Mass Tort
New Hampshire
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New Hampshire Superior Court Rule 27-A. Class Actions.

Superior Court Rule 45. Use of video tape deposition.

Superior Court Rule 63. Standing pretrial orders.

Superior Court Rules 81 to 85-A. Trials before auditors, masters and referees. 

Superior Court Rule 170. ADR.

Superior Court Rule 170-A. Arbitration by agreement.

Superior Court Rule 171. Summary jury trial.

Supreme Court Rule 12-B. Scheduling order: pre-hearing evaluation conference.

Supreme Court Rule 12-C. Judicial referee panels.

Superior Court Administrative Order No. 6 requires counsel in medical malpractice, product liability, and/or complex civil trials to meet with the reporter or monitor each trial day at least one hour prior to the time set for start of trial to provide photocopies of all journals, articles, treatises, etc., as well as the correct spelling of all medical, scientific, technical terms or names. (1994)

Selected Superior Court orders are available online.

Final orders issued by the state supreme court in cases heard by 3JX (three-judge panel appeal) are available online. According to Supreme Court Rule 12-D(3), such orders have no precedential value and shall not be cited in any pleadings, etc. However, such orders may be cited and shall be controlling with respect to claim preclusion, law of the case, and similar issues involving the parties or facts of the case in which the order was issued.

See also case management.

New Hampshire Supreme Court Rule 8. Interlocutory appeal from ruling.

New Hampshire Supreme Court Rule 9. Interlocutory transfer without ruling.

See also Interlocutory Transfer without Ruling Form and Interlocutory Appeal from Ruling
Form.

McGraw v. Exeter Region Coop. Sch. Dist. (2000) 765 A.2d 710. Interlocutory transfer without ruling.

Superior Court Rule 62 provides for pre-trial procedures and settlement conferences. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the clerk "shall schedule a Structuring Conference for each case entered on the civil and equity dockets." Such conference must occur between 60-120 days after the return. Counsel must be prepared and authorized to discuss issues, set schedules for discovery and other case preparation, including additional conferences, ADR, summary jury trial, settlement, or trial. Superior Court Administrative Order No. 24 allows such conferences to be conducted via telephone in Grafton County. Administrative Order No. 32 expands the order to include all counties. Even those cases exempted from the Rule 62 conference (see Administrative Order No. 31) must schedule early status conferences for certain petitions, "inasmuch as these classes of cases may involve unusual issues or require some level of management by the court."

Superior Court Rule 170 requires parties in a civil case to select one of the following forms of ADR: neutral evaluation, mediation, arbitration, or binding arbitration. Election of  the appropriate process and date of such process is made at the case structuring conference. 

Supreme Court Rule 12-B requires a scheduling order, pre-hearing evaluation conference, declination of acceptance order, or order of summary disposition. Judicial referee panels may also be used, pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 12-C.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court Committee on Justice System Needs and Priorities recommends several case management innovations in its final report: A Vision of Justice: The Future of the New Hampshire Courts. Manchester, NH: Committee, 1994.

See also technology.

Depositions via video are allowed per Superior Court Rule 45.

In 2004, the court contracted with Tyler Technologies to provide trial courts with a case management system (Odyssey). The system allows judges and staff to share information and documents electronically from one court to another, and allows court managers to obtain workload data.

New Hampshire Supreme Court Committee on Justice System Needs and Priorities. See their final report (1994), particularly the work by the technology subcommittee. Updated case management system (CMS) allows for system-wide database and uninterrupted exchange of information among system users. There is also a CMS working group. Began e-noticing of hearings and court orders simultaneously with implementation of CMS at each court site (p. 8).