• Geeta Malhotra
• Andrew O'Brien
• Tiffany J. Tracy

• April Metzler
  (312) 408-5154
  Room: 2318-A

• Kenneth Wood
  (312) 408-5153
  Room: 2316-A

Initial Status for Cases Newly Assigned to the Calendar of Judge Kendall:

For all cases that have been newly assigned to Judge Kendall from the calendar of another judge, the Court will notify each party with an order setting a status hearing and requiring the filing of a Joint Status Report for Newly Assigned Cases:

• Joint Status Report for Newly Assigned Cases

Initial Status Report for Newly Filed Cases:

The Court will set all newly filed cases for status approximately 60 days after the filing of the complaint. At the initial status conference, parties should be prepared to discuss: 1) the nature of the case; 2) factual and legal issues; 3) settlement potential and discussions to date; 4) discovery taken to date and intended; and 5) potential motions to be filed. At least three days prior to the status conference, the parties are directed to file a joint written status report of not more than five pages.

• Initial Status Report for Newly Filed Cases

All parties must comply with Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Local Rule 26.1 of the Northern District of Illinois.

The Court believes that parties can and should work out most discovery disputes and discourages the filing of discovery motions. The Court will not hear or consider any discovery motion unless the movant has complied with the "meet and confer" requirement of Local Rule 37.2. The motion must state with specificity when and how the movant complied with Local Rule 37.2. Parties are reminded that compliance with Local Rule 37.2 requires a good faith effort to resolve discovery disputes and communication that takes place face to face or by telephone. The exchange of correspondence will not normally be sufficient to comply with Local Rule 37.2.

All parties should be fully prepared to argue any discovery motion on the date that it is presented. The Court most often will rule on discovery motions after hearing argument at the motion call and without briefing. If after hearing argument, the Court believes that the motion requires briefing, the Court normally will set an expedited briefing schedule so that the matter can be resolved promptly.

Parties are reminded that there is no "order" in which discovery must occur, and that one party's failure or inability to respond to discovery will not excuse any other party's prompt compliance. Parties also are reminded that the pendency of a motion, such as a motion to dismiss, does not operate as a stay of discovery.

Electronic discovery disputes If the parties have reached an impasse regarding the discovery of voluminous records from a database, server, computer, service provider or similar electronic storage facility (ESF), before filing a motion to compel, the parties are required to meet and confer with an IT representative of the ESF to be searched in order to determine the most effective way to retrieve the requested material. The party seeking the discovery must also bring its IT specialist to this meeting in order to discuss the proper format for the retrieval of the records. This electronic discovery conference must take place in person and both sides should be prepared to discuss specifically the parameters of both the search and the ESF.

Expert Witness Disclosures and Motions

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 Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2). Expert disclosures required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2) shall be made no later than sixty (60) days before the discovery cut-off date, unless otherwise ordered.  Rebuttal information required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2) must be provided no later than thirty (30) days before the discovery cut-off date, unless otherwise ordered. Compliance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2) is a required before an expert may be designated as a trial witness in the final pretrial order. Any motions concerning expert qualifications filed pursuant to Daubert v. Merrill Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993), and its progeny, shall be filed at least sixty (60) days prior to trial, or ten (10) days prior to the discovery cut-off date,  whichever is earlier.

Please drop one courtesy copy of all motions in the box outside of the courtroom deputy's office, located at Room 2316-A. All motions must be noticed for a date certain.

A party seeking an extension of time must contact all other parties in the case to determine whether they object to the extension. Any motion for extension of time must indicate whether it is the first or subsequent extension request, shall include the reasons for the request, any previous relief granted and whether any other party objects to the extension.

All joint, uncontested, or agreed motions must be so identified in the title and body of the motion. Unless the court has told a party it need not appear, counsel for all parties are expected to be present whether or not the motion is agreed. After 4:00 on the afternoon prior to the hearing date, counsel should check the Daily Calendar posted on this Court's webpage to determine whether an appearance is necessary. Counsel also may call Ken Wood, the courtroom deputy, at (312) 408-5153. If an appearance is not required, the movant is directed to notify the respondent(s) accordingly.

Counsel should not respond to motions by correspondence with the Court.

An emergency motion must be of such a nature that a delay in hearing the motion would cause serious harm to one or more parties. Requests to set a hearing on an emergency motion should be made to the courtroom deputy with as much advance notice as possible. All reasonable efforts should be undertaken to give actual notice to opposing counsel.

Motions for summary judgment and responses must comply with Local Rules 56.1(a) and 56.1(b), as well as the procedures outlined herein. The statements of undisputed material fact and responses shall be filed separately from the memoranda of law and shall include the line, paragraph, or page number where the supporting material may be found in the record. Courtesy copies of exhibits to summary judgment motions should be tabbed for easy access.

