• Mary Ellen Podgorny
  (312) 435-5601

• Carolyn Hoesly
  (312) 408-5178
  

• Jeffrey Pekula

Civil Cases:

Status Conferences and Motions:
Status conferences and motions will be held every day, Monday - Friday, at 8:30 A.M.

Service of motions:
The original and one copy of each motion should be filed in the Clerk's Office on the 20th Floor no later than the third business day preceding the day the motion is to be heard, except in the case of emergency motions. A courtesy copy of all motions, supporting memoranda, responses and replies MUST be delivered to chambers contemporaneously with the e-filing. See Local Rule 5.2(e). Pursuant to Local Rule 5.2(c), courtesy copies must be bound on the left side and include “protruding tabs for exhibits.”

Emergency motions:
Emergency motions are exempt from the three day notice requirement. However, to qualify as an emergency, the motion must arise from circumstances that could not reasonably have been anticipated and that requires immediate action to avoid serious or irreparable harm. Discovery motions, including those seeking to extend discovery closing dates, will seldom qualify as emergencies.

Prior to presenting the emergency motion, the movant must inform the courtroom deputy of the general nature of the motion and the reason for the emergency hearing. The parties will be notified if the motion will be deemed an emergency and will be heard at the requested time.

Reasonable attempts must be made to notify opposing counsel. Only in the most exigent of circumstances, will actual or attempted notice be excused.

Appearances by counsel:
Although I attempt to contact counsel to inform them if appearances will not be required, the process is not perfect, and thus, parties should consult the Court’s website to determine if an appearance on the motion will be necessary. In the event the website does not have the information, they should contact, the Courtroom Deputy, between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. on the day before the motion is scheduled to be heard to determine whether an appearance will be necessary.

Although it will seldom be necessary to appear on agreed motions, it will nonetheless be necessary to contact the Courtroom Deputy, if the website does not post an order granting the motion. Where appearances are excused, the moving counsel shall notify all other counsel in the case.

REMINDERS FOR THE NEW YEAR

1. Courtesy copies of all pleadings, motions, briefs or other documents, must be delivered TO CHAMBERS (Room 1828) at the time of either actual filing or e-filing with the clerk of the court. See Local Rule 5.2(e).

2. Courtesy copies must have protruding tabs, separating each exhibit, and must be bound or secured on the left side. The tabs may either be numerical or alphabetical. See Local Rule 5.2(c).

3. All motions must be supported by a memorandum of law, not to exceed 15 pages. See Local Rule 7.1. Alternatively, the motion may contain the principal argument and relevant authority that otherwise would comprise a supporting memorandum.

4. The Seventh Circuit has been consistently critical of skeletal and unsupported arguments in briefs and with equal consistency, has deemed such arguments waived. See, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Cigarettes Cheaper!, 462 F.3d 690, 701 (7th Cir. 2006); Bretford Mfg., Inc. v. Smith System Mfg. Corp., 419 F.3d 576, 581 (7th Cir.2005).

   Such presentations impermissibly shift the responsibility to the court to do counsel's work and is thus at odds with the fundamental premise of our adversarial system. See United States v. McLee, 436 F.3d 751, 760 (7th Cir. 2006); United States v. Lanzotti, 199 F.3d 954, 960 (7th Cir.1999). Brandeis, The Living Law, 10 Ill. L.Rev. 461, 470 (1916)(“A judge rarely performs his functions adequately unless the case before him is adequately presented.”); Steele v. Lincoln Financial Group, 2007 WL 1052495, *4 (N.D.Ill. 2007)(collecting authorities).

5. Arguments raised for the first time in a reply brief will not be considered. See Hodgdon v. Northwestern University, 2007 WL 1576486, n.3 (N.D.Ill. 2007)(collecting cases).

An initial status conference will be set by minute order following a referral by the District Court or the consent of the parties for the cases to be tried by the Magistrate Judge.

Since discovery, briefing and other schedules – including discovery cutoff – may be set at the initial status conference, counsel with responsibility for the case must appear.

