All motions, civil and criminal, are generally heard on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 9:00 a.m. The motion must be electronically filed in compliance with Local Rule 5.2(a), and Local Rule 78.1., or the original and one copy must be delivered to the clerk’s office on the 20th Floor if the party is not a registered e-filer, no later than three full business days preceding the day the motion is to be heard (e.g., filed on or before Monday for hearing on Thursday). A courtesy copy shall be delivered to the box outside the courtroom deputy's office (#1744) at the time of filing. Motions e-filed after 4:30 p.m. are considered filed the following business day.

Counsel should designate an uncontested motion as an "agreed motion."

Please check the court’s website at www.ilnd.uscourts.gov (Judges; Judge Conlon; Call Sheet) or the bulletin board outside the courtroom (#1743) after 3:00 p.m. the afternoon prior to the hearing date to determine whether an appearance is necessary. If an appearance is not necessary, it is the obligation of the movant to notify the respondent(s) accordingly.

Motions to extend a discovery cutoff date or to reset a trial date, whether agreed or contested, normally require a court appearance. Telephone calls to request extensions of time will not be considered.

All cell phones and audible pagers brought into the courtroom must be turned off. No exceptions. A violation is contempt of court and the phone or pager shall be forfeited.

A. EMERGENCY MOTIONS

Requests to set a hearing on an emergency motion shall be made to the courtroom deputy after the motion has been filed.  To qualify as an "emergency," a motion must be based on 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.  Motions for extensions of time for filing, or for continuances of deadlines or other dates previously set by the court, are unlikely to qualify as "emergencies." All reasonable efforts must be made to give actual notice to opposing counsel. Emergency motions should not be noticed on the court’s motion call.

B. SUMMARY JUDGMENT MOTIONS

Motions for summary judgment and responses must comply with Local General Rule 56 .

A limit of 80 asserted statements of fact and 40 assertions of additional statements of fact will be strictly enforced. A statement that exceeds these limitations without first obtaining leave of court will be stricken.

Each Local Rule 56.1 statement of material fact or response must cite to the evidentiary record and cannot cite to briefs filed by the parties or to other Local Rule 56.1 statements or responses.  Each Local Rule 56.1 statement of fact or response shall include the page number where the supporting material may be found in the record.  It is improper to cite vaguely to an entire exhibit without including a page or paragraph number.

Parties submitting deposition testimony in support of or in opposition to summary judgment motions are to provide a cover sheet to the deposition stating the name of the witness, the date of the deposition, and the deponent's title and/or role in, or relationship to, the pending litigation (e.g., "John Doe, plaintiff's human resources manager" or "Jane Doe, plaintiff's union representative").  Parties are encouraged to provide a complete copy of a deposition transcript if not unreasonably voluminous.  At a minimum, the court requests sufficient pages before and after the cited testimony to provide context.

The court disfavors motions to strike that routinely accompany summary judgment briefs. Motions to strike needlessly complicate and prolong the summary judgment process. If a responding party believes a statement of fact, document or other item submitted in connection with a motion for summary judgment is inadmissible, the party shall object within the Local Rule 56.1 statement and may briefly so argue within the response brief or reply brief.

C. DISCOVERY MOTIONS

Civil discovery motions shall not be heard without an affidavit or declaration pursuant to Rule 37.2 of the Local General Rules. In addition, no party shall serve on any other party more than twenty-five (25) interrogatories in the aggregate without leave of court.

Criminal discovery motions shall not be heard unless a conference has been held and a statement is submitted in compliance with Rule 12.1(b) of the Local Criminal Rules.

D. AUTOMATIC DISCLOSURE UNDER AMENDED FED. R. CIV. P. 26 (1993)

(1) This court generally orders the initial disclosures required by Rule 26(a)(1) .

(2) 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 Rule 26(a)(2) .

(3) Expert disclosures required by Rule 26(a)(2) shall be made no later than thirty (30) days before the discovery cut-off date, unless ordered otherwise. Rebuttal information required by Rule 26(a)(2) must be provided no later than ten (10) days before the discovery cut-off date, unless ordered otherwise.

(4) Compliance with Rule 26(a)(2) is required before an expert may be designated as a trial witness in the final pretrial order.

E. MEMORANDA OF LAW

The fifteen (15) page limitation on all memoranda shall be strictly enforced. A motion exceeding that limit is looked upon with disfavor and shall not be granted except in unusual circumstances.

Please attach copies of any cited authorities that are not available on Westlaw or LEXIS.  For unreported cases with only a Westlaw or LEXIS database citation, please include the case number in accordance with Bluebook Rule 18.1.

F. BRIEFING SCHEDULE

Briefing schedules are generally set by court order. A motion for extension of time shall not be granted except on a showing of good cause. The circumstances warranting an extension shall be set forth in specific detail by written motion. Unauthorized briefs shall be stricken. Counsel shall not respond to motions by correspondence with the court.

G.  EX PARTE COMMUNICATION

All communications must be made in the form of a motion or a status report, properly noticed and served on opposing counsel.  Filings without proper notice of service on opposing counsel may be stricken.