• Mary McGowan
  Room: 2246

• Carol Wing
  (312) 435-7615
  Room: 2260

• Brooke Wilson
  (312) 435-5885
  Room: 2060

Unless the parties appear earlier on a motion, the court generally will set the case for status within approximately 60 days of the filing of the complaint. At the initial status conference, the parties are to be prepared to (1) inform the court of the nature and scope of the case; (2) discuss the need for discovery; and (3) report on the possibility of settlement. At the first status hearing, the court generally will set a date for the completion of all discovery and schedule the next status hearing date.

Parties must comply with the disclosure previsions of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 unless excluded under Fed.R.Civ.P.26(a)(1)(E) or excluded by express court order for the particular case.

The parties shall hold a Scheduling Conference as required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) within 30 days of service of the complaint or removal from state court. Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures are due 14 days thereafter.

(The parties are encouraged to be cooperative and, where appropriate, informally disclose and share information as early as possible in the litigation.)

After the initial status conference, additional status hearings will be held as scheduled by the court. Status hearings will not be held by telephone. If an attorney is not able to attend a status hearing, the attorney is responsible for adequately informing the substitute that is sent. Settlement conferences will be set if requested by the parties and there is a significant possibility of settlement. For scheduling convenience and other reasons, most settlement conferences will be referred to the assigned magistrate judge. In bench cases, Judge Hart will not preside over the settlement conference and instead will refer any settlement conference to the magistrate judge or another district judge.

When cases are settled, the order that will be entered will generally be in the following form. "Parties report case is settled. Case is dismissed with prejudice; each party to bear its/his/her own costs."
Often, the parties will request that the court also retain jurisdiction to enforce the settlement. In that circumstance, Seventh Circuit case law requires more than simply adding a sentence to that effect. Absent there being sufficient diversity jurisdiction at the time enforcement is requested, an order must be entered at the time of dismissal that provides for enforcement of the pertinent settlement terms. See Blue Cross & Blue Shield Association v. American Express Co., 467 F.3d 634 (7th Cir. 2006); Shapo v. Engle, 463 F.3d 641 (7th Cir. 2006). Parties requesting that the court retain jurisdiction to enforce terms of a settlement agreement must submit a draft order in the form of this bench's "Order of Dismissal Retaining Jurisdiction to Enforce Certain Terms of Settlement.". Alternatively, the parties may submit a draft consent judgment.

The court hears motions on Wednesdays only at  11:00 a.m. If the particular case is set for a status hearing on a day or time other than a regular motion time, a motion may also be brought at the same time as the status hearing as long as proper notice is provided.

All motions are to be noticed for presentation as required by Local Rule 5.3 with copies delivered to the court as required by Local Rules 5.4 and 78.1. The time requirements of Local Rules 5.3 and 78.1 are to be strictly followed.   If filing electronically, the filing party must provide a paper "Judge's copy" as required by Local Rule 5.2(e). The Judge's copy should be filed in the box for such copies located on the 20th floor. If a paper filer, an original and one copy of all pleadings, including motions, are to be filed with the Clerk of the Court on the 20th Floor between 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. or in one of the lobby drop boxes between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Filings will not be accepted in chambers and the court does not want additional "courtesy" copies.

Unless the courtroom deputy has called the parties to tell them that they need not appear, counsel is expected to appear on the motion, even if it is an agreed motion. Counsel is to be prepared to address all issues contained in the motion at the time it is first presented. Most motions will be ruled upon at the time they are first presented. If it is determined that further briefing is necessary, then the motion will be ruled upon based solely on the arguments contained in the briefs; no date is set for further oral argument.

Any motion of a substantial character should be accompanied by a brief at the time it is first filed. Motions for summary judgment must be accompanied by a supporting brief and Local Rule 56.1(a)(3) Statement. Where the party opposing summary judgment is pro se, notice in the form provided in Local Rule 56.2 must be provided. Motions to strike or other such motions are discouraged as responses to motions. If a document or other item in support of a motion is inappropriate for consideration, such an argument should be incorporated in the answer brief or reply, not made the subject of an additional motion. Surreplies and surrebuttals are discouraged and leave of court must be obtained to file them.

Before bringing an emergency motion, that is a motion brought on less notice than that required by Local Rules 5.3 and 78.1, one or more of the parties must contact the courtroom deputy to attempt to schedule a time for the motion. The courtroom deputy is to be informed of the general nature of the motion so that it can be determined if there is an emergency. Motions for extension of time do not qualify as emergency motions. If the courtroom deputy determines that the motion qualifies as an emergency and Judge Hart is not available, then the party is to contact the courtroom deputy of the emergency judge to schedule a hearing. The emergency judge may only hear a motion if the assigned judge is not sitting.

