Telephonic Appearances: This Court will consider requests for leave to appear telephonically at routine hearings that will not require substantive argument when counsel is located in another jurisdiction or is otherwise unable to appear in Court.  Local counsel, where required by the local rules, must be present and will serve as lead counsel for that court appearance.  Counsel appearing telephonically will not be permitted to engage in substantive arguments. 

Information to participate by telephone:

Dial Toll-Free Call-in-Number (650) 479-3207

Conference Access Code:  2315 996 7380#

You are required to join the conference call using a landline. Please keep in mind that even as a phone participant you are on the record in a formal court hearing. If there are multiple people on the phone, you must state your name each time you speak for clarity of the record. Lengthy arguments should be made in person or by local counsel.

Please keep your phone on mute until you hear your case called.

Electronic Filing

The Court strongly encourages counsel to convert any word-processed document into a .pdf document by printing or publishing to .pdf, rather than manually scanning a paper copy into .pdf. The former method of conversion generates searchable optical character recognition (OCR) text; the latter does not.

Extensions of Time

A party seeking an extension of time must contact all other parties in the case to determine whether they object to the extension. Any motion for extension of time should indicate whether it is the first or subsequent extension request, shall include the reasons for the request, any previous relief granted and whether any other party objects to the extension.

Schedule

Unopposed Motions

Joint, uncontested, and agreed motions must be so identified in the title and body of the motion. Unless the Court has told a party it need not appear, counsel for all parties to which the motion is directed are expected to be present whether or not the motion is opposed.  If an appearance is not required, counsel for the movant is directed to notify the respondent(s) accordingly.

Local Patent Rules
LPR Appendix A
LPR Appendix B
Estimated Patent Case Schedule

The requirements for the Initial Reassignment Status Report are provided at the link below.

Initial Reassignment Status Report

The Court urges parties to undertake settlement negotiations at the earliest practicable point in the litigation. Parties who desire a settlement conference should request one in open court or by telephone call to the courtroom deputy. Settlement conferences usually will be referred to the assigned Magistrate Judge.

In the event that the parties seek to have this Court retain jurisdiction to enforce the terms of a settlement agreement, counsel should review the following Seventh Circuit cases (among any other pertinent authorities: Dupuy v. McEwen, 495 F.3d 807 (7th Cir. 2007); Blue Cross and Blue Shield Ass’n v. American Express Co., 467 F.3d 634 (7th Cir. 2006), Shapo v. Engle, 463 F.3d 641, 646 (7th Cir. 2006), and Lynch v. Samatamason Inc., 279 F.3d 487 (7th Cir. 2002).

This Standing Order applies to all civil cases reassigned to the calendar of District Judge Martha Pacold. All previously-set status or motion hearing dates are vacated. Any trials set for August 29, 2019 through October 18, 2019 are cancelled and will be re-set by the Court. Unless otherwise ordered, all previously-set discovery, briefing schedules and deadlines remain intact. A reassignment status conference date will be set by the Court. Already-pending motions will be addressed at the reassignment status. The parties are directed not to notice or re-notice any motions, with the exception of emergency motions, prior to appearing at the reassignment conference. For all emergency motions arising prior to September 9th should be noticed before the emergency judge. For all emergency motions arising after September 9th, the parties are directed to contact chambers at (312) 435-5814 (this number is subject to change). Emergency matters must be of such a nature that a delay in hearing them would cause serious and irreparable harm to one or more of the parties to the proceeding.

To help the Court learn about the case, at least 5 business days before the reassignment status conference, counsel are to confer, prepare, and file a joint status report, not to exceed five pages. If defense counsel has not yet filed an appearance, the status report should be prepared by plaintiff’s counsel.

Motions for summary judgment and responses must comply with Local Rule 56.1 as well as the procedures outlined herein. All statements of undisputed material facts and their 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.

The Local Rules are not mere technicalities. Failure to abide by the Local Rules may result in the Court striking briefs, disregarding statements of fact, deeming statements of fact admitted, and denying summary judgment. See Cracco v. Vitran Exp., Inc., 559 F.3d 625, 632 (7th Cir. 2009).

The movant shall not file more than 80 statements of undisputed material facts without prior leave of the Court. The respondent shall be limited to 40 statements of undisputed material facts without prior leave of the Court.

Persons requesting a daily or hourly transcript of a trial or other evidentiary hearing that may reasonably be expected to last more than one day should place the order with the Court Reporter at least five business days prior to the first day of such proceedings. Judge Pacold's court reporter, Kathleen M. Fennell, can be reached at Kathleen_Fennell@ilnd.uscourts.gov.