The Case Types administrative page allows you to create and manage the case types in the SmartAdvocate system. Since the case type determines many important characteristics of a case (including SOLs, possible case roles for defendant(s) and plaintiff(s), intake targets, and other information) this is one of the most important administrative pages. For that reason, it is directly accessed from the Admin tab, rather than through Picklist Maintenance.

To add a new row, click the New Case Type button in the upper left corner, which opens the The Edit Case Type Panel with all the information blank or set to defaults.

Structure of this Page

A. New Case Type: This button is used to create a new Case Type.

B. Case Type Administration Table: This table contains some of the details of all the Case Types contained in the system.

Case Type Administration Table

The Case Type Administration Table displays some descriptive details of your Case Types. However, some of the information associated with that case type and managed through the Case Types page is not shown in the table. To view the additional information, it may be necessary to open the The Edit Case Type Panel or the Edit Statute of Limitations Panel.

Columns in the Table

The Case Type Administration Table contains the following columns:

A. [Column with Checkbox Heading]: Checkbox selector.

B. Case Type: The name of the Case Type.

C. Case Group: The case group that the case type is assigned to.

D. Case Subtype: A list of all the possible subtype assigned to the case type.

E. Is Mass Tort: Whether the case type represents a mass tort case.

F. Active: Whether the case type is active in the SmartAdvocate System. Inactive types cannot be chosen when creating new cases in the Case Wizard. Cases with a case type that is subsequently made inactive are not impacted by the change in the availability of the case type.

G. Actions: Includes an Edit icon, Delete icon, SOL icon, and Copy icon.

Mass Editing

The column of checkboxes allows you to select multiple row for the purpose of editing them simultaneously. You can also click the checkbox in the heading to select all of the rows in the current filter. Once you have selected whatever rows you wish you can right-click to bring up a menu with four options:

Activate Selected: Sets the Active column in all selected rows to Yes, regardless of its previous setting.
Deactivate Selected: Sets the Active column in all selected rows to No, regardless of its previous setting.
Edit Selected: Opens the Edit Case Type Panel, allowing for Editing Multiple Case Types.
Edit SOL for Selected: Opens the Edit Statute of Limitations Panel, allowing for Edit Multiple Case Types.

The Edit Case Type Panel

This panel allows you to edit most characteristics of a case type. The upper left quadrant of the panel contains most of the input fields to be filled in. From here, you can edit the name of the case type, the case group it is assigned to, the expected resolution time for that case type, choose whether the case type is active and whether it is a mass tort and the default case status that cases of this type will be assigned when they are opened.

In this quadrant, you are also able to set up to four significant incident dates which trigger statutes of limitation. Select the checkbox for each incident date you wish to include in the case type (the first one is permanently selected), then fill out the label to name the incident date.

The other three quadrants of the panel allow you to add possible subtypes, roles for defendants and roles for plaintiffs to the case type. Each of the three quadrants is a checkbox list pair. You can also add a new subtype, defendant role, or plaintiff role to the list of choices by clicking the New Case Subtype or New Case Role button above the appropriate list in that quadrant, then filling in the name of the subtype or role and clicking the Add button.

To save any changes made to the case type, click the Update button in the lower right of the screen this will create a new case type if you selected New Case Type or will apply the changes to any existing case type(s) you were editing. To discard any changes and close the panel you can click the Cancel button or the white X in the top right of the screen.

Editing Multiple Case Types

If you reached this panel by choosing Edit Selected in the right-click menu after having selected multiple case types via the checkboxes in the left column of the Case Type Administration Table, this panel will be slightly different.

Each of the field in the upper left quadrant will be blank unless that field is consistent among all the selected case types. In particular, Case Type will be blank, and will not be editable. Anything that is entered into any field in this panel will, once saved, apply those changes to every case type selected. Do not make changes using this method that you do not want to apply identically to all of your selections. Fields left blank will not change the information in those fields in any of the case types selected.

The three checkbox list pair quadrants will have a thin box around them with a checkbox at the top labeled Change. Unless the Change checkbox for a quadrant is selected, that quadrant’s information will not be affected by any edits made in this panel, nor by saving the panel. The subtypes and roles listed as belonging to the case type will be only those belonging to every case type selected. Subtypes and roles belonging to some of the selected case types but not others will be in the left list though they did not belong to the case types at all; if the Change checkbox is selected and the panel is saved, these subtypes or roles will be removed from the case types of which they were members if they are not added to the case type from this page.

The Edit Statute of Limitations Panel

This panel allows you to edit the statutes of limitations relevant to the case type, add a default defendant to newly opened cases of that type, and add default staff members to newly opened cases of that type. The panel contains three tables: one for SOLs, one for default defendants, and one for default staff members.

Adding SOLs to the table is a little different than adding rows to most tables in SmartAdvocate. Since you will need to enter separate SOLs for every state and every role you might encounter in handling cases of the selected case type, you may find that even though the type and length of an SOL is the same across states and roles, it still needs a large number of rows in the table to cover every combination of states and roles. Therefore, instead of adding rows one by one, the SOL table’s Add button is labeled Mass Add. For more on the details of this panel see Mass Add SOL Panel.

Adding or editing a default defendant only requires selecting a contact for the name and choosing a default role, but the default defendant table will also include the address of the defendant contact. You may want to add a “John Doe” or “City of Anywhere” contact, with only the minimum required information, for this purpose.

Similarly, adding or editing a default staff member only requires selecting the staff member’s name, but the table will also include that staff member’s default case role. “(Case Creator)” will also be one of the options for a default staff member; this will automatically add the staff member who created the case in Case Wizard into the case, as that staff member’s default role.

Mass Add SOL Panel

The fields in the Mass Add panel are:

A. SOL Type: A dropdown allowing you to select the type of SOL to be added to the case type. This dropdown is customizable from the SOL Types Picklist Maintenance page.

B. Role: Allows you to choose whether the SOL will be applied to the Plaintiff regardless of role, the Defendant regardless of role or a specific case role.

Selecting Specify will require you to select one or more case roles from the dropdown, which the SOL will then be applied to. Both defendant and plaintiff roles are listed in this dropdown.

C. State: A multiselect dropdown prompting you to select which states the SOL is applicable for.

D. Year: A text field allowing you to enter the number of years the SOL is from the calculation date.

E. Month: A text field allowing you to enter the number of months the SOL is from the calculation date.

F. Day: A text field allowing you to enter the number of days the SOL is from the calculation date.

G. Subtract One Day: A checkbox that, when checked, sets the due date of the SOL as one day before the actual SOL date.

H. Calculate From: A dropdown allowing you to choose what date to calculate the SOL form. The options in this dropdown are any of the assigned Incident Dates, Date of Birth, and Date of Death.

Editing Statute of Limitations Panel for Multiple Case Types

If you reached this panel by choosing Edit SOL for Selected in the right-click menu, the panel will function slightly differently. The only SOLs, default defendants, and default staff members listed in the respective tables will be those listed in the individual tables of every selected case type. Anything that is entered into, or deleted from, any table in this panel will apply to every case type selected. Do not make changes using this method that you do not want to apply identically to all of your selections. Any SOLs, default defendants, and default staff members that are in some of the selected case types but not others will be unaffected by changes made in this panel.