Short Cause

A legal matter that will not take up a significant amount of the time of the court and may be entered on the list of short causes upon application of one of the parties, where it will be dealt with more expediently than it would be in its regular order.

The time permitted for a short cause, which is also known as a short calendar, varies from one court to another.

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short cause n. a lawsuit which is estimated by the parties (usually their attorneys) and the trial setting judge to take no more than one day. Thus, a short cause may be called on the "short cause" calendar and get priority on the calendar since it can be fitted into the court's schedule and will not tie up a courtroom for a long period. Short causes may be treated differently from "long cause" cases such as not requiring a settlement conference or having the cases tried by "pro tem" judges. However, if a supposed "short cause" lasts beyond one day the judge is authorized to declare a mistrial and the case will be reset later as a "long cause."