Chambers Handbook for Judges - Federal Judicial Center

4. Nonbinding Summary Jury Trial
The court conducts an abbreviated trial before a regularly impaneled
jury. The jury offers a nonbinding verdict, and the lawyers are generally
permitted to question the jurors about their decision. Settlement
is promoted by giving the parties an idea of the likely outcome if they
go to trial. If the case does not settle, the parties may proceed to trial.
5. Nonbinding Summary Bench Trial
The same as a summary jury trial, except tried to the judge.
6. Settlement Weeks
The court designates a specific time period, generally one or two weeks
once or twice a year, during which parties in many cases are referred to
neutral attorneys for settlement discussions. The settlement discussions
are held at the court house.
K. The Dormant Action
Most federal courts do not permit actions to remain dormant for an
indefinite period of time. Each court, and sometimes the judges within
each court, will have a different policy with respect to this. Counsel
have their own priorities for processing litigation, and these frequently
relate to their internal office demands and other personal matters. In
general, however, the policy of the federal courts is that litigation is
not merely the lawyers’ business but also the public’s business, and the
court is responsible for monitoring it.
To fulfill this responsibility, many courts have the docket clerk or
someone in the clerk of court’s office periodically call to the judge’s
attention cases that have been dormant for more than six months (or
some other period of time) because either no answer was filed or, after
pleadings were filed, no further action was taken. Many judges will
have a periodic “docket call,” at which counsel will be asked to report
on the status of cases that have been dormant for a certain period of
time and to explain the lack of progress. In some instances, failure of
counsel to appear at the docket call results in dismissal of the case.
36 Chambers Handbook for Judges’ Law Clerks and Secretaries