A Historic Opportunity to Simplify New York State Courts
1.15.2020
Since 2016, the state court system has been focused on the Excellence Initiative: speeding case management and improving the efficiency and quality of our justice services. Thanks to the hard work and commitment of judges, court staff and the Bar, we have made tremendous progress curbing court backlogs and delays in every jurisdiction of the state. We expect further progress as we work with the Bar to institutionalize early presumptive ADR into the civil case management process statewide.
These gains in productivity have been achieved despite the fact that we operate with the most convoluted, outdated and inefficient trial court structure in the nation – a structure that has not been modified in over half a century.
In our so-called “Unified Court System,” one of our 11 different trial courts may be struggling with overwhelming filings and backlogs while another court nearby is underutilized. But there are entrenched practices and cultures and jurisdictional barriers that prevent us from quickly and efficiently moving resources to where they are most needed. This is a major contributor to backlogs and delays.
The inefficiencies inherent in this fragmented system harm all litigants in the state courts, especially families. A divorcing couple with children must commence their divorce action in Supreme Court, but if they have custody, visitation or support issues, they must proceed in Family Court, often in a different building and in front of a different judge unfamiliar with the family’s legal history. The result is more court appearances, more lawyers’ fees, more lost days at work, more childcare and transportation costs and more stress and frustration.
The Bench and Bar have an obligation to improve the quality, efficiency and affordability of our courts and our justice services. New Yorkers expect and deserve a modern court system that is easy to access, use and understand; that speeds rather than impedes the resolution of cases; that keeps litigation costs down for individuals and businesses; that gives judges and court staff flexibility to perform their job functions effectively; and that enables judges to decide cases in a more coordinated, cost-effective manner.
We have proposed an amendment to the State Constitution that would achieve these ends by streamlining our bewildering patchwork of 11 different courts into a simplified three-tier trial court structure consisting of: (1) a Statewide Supreme Court into which the Court of Claims, County Court, Family Court and Surrogate’s Court will be merged; (2) a Statewide Municipal Court replacing the New York City Civil and Criminal Courts, Nassau and Suffolk District Courts and 61 upstate City Courts; and (3) the Justice Courts, which will not be affected by the proposal.
We are heartened by the steadfast support of NYSBA. President Hank Greenberg testified at last November’s Joint Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committee Hearing on Court Consolidation and explained how the courts’ outdated structure places intolerable burdens on real people and how our proposal will enable more efficient resolution of cases with fewer court appearances and less expense while making the best use of the courts’ limited resources.
There are additional benefits to our proposal. Judicial diversity outside New York City would be improved by incorporating a significant number of county-level minority and women judges into the pool of Supreme Court Justices eligible for gubernatorial appointment to the Appellate Division. Just as important, upstate residents would benefit from having an elected Supreme Court Justice sitting in every county. Presently, in western New York’s Seventh and Eighth Judicial Districts, for example, nearly all of the elected Supreme Court Justices hail from the most populous counties of Monroe (7th J.D.) and Erie (8th J.D.), leaving the other counties in those very large Districts with no sitting elected Supreme Court Justices.
Too many groups within the justice system have been focused on whether our proposal would adversely affect the status and prerogatives of their members. We have gone out of our way to avoid harm to any group. As an example, we have adopted a “merger-in-place” approach which preserves the status quo with respect to the politically sensitive questions of how different judges are selected and the terms that they serve. Such issues will remain unchanged, as court simplification is not about politics or judicial selection.
Change is never easy, however, and no proposal to streamline so massive and sprawling a structure as ours can please everyone. We are open to any comments and suggestions that will make the proposal better, but we must not allow parochial interests to stand in the way of this historic opportunity to improve the quality of justice in our state. Ultimately, we must pursue what is in the best interests of the millions of people who come through our courthouse doors seeking justice. The people we serve rightly expect and deserve a court system that is modern, accessible and affordable – a court system that is focused on their needs.
Putting the public interest first is something that is long overdue. We are the only state in the nation that operates with such a complicated, inefficient and outdated trial court structure. California, with double our population, has a single trial court. New Jersey and Pennsylvania, large states and close neighbors, have three each.
We look forward to working with NYSBA to amend the State Constitution. Together we can make sure that New York has a modern, streamlined court system capable of meeting the 21st century needs and expectations of the people and businesses we serve. Achieving this vital goal will require passage by the Legislature not just once, but twice, in 2020 and 2021, followed by the voters’ approval at the ballot box in November 2021. We need your help and support.
Janet DiFiore was appointed Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals and of the State of New York in 2016. She served as an Assistant District Attorney in Westchester County and Chief of the Narcotics Bureau. She was elected to the Westchester County Court in 1998 and went on to sit by designation in the Family Court, Surrogate’s Court and Supreme Court. In 2002, she was elected to the Supreme Court in the 9th Judicial District, and in 2003 was appointed to serve as the District’s Supervising Judge for the Criminal Courts, in which capacity she led a collaborative effort involving judges, court staff and justice partners that completely eliminated the backlog of criminal cases in all five counties of the District. Judge DiFiore also played a leadership role in establishing several problem-solving courts, including the first Domestic Violence Court in Westchester County (and one of the first in the state).
Under the Excellence Initiative, Chief Judge DiFiore has spearheaded reforms to the New York State courts to work more efficiently. She continues to champion reforms in addressing opioid abuse, housing court, technology, and other efforts to expand access to civil justice for low-income New Yorkers.
Chief Judge DiFiore is a graduate of C.W. Post College, Long Island University (B.A. 1977), and St. John’s University School of Law (J.D. 1981). She lives in Bronxville with her husband Dennis E. Glazer, and they have three grown children and two grandchildren.
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