“Attorney time” is how I often explain to my client how “quickly” things will progress in their lawsuit. Most folks that have been sued are anxious, unsure of the process, and often just want it to go away. “If I could just explain my side of it, I am sure they will realize their mistake and agree to dismiss me, right?” Wrong. It never works that way. Litigation often takes years to wind its way through the full process of filing an answer, filing the inevitable legal motions regarding evidence and claims themselves, discovery of documents on both sides, taking testimony, and getting ready for trial. The actual trial often takes days or weeks to put on. This leads to even a simple case taking a great deal of time, effort, and money to defend.
The Oklahoma Legislature has now passed the “Oklahoma Expedited Actions Act,” effective September 1, 2025, to attempt to address this in certain claims valued at less than $250,000. The new process will allow a party to remove a case for expedited handling under this new procedure. The dollar amount threshold is a bit of a moving target, though, as it excludes attorney fees, interest, and even punitive damages. If set on this expedited track, the case though moves through a streamlined discovery process that will last only 180 days (again, “attorney time”). Each party is limited to a total number of 20 hours of deposition testimony only and written discovery is severely curtailed. Lawsuits often get bogged down in the document production phase, making these changes a serious limitation on litigation expense and time. There are ways to undo this expedited process under the law — a divorce filing, for example — but for the most part it is designed to move the cases along at a swift(er) pace.
Under this procedure, the parties are required to mediate their claim at a half-day (maximum) mediation and at a cost of no more than twice the filing fee for the lawsuit, which would result in mediation costing approximately $500 dollars. If the matter proceeds to a jury trial under this expedited process, it must be set within 90 days of the close of discovery. Each side is limited to eight hours for all aspects of their trial presentation, including jury selection, argument, and witness presentation. A showing of “good cause” would be necessary for a possible extension to 12 hours. Time for objections and/or sidebars would not count toward that time, so presumably the court bailiff would have to keep a stopwatch going at all times.
Many cases, such as property disputes and car accidents, have a very clear potential to be worth less than this $250,000 threshold. Should this process prove effective — and it is too early to tell how well this will be used or enforced — it could greatly reduce the amount of time and expense confronting not only the average litigant but also the insurance industry that is often behind most litigation. “Attorney time” may start getting much closer to the faster pace world we live in today.
