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.

All motions must be supported by memorandum, not to exceed 15 pages. See Local Rule 7.1. Alternatively, the motion may contain the principle argument and relevant authority that otherwise would comprise a supporting memorandum. Skeletal and unsupported arguments will not be considered and the argument will be deemed waived. See, Perry v. Sullivan, 207 F.3d 379, 383 (7th Cir. 2000); American Family Mutual Insurance v. Roth, 2007 WL 2410074 at *2 (N.D.Ill. 2007)(collecting cases); McWilliams v. McWilliams, 2006 WL 3775952 (N.D.Ill. 2006)(collecting cases)

Arguments raised for the first time in a reply brief will not be considered. See Hodgdon v. Northwestern University, _F.Supp.2d_, 2007 WL 1576486, n.3 (N.D.Ill. 2007)(collecting cases).

Before requesting entry of a protective order to preserve the confidentiality of materials disclosed in discovery, counsel shall carefully review:

• Rule 26(c) Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which requires, inter alia, that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with other affected parties in an effort to resolve the dispute without court action; See Citizens First Nat'l Bank v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., 178 F.3d 943 (7th Cir. 1999)(Posner, J.); Jepson, Inc. v. Makita Electric Works, Ltd, 30 F.3d 854 (7th Cir. 1994); and Union Oil Co. v. Leavell, 220 F.3d 562 (7th Cir. 2000).  

   

• Counsel shall also review any standing order or instructions regarding protective orders from the District Court making the referral.                                                                 

If the protective order anticipates that any documents or confidential materials submitted to the court are to be filed under seal, the protective order must include, at a minimum a carefully-drafted definition of the materials to be protected, with an explanation of why these documents are entitled to protection.

The proposed protective order must also set forth a 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. Cf., Jessup v. Luther, 227 F.3d 993 (7th Cir. 2000); In re Associated Press, 162 F.3d 503 (7th Cir. 1998).

Any designation of materials as "Confidential" must be made in good faith by counsel, and each page of confidential material must be marked "Confidential."

The proposed protective order should set out a procedure for the use of confidential documents at a deposition and identify those who may be given access to confidential materials.

The proposed protective order shall explicitly provide that nothing in the order shall be construed to affect the admissibility, vel non, of any document, material or information at any trial or hearing.

Although Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allows a party to file a motion for summary judgment at any time, and although the Supreme Court has stressed that motions for summary judgment are not disfavored, their indiscriminate use is discouraged. See Shadur, Trials or Tribulations (Rule 56 Style)?, 29 LITIGATION 5 (2003). Thus, prior to filing a motion for summary judgment, there should be careful and responsible assessment of whether there are genuine issues of material fact and whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

If, after careful consideration, a party decides to file a motion for summary judgment, the motion must comply strictly with Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and Local Rule 56.1. Failure to comply strictly with the Local Rules can have significant adverse consequences. See discussion in Loeffel Steel Products, Inc. v. Delta Brands, Inc., 379 F.Supp.2d 968, 986 (N.D.Ill. 2005).

A courtesy copy of the memorandum of law, depositions and other materials relied upon in support of the motion – as required by Local Rule 56.1(a)(1)-(3) – or in opposition to the motion – as required by Local Rule 56.1(b)(1)-(3) – must be delivered to chambers at the time the original is e-filed with the Clerk of the Court.

The courtesy copy must be securely bound and must separately tab, WITH PROTRUDING TABS AS REQUIRED BY LOCAL RULE 5.2, each document, and must contain an index identifying what document is contained under each tab. Noncompliance with this requirement will result in the document being stricken.

All statements of undisputed material facts offered by the moving party under Local Rule 56.1(a)(3), or statements of additional facts offered by the responding party under Local Rule 56.1(b)(3), must list the facts in short, numbered paragraphs that refrain from argument. Loeffel Steel Products, Inc. v. Delta Brands, Inc., 379 F.Supp.2d 968, 986 (N.D.Ill. 2005).

Argumentative presentations will not be considered and the opposing statement of fact will be deemed admitted.

Argument must be reserved for the supporting _assets/_documents/_forms/_legal memoranda.. Each numbered fact statement must contain a specific citation to affidavits, depositions or other materials that properly support the fact statement, as well as to the tab(s) in the compendium where those materials may be found.

Failure to provide evidentiary support for a claimed statement of fact will result in that alleged "fact" being disregarded.

All responses to statements of undisputed material facts offered by the responding party under Local Rule 56.1(b)(3), or responses to statements of additional facts offered by the moving party under Local Rule 56.1(a), shall be in a format similar to that used in answering a complaint: the response must repeat each numbered paragraph of the fact statement, and then immediately following each numbered statement must state whether the alleged fact is "undisputed" or "disputed." Loeffel Steel Products, Inc. v. Delta Brands, Inc., 379 F.Supp.2d 968, 986 (N.D.Ill. 2005).

As with the fact statements submitted under Rule 56.1(a)(3) and 56.1(b)(3), the responses to those fact statements must refrain from argument. The significance or lack of significance of a disputed or undisputed fact may be argued in the respondent’s _assets/_documents/_forms/_legal memorandum. If a particular fact is "undisputed," nothing more should be said in the response.

If a particular "factual" assertion is "disputed" in whole or in part, the response must state what part of the assertion is disputed and must contain a specific citation to the supporting affidavits, depositions or other materials as well as to the tab(s) in the compendium where those materials may be found.


Failure to provide support for an alleged fact dispute may result in that fact being deemed admitted. Loeffel Steel Products, Inc. v. Delta Brands, Inc., 379 F.Supp.2d 968, 986 (N.D.Ill. 2005).

Without leave of Court, a movant shall not file more than 80 separately numbered statements of undisputed material fact, and a party responding to a summary judgment motion shall not file more than 40 separately numbered statements of additional facts under Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(B).

Fact statements under Local Rule 56.1(a)(3) and Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(B) "shall consist of short numbered paragraphs."