Special Commission on the Future of the New York State Courts

continue to handle such matters while enabling these same judges
to handle related matters and other matters depending on the
needs of the court system.
Claims Against the State. Our plan does not alter the
right of the state to a nonjury trial. Rather, claims against the
state would be heard in the State Claims Division of the Supreme
Court. Significantly – as is often the case – if there are claims
against defendants other than the state in the same lawsuit, these
claims could be heard in the same court, before the same judge.
If the other claims require a jury trial, the case could still be
consolidated for all pretrial purposes, including the entire
discovery phase, which is where much of the duplication between
the Court of Claims and other courts now occurs, as well as for
the trial itself, during which the same judge could preside over a
bench trial for the claims against the state and a concurrent jury
trial for all other claims.
Responses to Concerns. We have considered the
concern that has been expressed in the past that a restructuring
plan such as this will empower court administrators to reassign
judges arbitrarily or to retaliate for unpopular decisions. This
concern is addressed in detail in Section Seven of this Report,
but we have every confidence that OCA and its administrative
judges will act appropriately and in good faith. We note that
OCA has for many years had the power to reassign judges and
has not abused its authority in this regard. Likewise, a
restructured system would reduce the need for OCA initiatives
and temporary assignments that have raised these concerns in the
past. We have considered whether to create a mechanism that
would provide a check on administrative reassignment by
requiring the consent of the affected judge or by providing some
right of appeal. Because we do not believe there is a serious risk
of abuse of the judicial reassignment authority, we have not
included such a mechanism in our proposal. We note, however,
that such a remedy could be easily incorporated, if necessary to
ensure confidence in the new system.
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A Court System for the Future, February 2007