Robert Burns, the poet and not my father, wrote about how the best laid plans often go awry. So it is with my intention to write here more often. Obviously, that has not happened in the past month…ish. Apologies.
It also seems a fitting maxim for the CCB since I have now filed three cases there, the first being in late July, and none has been reviewed yet. This seems to be an issue. I was contacted by someone asking about my experiences and I mentioned that I hadn’t had any except for the filing of cases yet and he said he’s hearing that from others, too. So, I checked to see what’s happening with others’ cases. The results are both odd and frustrating.
First, some cases do seem to be proceeding. However, I’ve found cases from early July that haven’t been reviewed yet but others that were filed much later which have been reviewed. As I looked for what differentiated a reviewed one from a non-reviewed, the best I can figure is that if the case looks obviously flawed, it gets reviewed faster than one that looks proper on first glance. For example, there is a case against a federal governmental entity (you can’t sue the US in the CCB) and it got reviewed in less than a month and the CCB filed a notice that the claim had to be amended for it to proceed. Another was filed on July 7 then the claimant asked to amend the claim which was approved on August 3 and then that claim was found non-compliant on September 6. There are more than one that are just crazy with filings, so much so that the CCB issues an order to stop filing docs (like this one) but even then those cases got reviewed faster.
In short, there just doesn’t seem to be a clear system for what gets reviewed when, which is frustrating for the people waiting. It’s been 40 days since I filed the first one and if it gets reviewed and passes today, then I have to serve the respondent and then they have a good long time to opt out before anything else happens, like their answer. If I had filed in federal district court instead, my client would likely be close to if not actually starting discovery by now. If it was here in the Southern District of California, we’d likely have the ENE scheduled, even (an ENE is like a free mediation done by the court–lots of cases settle at or shortly after an ENE).
It would, in my opinion, be helpful if the CCB would make it clear how they decide what cases are reviewed when. I didn’t see anything in the handbook on this issue so I assumed it would be simple chronology; but it is clear that something else is afoot.