Civil Cases:

Motions

Motions will be heard Monday through Thursday at 8:30 A.M.

Status Conferences

Status conferences will be held every day,

Monday - Friday, at 8:30 A.M.

Duration of Oral Argument

Effective 10/24/16, absent order of the court, oral argument on motions will generally be limited to 15 minutes per side with 5 minutes for rebuttal if necessary.

Service of motions:

Motions should be e-filed with Clerk's Office no later than the third business day preceding the day the motion is to be heard, except in the case of emergency motions.

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.