• Eric Fulbright
  Phone: (312) 435 -5635

• Andrew Boyd
• Isaac Colunga

• Maellen Pittman
  (312) 435-5576

The court will set cases for status within 60 days of the filing of the complaint. At the initial status conference the parties will: 1) inform the court of the nature and scope of the case, 2) identify settlement opportunities, 3) set the initial discovery parameters, and 4) schedule future conferences and, when necessary, motions.

All Parties must adhere to the mandatory disclosure provisions of Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (see Local Rule 26.1).

After the initial status and scheduling conference, the court may hold scheduling and settlement conferences. Some of these may be held by telephone.

Scheduling Motions
The court hears motions on Friday (odd number motions at 9:30 AM, even number motions at 10:30)

Unless the court has told a party it need not appear, counsel is expected to be present whether or not the motion is agreed. Counsel should call on the day prior to the date set for the motion to see if appearance is necessary.

Motions must be filed with the central clerk's office at least two working days prior to the date of the hearing of the motion pursuant to Local Rule 78.1.

Meeting Requirement

The court encourages the parties to work out discovery disputes and discourages the filing of discovery motions. Discovery disputes are normally resolved at a status call or a pretrial conference without briefing. If the matter is not resolved, then the court will set a briefing schedule.

With regard to the filing of motions for discovery and production of documents under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26-37, the court will not hear or consider any discovery motions unless the parties have complied with Local Rule 37.2

In any motion for discovery or production of documents, the movant shall state when and how the movant complied with Local Rule 37.2. Failure to comply with these rules will result in the imposition of sanctions. Most often the court will rule on these motions after oral argument at the motion call and without briefing. The court will also consider these motions at a status call or a settlement conference.

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

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.

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_Norgle@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.