It’s a new year, and just as the seasons change, so do the calendar assignments for the Justices of the Rhode Island Superior Court. The latest Administrative Order, effective December 31, 2017, is a mix of stare decisis and some notable developments.
As expected, the newest Justice to the bench, Melissa A. Long, will continue to sit on the Motion Calendar in Providence County and hear a steady diet of pre-trial and dispositive motions. Justice Long has sat on the Motion Calendar since her appointment late last year, which prompted Justice Keough to move from the Motion Calendar to the Formal and Special Cause Calendar in Providence, which in turn created a new role for Justice Licht, who had sat on the Formal and Special Cause Calendar.
The notable development in the latest judicial assignments is Justice Stern’s continued assignment to the Business Calendar in Providence County, and Justice Licht’s assignment to the Out-County Business Calendar. Since time immemorial (which in this case means 2001), Justice Silverstein has presided over the Business Calendar in Providence County. And from the creation of the Out County Business Calendar in 2011 until 2017, Justice Stern presided over it, usually (but not always) sitting in Kent County. Justice Licht took over the reins of the Out County Business Calendar in September 2017, and continues to preside over it.
Under the latest Administrative Order, Justice Silverstein is “in charge” of the Providence County Business Calendar, Justice Stern is to “assist” on the Providence County Business Calendar, and Justice Licht is “in charge” of the Out County Business Calendar.
Before Justices Stern and Licht took the bench, Justice Silverstein was the only judge who regularly heard business matters. Now three judges are doing what one judge used to do. What’s the reason for the three-fold expansion in judicial resources?
One possibility is the growing popularity for single judge assignments in state court cases. Superior Court justices are generally not assigned specific cases except by special order, but the Business Calendar is a notable exception to the general rule. Normally, in the state court system, different Superior Court justices will hear a discovery motion, preside over the trial, and conduct post-trial proceedings. Because there are no automatic scheduling orders in Superior Court, cases can sit for long periods of time, and there is no guarantee that the same Justice who heard an earlier discovery motion will hear a related motion filed later in the same case. A Justice might rotate off a specific calendar, or move to a different courthouse, before the case is heard again. The recent switch from Justice Keough to Justice Long is an example of this. Justice Keough may have entered a discovery order, and it will now be up to Justice Long to decide whether to issue a sanction if a party does not comply with Justice Keough’s order.
Unlike most civil Superior Court cases, as a practical matter, cases on the Business Calendar are assigned to one judge. This means that Justices Silverstein or Stern have typically heard cases from start to finish. In this way, the Business Calendar tracks the federal court system, where cases follow the same judge-magistrate judge tandem throughout the life of the case. The assignments in the federal system are reflected in the docket number of the case. For example, C.A. No. 17-001-WES-LDA would mean that the case is permanently assigned to Chief Judge William E. Smith (“WES”) and Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond (“LDA”), and C.A. No. 17-002-JJM-PAS means the case is assigned to District Judge John J. McConnell (“JJM”) and Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan (“PAS”). About a month ago, the federal court changed the identification of the District Judges from one letter to three letters, while the Magistrate Judges have always had three letters. (E.g., until a month ago, C.A. No. 17-001-WES-LDA would have been C.A. No. 17-001-S-LDA). For people who are really interested, Judge McConnell’s identifier changed from “M” to “JJM” in the docket number, Chief Judge Smith changed from “S” to “WES.” And for people who are really, really interested, it’s worth noting that the single letter identifiers in docket numbers for the District Judges were historically really confusing. “L” meant Judge Lagueux (not Judge Lisi), “M” meant Judge McConnell, and “ML” meant Judge Lisi (ML stood for Mary Lisi).
Some parties or their attorneys prefer a system with single-judge assignments. Under the single-judge system, the same judge hears a motion to dismiss a complaint, rules on a motion in limine, conducts a trial, and hears post-trial motions. In this type of system, judges tend to be more familiar with the facts and remember their prior rulings and dealings with the parties and attorneys. The expansion of the Providence and Out County Business Calendars could be viewed as supply meeting demand, as more parties and their attorneys seek assignment of their cases to the single-judge model.
Another possibility that could explain the new judicial assignments on business matters is that we’re witnessing the beginnings of a changing of the guard for the Providence Business Calendar. It is a busy calendar that handles attractive and complex cases, with a long and distinguished history. As an added bonus, unlike the regular Superior Court law clerk pool, the Providence Business Calendar has a law clerk specifically assigned to the judge. From 2011 to 2017, Judge Stern presided over the Out County Business Calendar, but he is now assisting Judge Silverstein with the Providence Business Calendar. Judge Licht has also assisted Judge Silverstein with the Providence Business Calendar in 2015 and 2016, and Judge Licht is now in charge of the Out County Business Calendar. Perhaps Justice Silverstein is grooming one or both of the Justices to be the next Justice Silverstein one day. Does this possibility have any merit? Six months from now, the next Administrative Order should tell us more.