JUDGE COAR

1. General

A. Motions will be heard at 9:00 a.m. Monday through Thursday. All Motions must be filed three full business days before presentment.

B. Electronic Filing should be done in accordance with this Court's General Order on Electronic Filing. Courtesy copies of motions will not be accepted.

C. Moving counsel may check with the courtroom deputy, Patricia McQurter-Figgs (435-5649), the day before the motion is set to determine if there is a need to appear personally. The court will attempt to rule on "routine" motions (e.g., leave to file amended pleadings, motions for extensions of time, and motions that require briefing schedules) without requiring counsel to appear. If no appearance is required, moving counsel must so notify respondent's counsel.

If in connection with any such routine motion moving counsel is aware there will be an objection, this should be noted in the body of the motion. If the respondent intends to object to a routine motion, respondent's counsel should inform movant's counsel and the court's minute clerk by Noon of the day preceding the day the motion is to be heard.

D. When a case is set for a status conference, any party may, within the time periods and in the manner set forth above, notice motions to be heard at the time of the status conference other than at the regular time for hearing motions.

2. Discovery Motions

Civil discovery motions shall not be heard without an affidavit attesting to the efforts to resolve the motion without resort to court intervention. In addition, no party shall serve on any other party more than twenty (20) interrogatories in the aggregate without leave of court.

If disputes arise during the conduct of depositions, counsel may contact the court by phone to seek a resolution. If the court cannot be reached immediately, counsel should proceed with the deposition as to areas (questions) not in dispute and the court will call back as soon as possible.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 (2000)

(1) Failure to provide the mandatory discovery provided for in the Rule 26(a)(1) will result in sanctions.

(2) Disclosures regarding experts' opinions, the basis and supporting data, information and exhibits, qualifications, fees, and other cases in which the expert has testified in the last four years are automatically required by Rule 26(a)(2).

(3) Unless otherwise ordered, expert disclosures required by Rule 26(a)(2) shall be made by plaintiffs no later than forty-five (45) days before the discovery cut-off date, and by defendants no later than thirty (30) days before the discovery cut-off date. Rebuttal information required by Rule 26(a)(2) must be provided no later than ten (10) days before the discovery cut-off date, unless ordered otherwise.  Ordinarily, the timing of Rule 26(a)(2) disclosure will be set out in the Rule 16 scheduling order.

(4) Compliance with Rule 26(a)(2) is required before a retained expert may be designated as a trial witness in the final pretrial order.

(5) See Standing Order on Expert Disclosure and Discovery.

3. Evidentiary Motions

All evidentiary motions must be filed with the Final Pretrial Order. This includes all motions in limine. Any request that the court take judicial notice of a fact at trial shall be in the form of a written motion and included with the Final Pretrial Order.

4. Memoranda of Law (Briefs)

A. The fifteen (15) page limitation on all memoranda shall be strictly enforced. Briefs that use nonstandard typeface or spacing to avoid this limitation will be stricken by the court. A motion to exceed that limit shall not be granted except in unusual circumstances.

B. Parties are to provide one copy for use in chambers of each cited authority found only on electronic databases such as Westlaw and Lexis or not reported in the West National Reporter System. Copies of the following authority must also be included: Bankruptcy Reporter, Code of Federal Regulations. Illinois cases should be cited to both N.E.2d and Illinois Decisions.

C. All briefs, memoranda, exhibits, or other material left with the court longer than forty-five (45) days after a ruling has been issued will be discarded without further notice. (This does not include documents or exhibits filed with the Clerk of the Court.)

5. Protective Orders

In light of the holding in Jepson, Inc. v. Makita Elec. Works, Ltd., 30 F.3d 854, 858-59 (7th Cir. 1994), with respect to protective orders:

A. This court will not require the inclusion of an express finding of good cause in such orders. Instead it will review such orders with care and in detail before signing them. The issuance of a protective order in the light of this Standing Order will constitute the court's determination, as required by Rule 26(c), that good cause existed for such issuance.

As an initial matter, counsel are advised that this court will not sign any protective order which allows counsel, in there absolute discretion, to decide which matters are to be deemed confidential. The order should specify the categories of documents or other matters which may be subject to the order (e.g., trade secrets, confidential financial matters, etc.) and the motion should set forth why a protective order is necessary as to such categories.

Issuance of any protective order will not, however, be given binding effect as a determination of good cause for Rule 26(c) purposes if at any future time either party moves for relief from the limitations of the protective order. At that time, this court will engage in an appropriate balancing of the interests between privacy and public access in order to make a new determination of good cause in light of the facts then before this court (see Jepson, 30 F.3d at 859).

ENTER:

United States District Judge