The parties shall file, at least three business days before the conference, an original and one copy of a brief Joint Status Report, with the Clerk's Office, with a courtesy copy to chambers. The Joint Status Report shall explain the nature of the case, the parties’ assessment of settlement possibilities, any efforts that have been made toward settlement, the expected scope of discovery and other matters the parties believe are pertinent to the case. "INITIAL JOINT STATUS REPORT PROCEDURES"

Rule 26(a)(1), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, requires parties to make initial disclosures within 14 days of the Rule 26(f) conference. Parties are encouraged to conduct their Rule 26(f) conference within 21 days after defendant has filed an appearance.

In those cases in which the parties are ordered to conduct a planning conference pursuant to Rule 26(f), a joint report of the planning conference shall contain the information in the form required by will be filed in the format set forth in the Planning Conference Report Form.

Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, there is no order of or primacy in discovery. Thus, the order in which discovery is commenced or a party’s failure or inability to respond to discovery will ordinarily not excuse the other party’s seasonable compliance. And, the pendency of a motion, including a motion to dismiss, will not automatically stay discovery.

No motion regarding a discovery dispute of any kind will be considered in the absence of strict compliance with Local Rule 37.2, which mandates “consultation in person or by telephone.” The motion must specify the date, time and place of the required consultation and the participants. See Autotech Technologies Ltd. Partnership v. Automationdirect.com, Inc., 2007 WL 2713352 (N.D.Ill. 2007); Autotech Technologies Ltd. Partnership v. Automationdirect.com, Inc., 2007 WL 2736681 (N.D.Ill. 2007).

A party claiming that material requested in discovery is privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure as trial preparation material shall comply with Rule 26(b)(5) Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

The party asserting the claim of privilege shall prepare a comprehensive and appropriate privilege log that describes the nature of the documents, communications or things not produced in a manner that enables the other party to assess the applicability of the claim of privilege. The log must include: 1) the identity and status of each person from whom or to whom a document was sent; 2) a reasonably detailed description of the subject matter – but not of course revealing the information claimed to be privileged – so that a determination can be made if legal advice was sought or revealed; 3) the date of the document; 4) the type of document; 5) the privilege asserted; and 6) Bates numbers. See United States v. Construction Products Research, Inc., 73 F.3d 464 (2nd Cir. 1996); Autotech Technologies Ltd. Partnership v. Automationdirect.com, Inc., 2007 WL 2198773 (N.D.Ill. 2007)(collecting cases); In re Sulfuric Acid Antitrust Litigation, 235F.R.D. 407, 432 (N.D.Ill. 2006)(collecting cases).

Before requesting entry of a protective order to preserve the confidentiality of materials disclosed in discovery, counsel shall carefully review:

• Rule 26(c) Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which requires, inter alia, that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with other affected parties in an effort to resolve the dispute without court action; See Citizens First Nat'l Bank v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., 178 F.3d 943 (7th Cir. 1999)(Posner, J.); Jepson, Inc. v. Makita Electric Works, Ltd, 30 F.3d 854 (7th Cir. 1994); and Union Oil Co. v. Leavell, 220 F.3d 562 (7th Cir. 2000).
  
• Counsel shall also review any standing order or instructions regarding protective orders from the District Court making the referral.
  If the protective order anticipates that any documents or confidential materials submitted to the court are to be filed under seal, the protective order must include, at a minimum a carefully-drafted definition of the materials to be protected, with an explanation of why these documents are entitled to protection.

The proposed protective order must also set forth a procedure under which a party or interested member of the public can challenge the confidential designation of particular documents that have been filed under seal. Cf., Jessup v. Luther, 227 F.3d 993 (7th Cir. 2000); In re Associated Press, 162 F.3d 503 (7th Cir. 1998).

Any designation of materials as "Confidential" must be made in good faith by counsel, and each page of confidential material must be marked "Confidential."

The proposed protective order should set out a procedure for the use of confidential documents at a deposition and identify those who may be given access to confidential materials.

The proposed protective order shall explicitly provide that nothing in the order shall be construed to affect the admissibility, vel non, of any document, material or information at any trial or hearing.

Any document to be filed as a restricted or sealed document as defined by Local Rule 26.2 must comply strictly with Local Rule 5.8.

