This article discusses a new law in Alabama allowing parties to hire a private judge to preside over certain cases, including non-jury personal injury claims. In addition to providing details of the new law, this article also identifies the benefits that a personal injury claimant may reap from utilizing the new private judge system.
Alabama’s budget concerns have been a major topic of discussion in recent history. The state’s financial woes have had a significant impact on the court system, resulting in numerous lay-offs in almost every county courthouse in the state.
While many judges, attorneys, and litigants have been quick to point out that reductions in court employees has led to slowed and sometimes stalled dockets, most have had no solutions to keep cases moving throughout the court system. The result was that some Alabama personal injury claims had essentially fallen victim to the financial constraints of local courts.
Fortunately, a recently-enacted law provides a new option to personal injury vi
ctims in Alabama. The law, which became effective this summer, allows parties to certain disputes to agree to hire a private judge to preside over their case. The private judge must be a former/retired Alabama state judge with at least six years of experience on the bench and in the legal field in which they are hired to hear a case.
While the private judge option is not available to cases where utility companies and the state of Alabama are named parties, it is available to most non-jury tort cases like automobile accidents and other common personal injury claims.
Under the law, once a case is filed in state court the parties can agree to ask the trial court judge to appoint a private judge to preside over the case. Both parties split the costs of the private judge and the case proceeds as if it were in the traditional court system. As they may in the traditional setting, parties may appeal a private judge’s ruling to the state’s appellate courts.
The new option may be beneficial for an individual bringing a personal injury claim. Instead of waiting months or years for a trial, the private judge system intends to streamline the process and allow for a quick (or at least a quicker) resolution of a party’s claim.
