• Katie Franc
  Room : 2220
  (312) 435-6051

• Ellie Carey
• Elizabeth Pendleton

For transcript orders, please contact Brooke Wilson at (312) 435-5885

As of July 19, 2007, Judge Mason will require oral argument in all Social Security cases. Oral argument will be scheduled after the claimant's motion for summary judgment is fully briefed.

At this time, Judge Mason is not accepting applications for clerkships.

Upon assignment of cases by consent or referral to Magistrate Judge Mason, a status date will be set by means of a minute order. In order to make the status as productive as possible, the Court directs the parties to electronically file, at least three business days before the status hearing, a joint status report not to exceed four pages. A courtesy copy of the joint status report must be delivered to the Chambers (Room 2206). If the parties cannot agree on a joint status report, separate reports (each not to exceed two pages) may be filed.

The Court has issued a standing order identifying what subjects should be addressed in the joint status report. This standing order may be obtained from this website or from the Courtroom Deputy.

Consistent with the scope of the consent or referral, the Court will set discovery schedules, briefing schedules, and other deadlines and timetables at the initial status conference. Accordingly, the lead trial counsel for each party, or an attorney with substantial familiarity with and responsibility for the case, shall appear and be prepared to discuss all aspects of the case.

Civil Status & Civil Motion Calls: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 9:00 a.m.

Criminal Motions and Arraignments: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 11:00 a.m.

A motion must be electronically filed no more than three business days before the day the motion is to be heard. A courtesy copy of the motion must be delivered to Chambers (Room 2206) three business days in advance of the hearing. If an opposing party wishes to file a written response to the motion, it must inform the courtroom deputy prior to the date set for the motion to be heard. If counsel is aware that there will be no objection to the motion, that information should be noted in the body of the motion. The parties are not permitted to file either response or reply briefs without obtaining prior Court approval. Failure to obtain Court approval will result in your pleading being stricken.

If a motion is filed with a supporting memorandum, each should be filed as a separate document and not stapled together. If exhibits to a supporting memorandum total more than 40 pages, the exhibits should be bound separately from the brief. Counsel should use their discretion to bind voluminous exhibits in separately numbered volumes; the Court will require rebinding of any pleading or set of exhibits it cannot reasonably read.

Unless the Court has told a party it need not appear, counsel for all parties are expected to be present irrespective of whether the motion is agreed. If no appearance is required, moving counsel must so notify other counsel in the case.

When a District Judge refers a particular motion, the moving party should notice the motion for presentation at Judge Mason's regular motion call. Please do not re-file the motion; only file a notice of motion for presentment. A courtesy copy of both the new notice of motion and the previously filed motion should be delivered to Chambers, room 2206, no later than three business days before the motion is to be heard.

The Court will dispense with its three-day notice requirement only in connection with emergency motions. To qualify as an "emergency," a motion must arise from an unforeseen circumstance that arises suddenly and unexpectedly, and that requires immediate action in order to avoid serious or irreparable harm to one or more of the parties. Motions for extension of time for filing, or for continuances of deadlines or other dates previously set by the Court, are highly unlikely to qualify as "emergencies." In the event a party seeks to present an emergency motion, that party must inform the Courtroom Deputy prior to filing the motion of the general nature of the motion and the reason that it requires emergency treatment, so that it can be determined if emergency treatment is appropriate. A party seeking to present an emergency motion must make all reasonable efforts to provide the opposing party with actual notice of the motion.

The Court will not hear or consider any discovery motions unless the parties have complied with the meet and confer requirement under Local Rule 37.2. In any discovery motion, the motion shall 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, other than in exceptional circumstances, 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.

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

1. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c);
2. The decisions of the Seventh Circuit in Jepson, Inc. v. Makita Electric Works, Ltd, 30 F.3d 854 (7th Cir. 1994), Citizens First Nat’l Bank v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., 178 F.3d 943 (7th Cir. 1999), and Union Oil Co. v. Leavell, 220 F.3d 562 (7th Cir. 2000); and
3. In referral cases, any standing order or instructions from the District Judge regarding protective orders.

All proposed protective orders, even if agreed, must comply with the requirements set forth by the Seventh Circuit and, when appropriate, the assigned District Judge. Specifically, all protective orders must include, inter alia, a carefully-drafted definition of the materials to be protected, with an explanation of why these documents are entitled to protection, consistent with the Seventh Circuit’s descriptions of what is protectable; and an explicit procedure under which a party or interested member of the public can challenge the confidential designation of particular documents.

If any party wishes to file a motion for summary judgment, that party must inform the Court upon the close of discovery. Failure to do so may result in a waiver of that party’s right to move for summary judgment. This Court will not set a trial date prior to the resolution of all dispositive motions.

The Court requires strict compliance with Local General Rules 56.1(a) and 56.1(b) in the briefing of all summary judgment motions. In addition, to assist the Court in reviewing the factual record submitted in connection with summary judgment motions, the Court requires the following:

A courtesy copy of the compendium of affidavits, depositions and other materials relied upon in support of the motion (as required by Local Rule 56.1(a)) or in opposition to the motion (as required by Local Rule 56.1(b)) must be delivered to the Courtroom Deputy (Room 2220) the same day that the original is filed in the clerk’s office. The courtesy copy of the compendium must be securely bound, must separately tab each document, and must contain an index identifying what document is contained under each tab.

All statements of undisputed material facts offered by the moving party under Local Rule 56.1(a)(3)(B), or statements of additional facts offered by the responding party under Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(B), must list the facts in short, numbered paragraphs that refrain from argument. Argument must be reserved for the moving party’s memorandum of law. Each numbered fact statement must contain a specific citation to affidavits, depositions or other materials that support the fact statement, as well to the tab(s) in the compendium where those materials may be found. Failure to provide support for a statement of fact may result in that alleged "fact" being disregarded.

All responses to statements of undisputed materials facts offered by the responding party, or responses to statements of additional facts offered by the moving party, shall be in a format similar to that used in answering a complaint: that is, 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." The responses to 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 fact assertion is "disputed" in whole or 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.

The Court has prepared a Standing Order setting forth its settlement conference procedures. That Standing Order may be obtained from this website or from the Courtroom Deputy. Counsel and their clients must read and follow the procedures in that Standing Order prior to any settlement conference with the Court.

Initial Status Report

Settlement Conferences

Final Pretrial Order

Standard Voir Dire Questions

General Jury Instructions

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_Mason@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.