In July 2009, Chief Judge Brewer of the Oregon Court of Appeals, gave us an update on changes to Oregon appellate practice caused by funding challenges at the Oregon Judicial Department:

Dear Colleagues,

In March of this year, I reported to you about the significant budget challenges facing the Oregon Court of Appeals. My purpose here is to inform you about the progress of some elements of the plan that we have begun to implement to meet these challenges.

The Legislative Assembly was responsive to the challenges facing the Court of Appeals and enacted our proposed legislation with few alterations. The bill comprising those changes—2009 SB 262—was signed by the Governor on June 4, 2009. The amendments are as outlined in my March message and are as follows:

• ORS 2.570 has been amended to allow the court, as needed, to decide cases in two-judge panels (with a third judge added to break a tie vote) or use up to two pro tem judges in cases decided in three-judge panels.
• ORS 19.415 has been amended to permit the court to exercise de novo review on a discretionary basis, in much the same way that the Supreme Court currently employs that standard.

SB 262 contained an emergency clause, and the amendments to ORS 2.570 are presently effective. Under section 3 of SB 262, however, the amendments to ORS 19.415 apply only to cases in which a notice of appeal is filed after the effective date of the act.

The Court of Appeals has adopted temporary amendments to the Oregon Rules of Appellate Procedure in connection with the amendments to ORS 19.415. The amendments are set out at the end of this message. Among other things, those amendments set out a nonexclusive list of items that the court may consider when deciding whether to exercise its discretion to engage in de novo review. As temporary amendments, those amendments will go through the next regular cycle of the Oregon Rules of Appellate Procedure committee, in the spring of 2010, and will be open to public comment before becoming permanent. The court hopes that the permanent amendments will be improved both by comments submitted by members of the bar and by some experience with SB 262 and the temporary amendments in practice. Comments on the amendments may be directed to Lora Keenan, lora.e.keenan@ojd.state.or.us or Oregon Court of Appeals, 1163 State Street, Salem, Oregon 97301-2563.

David Brewer
Chief Judge
Oregon Court of Appeals
July 16, 2009

Editor's Note: To see the temporary admendments, view them directly from the Judical Department's Website.

Reprinted with permission.

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