Des Moines, March 14, 2012 – Today, the task force established to propose reforms to Iowa's civil justice system released its final report, which is posted on the Iowa Judicial Branch website. The Iowa Civil Justice Reform Task Force studied and considered court innovations to make Iowa's civil justice system faster, less complicated, more affordable, and better equipped to handle the demands of Iowa litigants and users of the civil justice system.
In December 2009 the Iowa Supreme Court appointed a 14-member steering committee to oversee the work of the task force. In August 2010, seventy-one additional justice system stakeholders from across Iowa joined the task force. The membership represented business, labor, medicine, industry, consumer groups, the bench and the bar. For more than a year, the task force studied innovative litigation procedures and programs that work well in other parts of the country.
"A dedicated group of 84 volunteers representing all shareholders in our court system engaged in a comprehensive assessment of the Iowa civil justice system, including a broad survey of all Iowa lawyers and judges, to identify new court processes and improvements in current practices that will promote efficiencies and reduce the often substantial costs of non-domestic civil cases," said Iowa Supreme Court Justice Daryl Hecht, the chair of the task force.
The task force has submitted its report to the Iowa Supreme Court, which will review the recommendations and findings contained in the report and consider implementation of cost-effective and promising reforms that will match the needs of Iowans.
The report is on the Iowa Judicial Branch website at:
http://www.iowacourts.gov/Advisory_Committees/Civil_Justice_Reform_Task_Force/index.asp
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