North Dakota Courts Annual Report 2004

The North Dakota Supreme Court has five Justices. Each Justice is elected for a ten-year term in a nonpartisan election. The terms of the Justices are staggered so that only one judgeship is scheduled for election every two years. Each Justice must be a licensed attorney and a citizen of the United States and North Dakota.

One member of the Supreme Court is selected as Chief Justice by the Justices of the Supreme Court and the District Court Judges. The Chief Justice's term is for five years or until the Justice's elected term on the court expires. The Chief Justice's duties include presiding over Supreme Court and conferences, representing the judiciary at official state functions, and serving as the administrative head of the judicial system.

The North Dakota Supreme Court is the highest court for the State of North Dakota. It has two major types of responsibilities: (1) adjudicative and (2) administrative.

In its adjudicative capacity, the Supreme Court is primarily an appellate court with jurisdiction to hear appeals from decisions of the district courts. All appeals from these courts must be ripe for review by the Court. In addition, the Court also has original jurisdiction authority and can issue such original and remedial writs as are necessary to exercise this authority.

The state constitution requires that a majority of the Justices is necessary before the Court can conduct its adjudicative business. In addition, the Court cannot declare a legislative enactment unconstitutional unless four of the Justices so decide. When the Court reverses, modifies, or affirms a trial court judgment or order, it is required to issue a written opinion stating the reasons for its decision. Any Justice disagreeing with the majority opinion may issue a dissenting opinion which explains the reasons for the disagreement with the majority.

In its administrative capacity, the Supreme Court has major responsibilities for ensuring the efficient and effective operation of all non-federal courts in the state, maintaining high standards of judicial conduct, supervising the legal profession, and promulgating procedural rules which allow for the orderly and efficient transaction of judicial business. Within each area of administrative responsibility the Court has general rule-making authority.

The Court carries out its administrative responsibilities with the assistance of various committees and boards. It exercises its authority to admit and license attorneys through the State Board of Law Examiners. Its supervision of legal ethics is exercised through the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court and its supervision of judicial conduct is exercised through the Judicial Conduct Commission. Continuing review and study of specific subject areas within its administrative jurisdiction is provided through five advisory committees- the Joint Procedure Committee, the Joint Committee on Attorney Standards, the Judiciary Standards Committee, the Court Services Administration Committee, and the Judicial Planning Committee. Other committees, such as the Juvenile Policy Board, Personnel Policy Board, Continuing Judicial Education Commission, and the Legal Counsel for Indigents Commission, also provide valuable assistance to the Supreme Court in important administrative areas.

Administrative personnel of the Supreme Court also play a vital role in helping the court fulfill its administrative functions. The clerk of the Supreme Court supervises the calendaring and assignment of cases, oversees the distribution and publication of Supreme Court opinions, administrative rules and orders, decides certain procedural motions filed with the Court, and serves as an ex-officio member to the State Board of Law Examiners and the Disciplinary Board. The state court administrator is responsible for the budgetary oversight of the judicial system, prepares statistical reports on the workload of the state's courts, provides judicial educational services, and performs such other administrative duties that are assigned by the Supreme Court. The state law librarian supervises the operation of the state law library.

The North Dakota Supreme Court has traveled around the state on a continual basis since the spring of 2000. High schools in Linton, West Fargo, Des Lacs-Burlington, New Rockford, Rugby, Edgeley, Watford City, Crosby, Minot, Fessenden, Northern Cass, Bottineau, Grafton and Kenmare have been visited. The Turtle Mountain Community College, North Dakota State University, University of North Dakota School of Law and Minot State University have also been visited. The Justices spend time in individual classrooms answering questions about the court system and the Supreme Court, and then hear oral arguments in a pending case. The Court plans to continue its traveling in 2005. The cooperation of counsel traveling to these schools for arguments is very much appreciated.

Following two years of tremendous increases in appeals from drug offenses, appeals in these types of cases decreased by 62% in 2004. This contributed to the decrease in the number of new criminal filings.

The number of appeals in family related cases accounted for 26% of the civil caseload in 2004. This is slightly lower than last year. The number of administrative agency appeals increased, comprising 14% of the civil caseload. Appeals in personal injury, contracts, foreclosure, and mental health proceedings also increased more than other civil case filings.

The Justices each authored an average of 46 majority opinions, with 48 separate concurrences and/or dissents. Oral arguments were scheduled in 220 cases.

The most appeals originated from the South Central Judicial District, followed by the East Central, Southeast, Northwest, Northeast, Northeast Central and Southwest Districts.

In addition to preparing for and attending oral arguments, and researching and writing decisions, the Justices attend weekly motions conferences to consider case related motions the Chief Justice or the Clerk of the Supreme Court do not act on. There were 728 motions filed in 2004, the Clerk acted on 44% of those under the authority of North Dakota Supreme Court Administrative Rule 5.

The Supreme Court website continues to add information and has become a necessary legal research tool. Briefs submitted to the Court for the past two to three years are posted, as well as all published opinions back to 1974. The Court plans to post all published opinions back to 1950 on the website.

The year ended with Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle being elected to another 10-year term as a Justice. He has been serving on the Court since August 15, 1978. He was also elected to another 5-year term as Chief Justice by the Justices and District Judges. He has been Chief Justice since January 1, 1993.

CASELOAD SYNOPSIS OF THE SUPREME COURT FOR THE 2003 AND 2004 CALENDAR YEARS

	2003	2004	Percent Difference
New Filings Civil Criminal	361 230 131	357 251 106	-1.11 9.13 -19.08
Transferred to Court of Appeals Civil Criminal	0 0 0	0 0 0	0 0 0
New Filings Balance Civil Criminal	361 230 131	357 251 106	-1.11 9.13 -19.08
Filings Carried Over From Previous Calendar Year	172	*199	15.70
Total Cases Docketed	533	556	4.32
Dispositions Civil Criminal	334 234 100	373 238 135	11.68 2.15 35.00
Cases Pending as of December 31	*199	183	-8.04

*Correction from previous report.

Case Dispositions - 2004

The Court of Appeals was established in 1987 to assist the Supreme Court in managing its workload.