Except for temporary restraining orders properly brought ex parte, prior to presenting a motion for temporary restraining order, the parties should meet to determine if they can agree to a standby order that will protect the interests of both parties during the pendency of the suit. If the parties cannot agree on an appropriate order, the motion for temporary restraining order will be resolved on the papers presented without the taking of live testimony. If the party is also seeking a preliminary injunction, that motion will generally be referred to the assigned magistrate judge to hear the evidence and provide a report and recommendation.

No protective order will be approved that permits the filing of restricted or sealed documents with the Clerk of the Court unless the order provides that no such document may be filed with the court unless leave to so file the particular document is specifically obtained from the court.  See Sasu v. Yoshimura, 147 F.R.D. 173 (N.D. Ill. 1993).  See generally Local Rule 26.2.  Also, any such protective order must adequately define which documents qualify as confidential, restricted, and/or sealed documents.  See Citizens First National Bank of Princeton v. Cincinnati Insurance Co., 178 F.3d 943 (7th Cir. 1999); Sasu, supra.  Further, even if a protective order with these provisions is approved, the filing of restricted or sealed documents is discouraged and will only be approved in exceptional circumstances.

The court encourages the parties to work out discovery disputes and discourages the filing of discovery motions.  Prior to the filing of a discovery motion, the parties must confer in an attempt to resolve the dispute. See Local Rule 37.2. Virtually all discovery motions are ruled upon at the motion call without the taking of further briefs. Both sides must be prepared to address the issues involved. The motion must contain all pertinent documents. For example, a motion to compel the production of documents must contain the pertinent document request and the responding party's objection or other response to the document request. If there was no response to the request, that should be clearly stated in the motion.

Too often litigants are unaware of the efficiencies to be gained by having their cases tried before United States Magistrate Judges. One benefit is that magistrate judges generally have a more open calendar and will provide definite dates for trial, whereas Judge Hart uses a trailing trial calendar and provides as little as 3-5 days advance notice of the trial date. The court encourages counsel to inform their clients of the option of trial before a magistrate judge and to discuss it with opposing counsel.

Magistrate Judge Consent Form

All items listed in Local Rules 16.1(a), and Local Rule Forms 16.1.1, 16.1.2, and 16.1.3 must be submitted at the time the final pretrial order is submitted, plus the optional items listed in Form 16.1.1(2)(h) and 16.1.1(2.1)(m), that is trial briefs, jury instructions (or proposed findings and conclusions), and voir dire questions. Motions in limine must also be submitted on the date the pretrial order is due. A date for filing answers to any motions in limine will be set at the time the pretrial order is submitted, usually 7 days. Parties are instructed to cooperate in establishing a set of undisputed facts. Parties should not duplicate exhibits and all exhibits are to be numbered. The same numbers for exhibits will be used at trial, even if some exhibits are stricken. A conference will be held prior to trial at which motions in limine, objections to exhibits, objections to witnesses, and other such matters will be ruled upon.

The usual trial day is 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. with one break during the morning session and one break during the afternoon session. Trial days are usually Monday through Thursday with no trial on Friday. As to each particular trial, the parties and jury members will be advised of the particular schedule on a daily basis. Bench trials will be tried on a more flexible schedule than jury trials.

For voir dire, the judge will ask general questions and the attorneys will be permitted to ask follow up questions of particular venirepersons. If a general question is not covered by the judge, the attorney may ask the group as a whole and, where appropriate, ask follow up questions of each juror who responds by a raise of his or her hand. Exercise of peremptory challenges is done by written submission. The venire is not informed as to which side struck a particular venireperson. Challenges for cause are usually heard at sidebar.

Notebooks containing photocopies of exhibits are to be provided for each juror, each party, and the judge. Use of blowups, overhead projectors, and other such exhibits are discouraged in that it is difficult to display them so that all necessary persons can see the exhibit at the same time. The jurors generally will have the exhibit books available to them during deliberations.

Prior to closing arguments, after considering the proposed jury instructions of the parties, the court will submit a draft of jury instructions to the parties. Objections will be resolved and the court's staff will produce the final version of instructions. Each juror will be provided with a copy of the jury instructions for use while the court is reading the instructions and for use during deliberations.

During jury deliberations, counsel must be at a location where they can be contacted by telephone and return to the courtroom within 10 minutes of being called. Counsel will be informed as to when the jury is expected to be on a lunch break.

Following the trial, no party or attorney is permitted to contact any juror unless prior authorization of the court is obtained.

No filings are accepted in chambers.

Do not contact the law clerks. All questions, which are limited to simple procedural questions and scheduling questions, are to be directed to the courtroom deputy.

No activated beepers or cellular telephones are permitted in the courtroom.

These procedures were last updated in January 2008.

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_Hart@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.