Civil justice reform sunset

This article uses the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 (CJRA) as the backdrop for addressing efforts to increase uniformity, simplicity, and transsubstantivity, and to decrease expense and delay in civil litigation. Professor Tobias discusses both the origin and the implementation of the CJRA. By requiring each federal district court to formulate a civil justice expense and delay reduction plan, the purpose of the CJRA is to decrease expense and delay in civil litigation. Professor Tobias argues that the CJRA has been successful because districts have applied techniques that have saved cost and time and have provided new data that may prove valuable upon evaluation. Yet he argues that the CJRA does have shortfalls. A primary shortfall addressed in this article is that the CJRA effectively suspended the purpose of the Judicial Improvements Act of 1988 (JIA) to increase uniformity and simplicity in civil litigation. After a thorough evaluation of the effectuation of the CJRA, Professor Tobias ultimately suggests that policy makers capitalize on the best aspects of the CJRA and the JIA, and he offers proposals for the future to increase efficiency in civil litigation.