Although Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allows a party to file a motion for summary judgment at any time, and although the Supreme Court has stressed that motions for summary judgment are not disfavored, their indiscriminate use is discouraged. See Shadur, Trials or Tribulations (Rule 56 Style)?, 29 LITIGATION 5 (2003). Thus, prior to filing a motion for summary judgment, there should be careful and responsible assessment of whether there are genuine issues of material fact and whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

If, after careful consideration, a party decides to file a motion for summary judgment, the motion must comply strictly with Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and Local Rule 56.1. Failure to comply strictly with the Local Rules can have significant adverse consequences. See discussion in Loeffel Steel Products, Inc. v. Delta Brands, Inc., 379 F.Supp.2d 968, 986 (N.D.Ill. 2005).

A courtesy copy of the memorandum of law, depositions and other materials relied upon in support of the motion – as required by Local Rule 56.1(a)(1)-(3) – or in opposition to the motion – as required by Local Rule 56.1(b)(1)-(3) – must be delivered to chambers at the time the original is e-filed with the Clerk of the Court.

The courtesy copy must be securely bound and must separately tab, WITH PROTRUDING TABS AS REQUIRED BY LOCAL RULE 5.2, each document, and must contain an index identifying what document is contained under each tab. Noncompliance with this requirement will result in the document being stricken.

All statements of undisputed material facts offered by the moving party under Local Rule 56.1(a)(3), or statements of additional facts offered by the responding party under Local Rule 56.1(b)(3), must list the facts in short, numbered paragraphs that refrain from argument. Loeffel Steel Products, Inc. v. Delta Brands, Inc., 379 F.Supp.2d 968, 986 (N.D.Ill. 2005).

Argumentative presentations will not be considered and the opposing statement of fact will be deemed admitted.

Argument must be reserved for the supporting legal memoranda.. Each numbered fact statement must contain a specific citation to affidavits, depositions or other materials that properly support the fact statement, as well as to the tab(s) in the compendium where those materials may be found.

Failure to provide evidentiary support for a claimed statement of fact will result in that alleged "fact" being disregarded.

All responses to statements of undisputed material facts offered by the responding party under Local Rule 56.1(b)(3), or responses to statements of additional facts offered by the moving party under Local Rule 56.1(a), shall be in a format similar to that used in answering a complaint: the response must repeat each numbered paragraph of the fact statement, and then immediately following each numbered statement must state whether the alleged fact is "undisputed" or "disputed." Loeffel Steel Products, Inc. v. Delta Brands, Inc., 379 F.Supp.2d 968, 986 (N.D.Ill. 2005).

As with the fact statements submitted under Rule 56.1(a)(3) and 56.1(b)(3), the responses to those fact statements must refrain from argument. The significance or lack of significance of a disputed or undisputed fact may be argued in the respondent’s legal memorandum. If a particular fact is "undisputed," nothing more should be said in the response.

If a particular “factual” assertion is “disputed” in whole or in part, the response must state what part of the assertion is disputed and must contain a specific citation to the supporting affidavits, depositions or other materials as well as to the tab(s) in the compendium where those materials may be found.

Failure to provide support for an alleged fact dispute may result in that fact being deemed admitted. Loeffel Steel Products, Inc. v. Delta Brands, Inc., 379 F.Supp.2d 968, 986 (N.D.Ill. 2005).

Without leave of Court, a movant shall not file more than 100 separately numbered statements of undisputed material fact, and a party responding to a summary judgment motion shall not file more than 50 separately numbered statements of additional facts under Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(B).

Fact statements under Local Rule 56.1(a)(3) and Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(B) "shall consist of short numbered paragraphs."

See "Instructions for Settlement Conference"

See "Final Pretrial Orders in Consent Cases"

Proposed Orders are technically not to be "filed." Rather, they are to be "submitted" to the judge to consider, to modify, if appropriate, and to enter electronically. For example, proposed orders such as stipulated protective orders require court approval before actually being given full effect. To prevent confusion, such proposed orders must be attached to an e-mail sent to the e-mail address of the assigned judge, Proposed_Order_Cole@ilnd.uscourts.gov  The subject line of the e-mail must include the case number and name, the docket number of the corresponding motion, if any, and the title of the order that is proposed as indicated on the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF). All such documents must be submitted to the court in a format compatible with WordPerfect, which is a "Save As" option in most word processing software. Such proposed orders should also be served on all parties.