Articles

Bankruptcy and Court-Appointed Neutrals

It Is Time to Enhance Judicial Efficiency by Amending Rule 9031, Sylvia Mayer, American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, 2024

Best Practices for Court-Appointed Neutrals

What's In a Name? Reinventing "Special Masters" as "Court-Appointed Neutrals", Merril Hirsh, Court Review: The Journal of the American Judges Association, 2024

CPR’s Howard Law-Ray Corollary Initiative Event Seeks to Expand the ADR Profession’s Diversity Efforts, International Institute for Conflict Resolution and Prevention (CPR), 2023

Cybersecurity and Court-Appointed Neutrals

Cybersecurity Threats to the Judiciary, Claudia Rast, Judges' Journal, 2023

Class Action Monthly

Roles of Court-Appointed Neutrals

Court-Appointed Neutrals and Discovery

E-Discovery Mediation & the Art of Keyword Search, Daniel B. Garrie, Esq., Edwin A. Machuca, Esq.

Managing Discovery in Patent Cases: Best Practices, Martin Quinn, 2009

Special Masters and E-Discovery: The Intersection of two Recent Revisions to The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, The Honorable Shira A. Scheindlin & Honathan M. Redgrave, Cardozo Law Review, November, 2008

Court-Appointed Neutrals in Large Complex Cases

Mediation of the Snake River Basin Adjudication, Francis McGovern, 2006

Judicial Supervision of Attorney Fees in Aggregate Litigation: The American Vioxx Experience as Example for Other Countries, Edward F. Sherman (2009)

Administration of the 2003 Tolbert PCB Settlement in Anniston, Alabama: An Attempted Collabroative and Holistic Remedy, Edgar C. Gentle, III, 2009 -- This article, written by the court appointed administrator, explains the settlement of 18,000 PCB claims in Alabama. The settlement monies paid for personal injury and property damages and also funded a medical clinic and scientific research and community reconciliation. The author notes that a collaborative model was used to design the settlement and to ensure fairness. Settlement documents appear here.

Immunity of Court-Appointed Neutrals

Palmisano v. Tranchina, Louisiana Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, No. 44,948CA, 2010 — The Louisiana Court of Appeals held that a special master has “absolute judicial immunity”, identical to the immunity covering court appointed experts and other judicial officers. The court declared that the master was immune from claims that his fee of $27,000 was excessive and that he had acted unprofessionally. The court concluded that no cause of action for damages could be brought against the master and that the available remedy would be to bring a motion before the trial judge challenging the actions of the master.

Court-Appointed Neutrals and Patent Cases

A Study of the Role and Impact of Special Masters in Patent Cases, Jay P. Kesan, Ph.D. and Gwendolyn G. Ball, Ph.D., Federal Judicial Center, 2009

Court-Appointed Neutrals in State Courts

Proceedings