Failure to abide by the Local Rules may result in the Court striking briefs, disregarding statements of fact, deeming statements of fact admitted, or denying summary judgment. The movant shall not file more than 80 statements of undisputed material fact without prior leave of Court. The respondent shall be limited to 40 statements of undisputed material fact absent prior leave of the Court. In complex cases, the Court may request that the parties submit a timeline of events in addition to the statements of undisputed material fact.

The fifteen (15) page limitation on all memoranda contained in Local Rule 7.1 shall be strictly enforced. A motion for leave to exceed that limit is looked upon with disfavor and shall not be granted except in unusual circumstances. Any such leave must be requested prior to submission of the memorandum.

Parties must attach to their memoranda copies of any cited authority that is unpublished in the West National Reporter System and unavailable on Westlaw.

Citations should follow the format prescribed in "A Uniform System of Citation" (the "Bluebook").

All citations should include a pin-point citation to the precise page on which the language relied on appears.

Final pretrial orders are to be filed in open court. Filing dates not previously set in court may be obtained from the courtroom deputy. Motions in limine are due three weeks before trial or at the time of filing the final pretrial order, whichever is sooner.

This Court strongly urges parties to exhaust settlement possibilities at the earliest practicable point in the litigation. Parties appearing before the Court should expect to be continually asked about the settlement status of the case and invited to attend settlement conferences with the Court. Parties who desire a settlement conference with the Court should request one in open court or by telephone from the courtroom deputy. Settlement conferences are held in chambers as specified in open court. In bench trials, settlement conferences are usually referred to another judge or magistrate.

Instructions for Settlement Conferences in cases assigned to Judge Virginia M. Kendall

There is a presumption that the public will have access to all court filings. In light of this presumption, the court will not sign a protective order which allows counsel, in their absolute discretion, to decide which matters are to be deemed confidential and filed under seal. Rather, the parties should file a proposed order which specifies the categories of documents or other matters which may be subject to the order (e.g. trade secrets, medical records, personnel files) and the motion should set forth why a protective order is necessary as to each category. The court will then independently review the motion and determine if the order should be signed. The issuance of a protective order in light of this Standing Order will constitute the court's determination, as required by Rule 26(c), that good cause existed for such issuance. 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 Jepson, Inc. v. Makita Elec. Works, Ltd., 30 F.3d 854, 858-59 (7th Cir. 1994).

1. All arraignments/bonds/detention hearings will be set before Judge Kendall at which time the following schedule will be set :

16.1 conference	7 Business days from arraignment
Status	Set Status hearing before pretrial motions are due on Monday through Thursday at 1:30pm.
Pretrial Motions	10 Business days after 16.1 conference
Response	10 Business days after pretrial motions
Reply	7 Business days after response

2. Indicted criminal cases for which a prior detention hearing was held before a magistrate judge: Prior to the arraignment, the Government and the Pretrial Services Office shall provide the Court with a copy of the complaint, any prior pretrial service reports, and any bond documents that have previously been entered in the matter.

3. Counsel is requested to contact the courtroom deputy at least one day in advance of a change of plea hearing if the plea is not going forward. In addition, a draft copy of the proposed plea agreement should be delivered to the courtroom deputy, Room 2316-A, at least one day in advance of the date of the hearing.

Briefs on appeal from the United States Bankruptcy Court must be filed within 15 days of the entry of judgment by the Bankruptcy Court. Any motions to extend time must be filed during the 15-day period. Briefs are limited to 15 pages each.

Too often litigants are unaware of the efficiencies and potential cost savings to be gained by having their cases tried before a United States Magistrate Judge. The Court strongly encourages counsel to inform their clients of this option, and to discuss it with opposing counsel.

Magistrate Judge Consent Form

Claim Construction Proceedings Before Judge Kendall

To order a transcript of proceedings that was held before Judge Kendall, e-mail her Official Court Reporter, April Metzler, at April_Metzler@ilnd.uscourts.gov, with the date of proceedings, the case name, and the case number. She will reply to your e-mail request as soon as possible via e-mail with the ordering instructions and the deposit amount required with regard to all delivery times possible. All deposit checks must be accompanied by an executed Transcript Order Form AO435, delivered to the Official Court Reporter.

Judge Kendall's courtroom is an advanced Computer Integrated Courtroom (CIC) with wireless realtime in use at all times. As other wireless devices can interfere with wireless realtime and inhibit realtime reception, all wireless devices shall be turned off in the courtroom. As advanced technological capabilities with a myriad of related services and deliveries along with multiple live feeds per party are available, please see the "Trial and/or Evidentiary Hearing Transcription Preparation" link below.

Trial and/or Evidentiary Hearing Transcription Preparation

For information regarding applying for a clerkship click here.

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_Kendall@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.

Last updated: 11/5/2007