ENROLLED
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Regular Session, 2012
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 81
BY REPRESENTATIVES HUVAL, ABRAMSON, ARNOLD, BADON, BARROW,
STUART BISHOP, BURRELL, CHAMPAGNE, EDWARDS, GAROFALO,
HENSGENS, HOLLIS, LEBAS, LEOPOLD, LIGI, MILLER, JAY MORRIS,
ORTEGO, PIERRE, THIBAUT, AND ALFRED WILLIAMS
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To urge and request the Louisiana State Law Institute to study jury trial procedures in order
to create an expedited or summary jury trial and to make specific recommendations
for legislation.
WHEREAS, courts have struggled to design procedures to provide litigants with
speedy, inexpensive, and fair resolutions to civil cases; and
WHEREAS, litigants frequently desire to try their cases before a jury, but choose not
to due to the increased costs and delays involved in impaneling either a six-person or twelve-
person jury; and
WHEREAS, certain states, including South Carolina, New York, and California,
have developed expedited or summary jury trial procedures which have been successful in
more efficiently using judicial resources; and
WHEREAS, the expedited or summary jury trial is based on a federal model with key
features such as short, time-limited trials, relaxed rules of evidence, smaller juries, fewer
witnesses testifying, and more control given to the attorneys who participate by mutual
consent; and
WHEREAS, expedited or summary jury trial procedures modeled after successful
procedures employed in other states and enacted in this state could result in more efficient
use of our judicial resources and provide greater access to juries by civil litigants.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the Louisiana State Law Institute to study jury trial procedures in order to
create an expedited or summary jury trial process and to make specific recommendations for
legislation. ENROLLEDHCR NO. 81
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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
to the director of the Louisiana State Law Institute and that the Louisiana State Law Institute
report its findings and recommendations in the form of specific proposed legislation to the
Legislature of Louisiana on or before January 1, 2014.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI VES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE