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Rule 80 – Supreme Court Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure

May 13, 2021 | Civil Procedure, Indiana

(A) Creation, members, terms of office, and removal. There is hereby created a committee to be known as the “Supreme Court Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure.” The committee shall consist of nine members appointed by the Supreme Court. All members of the committee shall be members of the bar of the state of Indiana. One member shall be a judge of the Court of Appeals of the state of Indiana, and one member shall be a judge of a trial court of original, general jurisdiction of the state of Indiana.

The term of each member shall be for five years, except that a member appointed to fill the vacancy of an unexpired term shall be appointed only for the remainder of the unexpired term. Any member may be removed by the Supreme Court.

(B) Officers, executive secretary, meetings, quorum, and compensation. The committee annually shall elect from among its members a chairman who shall preside at all meetings, a vice-chairman who shall preside at meetings in the absence of the chairman, and a secretary who shall keep the minutes of the meetings and prepare the agendas for the meetings. The committee, with the prior approval of the Supreme Court, may appoint an executive secretary of the committee who shall be a member of the bar of the state of Indiana and who shall serve at the pleasure of the committee. The executive secretary shall have the right and duty (1) to administer the committee’s work, (2) to supervise the maintenance of the committee’s records, and (3) to do all other things necessary and proper to carry out his rights and duties under this rule or as delegated to him from time to time by the committee.

The committee shall meet monthly at a time and place designated by the chairman, and the chairman in his discretion may call special meetings of the committee. Five members shall constitute a quorum at any regular or special meeting of the committee. The committee shall act by a vote of a majority of the members present at any regular or special meeting.

The members of the committee shall be allowed their necessary expenses and such reasonable compensation as the Supreme Court shall fix from time to time.

(C) Duties of the committee. The committee shall conduct a continuous study of the Indiana Rules of Procedure and shall submit to the Supreme Court from time to time recommendations and proposed amendments in order to promote simplicity in procedure, the just determination of litigation, and the elimination of unjustified expense and delay. Additionally, the Supreme Court committee on rules of practice and procedure shall serve as the evidence rules review committee as set forth in Rule 1101 of the Indiana Rules of Evidence.

The Supreme Court shall consider all recommendations and proposed amendments received from the committee.

(D) Procedure for amending rules. Except in case of an emergency or as otherwise directed by the Supreme Court, the procedure in this section shall be followed in amending the Indiana Rules of Procedure. On or before December 1, the committee shall cause to be published or otherwise made available for comment by the bench, bar, and public the preliminary draft of each amendment that it is considering submitting to the Supreme Court for adoption. The committee shall accept comments on the amendment for a period of sixty (60) days after publication, and may extend the period for comments upon request. Thereafter, the committee shall study all comments received. Only once each year on or before May 1, the committee shall submit to the Supreme Court for adoption the final draft of each amendment published, either as published or as amended further in light of the comments received, along with a complete copy of all comments received, unless the committee determines that the amendment requires further study or that the amendment will not promote the purposes of the Indiana Rules of Procedure. Only once each year on or before July 1, the Supreme Court shall act on each amendment received from the committee. On January 1 of the following year, each amendment adopted shall take effect unless the Supreme Court orders otherwise.
(E) Comments of the bench, bar, and public. All comments on and amendments proposed by the bench, bar, and public of this state to the Supreme Court committee on rules of practice and procedure, whether on or to preliminary drafts of amendments published for comment or otherwise, shall be delivered in writing to the Committee’s Executive Secretary, 30 South Meridian Street, Suite 500, Indianapolis, Indiana 46204, for the committee’s consideration and recommendation to the Supreme Court.

Ind. R. Civ. P. 80