• Michelle D. Mills
• Olga Gutierrez

• Yolanda Pagan
  (312) 408-5135
  Room: 1320

Upon assignment of cases to Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez by consent or referral, an initial status hearing date will be set by means of a minute order. In order to make the initial status hearing as productive as possible, the Court directs the parties to file a joint status report, not to exceed three pages, and to deliver two courtesy copies of the report to Judge's Chambers (Room 1318) at least four business days before the status hearing. The Court has issued a standing order identifying what subjects should be addressed in the joint status report. ORDER SETTING INITIAL STATUS REPORT

Rule 16B Scheduling Order

The Court will normally set status calls on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

The Court hears civil motions on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 9:45 a.m.

The Court hears criminal motions on Tuesday and Thursday at 10:00 a.m.

Arraignments are heard on Monday and Wednesday at 10:00 a.m.

The Court hereby modifies Local Rule 5.3 and Local Rule 78.1 as follows: All motions must be filed no later than 4:30 p.m. three business days before the day the motion is to be heard. Personal service of motions must be accomplished no later than 4:00 p.m. three business days preceding the date of presentment. In all other respects, the parties must comply with Local Rules 5.3 and 78.1.

Two courtesy copies of motions and all other court filings must be delivered to chambers (Room 1318) within 24 hours of the time of filing. However, if any exhibits accompanying the motion comprise more than 50 pages, only one courtesy copy of the exhibits need be provided to the Court. All courtesy copies must comply with Local Rule 5.2(c). (For instructions regarding proposed or draft orders, please refer to the section entitled “Submitting a Proposed Order, Agreed or Otherwise, for Electronic Entry by the Judge,” infra.)

Parties must include with their motion or supporting memorandum copies of any cited authority that is published only on an electronic database, such as Westlaw and Lexis. Absent leave of Court, all memoranda of law must comply with the 15-page limitation set forth in Local Rule 7.1.

a. Summary Judgment

Motions for summary judgment and responses must comply with Local Rules 56.1(a) and 56.1(b) as amended, 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. 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. See, e.g., Cichon v. Exelon Generation Co., 401 F.3d 803, 809-10 (7th Cir. 2005); Ammons v. Aramark Uniform Servs., Inc., 368 F.3d 809, 816-18 (7th Cir. 2004); Smith v. Lamz, 321 F.3d 680, 682-83 (7th Cir. 2003); Malec v. Sanford, 191 F.R.D. 581, 582-87 (N.D. Ill. 2000) (comprehensive overview of summary judgment procedure in the Northern District of Illinois).

In light of the April 20, 2006 revisions to Local Rule 56.1, 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 court.

b. Discovery Motions

The Court believes that parties can and should work out most discovery disputes, and thus discourages the filing of discovery motions. 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. Any discovery motion must state with specificity when and how the movant complied with Local Rule 37.2. In addition, the motion must briefly summarize the substance of the parties= discussions.

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, timely communication that takes place face to face or by telephone conference is required. The mere exchange of correspondence will not normally be sufficient to comply with Local Rule 37.2.

All parties must be fully prepared to orally argue any discovery motion on the date that it is presented. The Court most often will decide most discovery motions after oral argument at the motion call and without briefing. If after 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.

c. Motions in Limine

A motion in limine must be filed as a separate document from the Pretrial Order. (See also Final Pretrial Order, infra.) Each motion in limine must be filed as a separate motion and each must cite authority supporting the relief sought.

Many motions in limine can be avoided by stipulation of counsel. Therefore, each motion in limine must also contain a statement of efforts to reach an accord regarding that motion containing the recitations that Local Rule 37.2 requires for discovery motions. Any motion in limine not containing such a statement is subject to being stricken.

d. All Motions

Every motion filed must cite legal authority supporting the motion and the relief sought. The body of any motion must state if the motion is joint, or if the other parties have authorized the movant to state that the parties either agree to the motion or have no objection to it.

The Court will apply the meet and confer requirement to all motions that a party files. The previous comments on compliance with the meet and confer requirement will be applied with respect to all other motions. In particular, with respect to any motions for summary judgment, the Court requires the moving party and the opposing party to meet and confer, during which time the opposing party should advise the moving party of factual matter or legal authority that it believes would defeat the motion. After this consultation, if the movant still wishes to file the motion, the movant should do so and the Court will address it. Any motion must state with specificity what the parties did to comply with the meet and confer requirement.

The Court will dispense with its three-day notice requirement only in connection with emergency motions. To qualify as an Aemergency,@ a motion must arise from an unforeseen circumstance that arises suddenly and unexpectedly and requires immediate action in order to avoid serious or irreparable harm to one or more of the parties. Requests for an emergency motion shall be made to the Courtroom Deputy prior to filing the motion. A party seeking to present an emergency motion must make all reasonable efforts to provide the opposing party with actual notice of the motion.

Before requesting that the Court enter a restricting order, commonly referred to as a protective order, to preserve the confidentiality of materials disclosed in discovery, or filing a confidential document under seal, counsel shall carefully review the following:

$ Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c);

$ Local Rules 5.7, 5.8, and 26.2, as amended;

$ 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

$ In a case that is before the Court on referral for discovery supervision, any standing order or instructions from the District Judge regarding protective orders and restricting orders.

