Why is it important to have a policy limiting continuances or adjournments?
It is not appropriate or possible to expect a court to do away with continuances or adjournments. But if a court makes it too easy for parties to request that pretrial court events or trials be rescheduled, attorneys will feel less need to be prepared for hearing or trial, and the court will find itself scheduling a pretrial event or trial two or more times before its purpose is achieved or a negotiated outcome is reached. This adds considerably to the cost of proceedings for both the court and the parties.
