(1) In any civil action filed in any court of record in this state, the court shall grant a motion for a preferential trial date which is accompanied by clear and convincing medical evidence concluding that a party suffers from an illness or condition raising substantial medical doubt of survival of that party beyond one year and which satisfies the court that the interests of justice will be served by granting such motion for a preferential trial date.
In any civil action filed in any court of record in this state, the court may grant amotion for a preferential trial date upon the motion of a party who is a natural person at least seventy years of age and a finding by the court that such claim is meritorious, unless the court finds that such party does not have a substantial interest in the case as a whole.
A motion under this section may be filed and served at any time when the case is atissue and a party meets the requirements of subsection (1) or (2) of this section.
Upon the granting of a motion for a preferential trial date, the court shall set the casefor trial not more than one hundred nineteen days from the date the motion was filed. The court shall establish an accelerated discovery schedule in all such cases. No continuance shall be granted beyond the one-hundred-nineteen-day period except for physical or mental disability of a party or a party's attorney or upon a showing of other good cause. Any such continuance shall be for no more than one hundred nineteen days, and only one such continuance shall be granted to a party.
Source: L. 90: Entire section added, p. 858, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2012: (4) amended, (SB 12-175), ch. 208, p. 822, § 1, effective July 1.