litigation, many lawsuits will remain unaffected by ADR because only a court can provide provisional remedies (writs of attachment or possession, receiverships, injunctions), and other litigation is positioned to be readily resolved on an early dispositive motion, there remain many situations in which ADR may prove to be the parties’ most cost-effective and timely option to resolve a dispute.
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