The Court will not enter a protective order, even if agreed, that does not comply with the requirements set out by the Seventh Circuit (and, for cases on referral, the assigned District Judge). If the protective order anticipates that any documents or confidential materials submitted to the court are to be filed under seal, the proposed protective order must include, at a minimum, the following:

$ A carefully-drafted definition of the categories of documents or other materials to be protected (e.g., personnel files, medical information, personal identity information, trade secrets, confidential financial matters, etc.), with an explanation of why confidentiality is necessary as to each category, consistent with the Seventh Circuit's descriptions of what is protectable;

$ A provision that no document may be filed under seal absent an order by the court granting a motion, filed and noticed for hearing prior to the due date of the particular filing, showing good cause for sealing that particular document or portion of document;

$ A procedure for the use of confidential documents at the depositions of witnesses, and a listing of the persons who may be given access to confidential materials;

$ A provision that parties are ordered to retain copies of all documents containing confidential information which are provided under the protective order;

$ A provision stating that nothing in the order shall be construed to affect the admissibility of any document, material or information at any trial or hearing; any request for confidentiality, closure or sealing of any hearing or trial must be made to the judge then presiding;

$ An explicit procedure under which a party or interested member of the public can challenge the confidential designation of particular documents that have been filed under seal; and

$ Instructions for the disposition of the documents designated as confidential following the conclusion of the case.

Please note that any designation of materials as Aconfidential@ must be made in good faith by counsel, not by the client, and each page of confidential material must be clearly marked Aconfidential,@ Aprotected,@ or otherwise restricted.

The foregoing are minimum requirements. Counsel should, in addition, anticipate possible areas of future dispute and attempt to set out agreed procedures in advance to deal with them, appropriate to the nature of the case.

Counsel should be aware that amendments to Local Rule 26.2 in April 2006 changed certain aspects of the way documents designated as confidential must be dealt with in filings with the court. First, pursuant to amended L.R. 26.2(b), no document may be filed under seal without a prior order of the court specifying the particular document or portion of a document to be filed under seal. This amendment changed the rule by making clear that only the particular document that has been previously determined by the court to be deserving of protection may be filed under seal, regardless of the existence of any protective order. Thus, parties are not to file briefs or compilations of exhibits as restricted or under seal unless the court has expressly so ordered, with respect to the particular briefs or exhibits. See Committee Comments to L.R. 26.2. Second, pursuant to L.R. 26.2(c) and (d), the amended rule now offers Judges two options regarding how to handle documents designated as confidential when those documents are submitted for consideration in connection with a motion, brief or other matter. The two options are as follows:

1. Filing the confidential document with the Clerk=s Office. Under this option, the confidential documents must be filed with the Clerk=s Office, and each confidential document presented for filing must include a copy of a restricting order entered by the Judge for that specific document or portion of document. The attorney or party submitting the confidential document must file it in a sealed enclosure that conspicuously states on the face of the enclosure the attorney=s or party=s name and address, including email address if the attorney is registered as a Filing User of electronic case filing, the caption of the case, and the title of the document. See L.R. 26.2(c). The final paragraph of the restricting order shall provide: (1) the identity of the persons, if any, who are to have access to the confidential materials without further order of court; and (2) instructions for the disposition of the restricted documents following the conclusion of the case. See L.R. 26.2(b).

2. Submitting the confidential document in chambers and filing a redacted copy with the Clerk=s Office. Under this option, documents designated as confidential shall not be filed with the Clerk=s Office. Rather, any such documents requiring the court=s review shall be submitted to chambers in camera in a sealed envelope bearing the caption of the case, case number, the title of the motion or response to which the submitted confidential information pertains, and the name and telephone number of counsel submitting the documents. The producing party must file a redacted copy of all documents containing confidential information with the Clerk=s Office for the record. In addition, the producing party must maintain the original documents intact for any further review. See L.R. 26.2(d).

In cases where a protective order is within the scope of the District Judge=s referral, Judge Valdez will enforce the filing practice of the referring District Judge.

In consent cases, Judge Valdez follows the first option discussed above. Counsel seeking to file documents previously designated as restricted pursuant to a protective order must therefore use the following procedure:

If a party intends to file a motion or other paper with the court which contains information designated as confidential by the other party or a non-party pursuant to a protective order between the parties, the filing party shall give reasonable notice of that intention to the designating party. A party seeking to file its own confidential information under seal, or a designating party given notice that a party intends to file the designating party=s confidential information, shall file and notice for hearing a Motion to File Under Seal prior to the due date of the particular filing. The Motion to File Under Seal must demonstrate good cause by including a specific description of the document (or categories of documents) that the party seeks to file under seal and explaining why confidentiality is necessary, consistent with the Seventh Circuit=s descriptions of what is protectable. The movant=s counsel shall bring a copy of the document or documents to the hearing for examination by the court.

In the event that a party withholds otherwise discoverable information on the ground of privilege, the withholding party generally must provide a log of the documents withheld on the ground of privilege. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5) and Advisory Committee Comments to 1993 Amendments. Any privilege log must be detailed enough to enable other parties to assess the applicability of the privilege asserted, and should include: (1) the name and capacity of each individual from whom or to whom a document and any attachments were sent (including which persons are lawyers); (2) the date of the document and any attachments; (3) the type of document; (4) the Bates numbers of the documents; (5) the nature of the privilege asserted; and (6) a description of the subject matter in sufficient detail to determine if legal advice was sought or revealed, or if the document constitutes work product. See Allendale Mut. Ins. Co. v. Bull Data Systems, Inc., 145 F.R.D. 84, 88 (N.D. Ill. 1992). The Court reminds the parties that the meet and confer requirements of Local Rule 37.2 apply to privilege disputes, just as they do to other discovery disputes

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

Instructions for Settlement Conference

Final Pretrial Order

Submitting a Proposed Order, Agreed or Otherwise, for Electronic Entry by the Judge 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, proposed orders must be attached to an e-mail sent to the e-mail address of the assigned judge, Proposed_Order_Valdez@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. Any proposed orders must also be served on all parties.