Rule 91 - Superior Courts and Clerks(a)Superior Courts Always Open. The superior courts shall be deemed always open for the purpose of filing any pleading or other proper paper, of issuing and returning mesne and final process, and of making and directing interlocutory motions, orders, and rules.(b)Time When Court Convenes. The superior court in each county shall set the time at which court will convene and close on each day.(c)Organization; Assignment of Cases. The superior courts which have two or more judges shall make suitable rules for their organization and for assignment of cases to the different judges.(d)Trials and Hearings; Orders in Chambers. All trials upon the merits shall be conducted in open court and so far as convenient in a regular court room. All other acts or proceedings may be done or conducted by a judge in chambers, without the attendance of the clerk or other court officials and at any place either within or without the county. No hearing, other than one ex parte, shall be conducted outside the county without the consent of all parties affected thereby.(e)Determination of Matters Within Sixty Days; Report. Every matter submitted for determination to a judge of the superior court for decision shall be determined and a ruling made not later than sixty days from submission thereof, in accordance with Section 21. Article VI of the Arizona Constitution. Each superior court clerk shall report to the Administrative Director of the Courts, in writing, on the last day of March, June, September and December, in each year, all matters in that court submitted for decision sixty days or more prior to the date of such report and remaining undecided on the date of the report. The report shall contain the title of each action or proceeding, the matter submitted, the judge to whom submitted, and the date of submission.(f)Record in Superior Court. Every document or object filed in an action or proceeding shall constitute a part of the record in the superior court. All documents and objects offered in evidence, whether admitted or rejected, shall be marked as exhibits or for identification, and filed in the action or proceeding. The court may order the return of an original exhibit provided an appropriate copy or a duplicate is substituted therefor.(g)Withdrawal of Papers. Papers on file in the office of the clerk shall not be taken from the office by any person except a judge of the court, or upon a judge's written authorization, which shall specify the papers to be taken, the person who may take them, and shall be filed by the clerk in the appropriate place in the clerk's records.(h)Uniform Size of Electronic and Paper Transcripts.(1) The certified transcript of testimony of any proceeding shall be furnished by the authorized transcriber formatted for 81/2 by 11 inch paper having 25 lines per page with total combined margins of text not to exceed 2 and 1/8 inches.(2) A deposition transcript, reduced in size, consisting of not more than four pages of text printed on one 8 1/2 by 11 inch page, may be furnished.(i)Review of Probate Proceedings. The court in each county shall review at least annually the status of all decedents' estates under supervised administration and guardianship and conservatorship proceedings pending for more than two years.Added Oct. 10, 2000, effective 12/1/2000. Amended Sept. 18, 2006, effective 1/1/2007.STATE BAR COMMITTEE NOTE 2000 AMENDMENT
As part of the effort to consolidate formerly separate sets of procedural rules into either the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure or the Rules of the Arizona Supreme Court, various rule provisions contained in the Uniform Rules of Practice of the Superior Court and the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure which were concerned primarily with the internal administration of the Superior Court were transferred to a retitled Section VII of the Rules of the Arizona Supreme Court, New Rule 91, which was promulgated in that process, is a composite of procedural provisions formerly contained in other rules.
Rules 91(a) through (d) contain the provisions formerly contained in Rules 77(a) through (d) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 91(e) is a slightly modified version of what was formerly Rule 77(i) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, and also effectively replaces former Rule 39(l) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure and former Rule XIII of the Uniform Rules of Practice of the Superior Court, which covered the same subject matter and were simply abrogated for that reason.
Rule 91(f) is a combination of former Rule 77(j) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure and former Rule XIX of the Uniform Rules of Practice of the Superior Court. Rule 91(g) is former Rule 79(e) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure, and Rules 91(h)(1), (h)(2) and (i) are, respectively, former Rules XVIII(a), XVIII(b) and IX of the Uniform Rules of Practice of the Superior Court.
HISTORICAL NOTES
Former Rule 91 was renumbered as Rule 96.