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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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No.
13 Plaintiff,
v. SCHEDULING AND CASE
14 MANAGEMENT ORDER
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Defendant.
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18 This case has been assigned to the calendar of Magistrate Judge Brianna
19 Fuller Mircheff pursuant to the parties’ consent to have the magistrate judge
20 conduct all further proceedings herein, including trial and the entry of
21 judgment.
22 Judge Mircheff is located in Courtroom 780, on the 7th floor of the Roybal
23 Federal Building and United States Courthouse, 255 E. Temple Street, Los
24 Angeles, CA 90012. The courtroom deputy clerk, Ms. Christianna Howard, can
25 be reached by email at
[email protected] or by telephone
26 at (213) 894-7103.
27 The Court expects full compliance with the Federal Rules of Civil
28 Procedure, the Local Rules for the Central District of California, this Court’s
1 Procedures and Schedules, and the scheduling order in this case. Any
2 ambiguities will be construed to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive
3 determination of each action.
4 The purpose of this Order is to enable counsel to know well in advance the
5 schedule and requirements to which they will be expected to adhere. Please
6 read this Order carefully, it governs this case and differs in some
7 respects from the Local Rules.
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9 I. Scheduling Order
10 The Court has issued a Scheduling Order, setting forth dates for the
11 completion of fact and expert discovery, pre-trial and trial dates. No stipulation
12 to extend the Scheduling Order shall be effective unless approved by the Court.
13 Applications to extend any deadline must set forth:
14 (i) the existing deadline or hearing date;
15 (ii) specific, concrete reasons supporting good cause for granting the
16 extension;
17 (iii) whether there have been prior requests for extensions; and
18 (iv) if filed as an application, whether the other parties agree to the
19 request and the proposed new dates or schedule.
20 The party or parties requesting the extension must provide the Court with
21 a proposed order setting forth the proposed new dates and/or proposed new
22 schedule.
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24 II. Discovery Cut-off
25 All discovery shall be completed by the discovery cut-off dates for non-
26 expert and expert discovery. This is not the date by which discovery requests
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1 must be served; it is the date by which all non-expert and expert discovery is to
2 be completed. Any discovery dispute must be raised sufficiently in advance that
3 the Court can hold an informal discovery conference, the motion can be heard
4 and decided, and, if the motion is granted, any discovery can be exchanged
5 before the discovery cut-off.
6 The Court encourages the parties to review the Court’s procedure for
7 informal discovery conferences. See http://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/judges-
8 schedules-procedures. The parties are reminded that they may contact the
9 Courtroom Deputy to schedule an informal discovery conference only after they
10 have met and conferred to try to resolve the dispute without Court involvement.
11 If, after reviewing the parties’ explanation of the issue or an informal discovery
12 conference, the Court finds that further briefing is required, the Court will set
13 a briefing schedule. Except in the case of an emergency not created by the party
14 or counsel bringing the motion, discovery motions will not be heard on ex parte
15 basis.
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17 III. Motions and Motion Cut-off Date
18 A. General Provisions
19 All law and motion matters, except for discovery motions and motions in
20 limine, must be filed by the date set in the attached trial Scheduling Order.
21 The parties must adhere to the requirements of the Local Rules
22 concerning motion practice. See Local Rules 7-1 et seq. If any party does not
23 oppose a motion, that party shall submit a written statement in accordance with
24 Local Rule 7-16 that it does not oppose the motion. Failure to meet the time
25 limits set forth in Local Rule 7 may be deemed consent to the granting of the
26 motion. Local Rule 7-12.
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1 Motions are heard on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00 a.m. unless
2 otherwise ordered by the Court. Even if a motion is still necessary after a good
3 faith pre-filing conference, counsel should have sufficiently discussed the issues
4 so that the briefing will be directed to those substantive issues which require
5 resolution by the Court. Hearings are presumptively held in person, but may be
6 conducted by videoconference at the request of the parties and with leave of
7 Court.
8 Ex parte practice is strongly discouraged. See Mission Power Eng. Co. v.
9 Cont’l Cas. Co., 883 F. Supp. 488 (C.D. Cal. 1995). Counsel must adhere to
10 proper ex parte procedures for any ex parte application filed with the Court. Id.
11 at 492; see also Local Rule 7-19.
12 B. Page Limitations
13 Memoranda of points and authorities in support of or in opposition to any
14 motion shall not exceed 25 pages. Replies shall not exceed 12 pages. Only in rare
15 instances and for good cause shown will the Court grant an application to file a
16 brief in excess of those page limitations.
17 C. Summary Judgment Motions
18 Absent leave of Court, no party may file more than one motion pursuant
19 to Fed. R. Civ. P. 56, whether such motion is denominated as a motion for
20 summary judgment or summary adjudication.
21 To increase efficiency and to assist counsel in structuring and focusing
22 these motions, the following requirements apply when filing motions for
23 summary judgment.
24 1. Separate Statement of Undisputed Facts and Statement of Genuine
25 Issues
26 The separate statement of undisputed facts is to be prepared in a two-
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1 column format. The left-hand column should set forth the allegedly undisputed
2 fact. The right-hand column should set forth the evidence that supports the
3 factual statement. The fact statements should be set forth in sequentially
4 numbered paragraphs. Each paragraph should contain a narrowly focused
5 statement of fact. Each numbered paragraph should address a single subject in
6 as concise a manner as possible.
7 The opposing party’s statement of genuine issues must be in two columns
8 and track the moving party’s separate statement exactly as prepared. The
9 document must be in two columns; the left-hand column must restate the
10 allegedly undisputed fact, and the right-hand column must indicate either
11 undisputed, or disputed. The opposing party may dispute all or only a portion of
12 the statement, but if disputing only a portion, must clearly indicate what part
13 is being disputed. Where the opposing party is disputing the fact in whole or
14 part, the opposing party must, in the right-hand column, label and restate the
15 moving party’s evidence in support of the fact, followed by the opposing party’s
16 evidence controverting the fact. Where the opposing party is disputing the fact
17 based on an evidentiary objection, the party must cite to the evidence alleged to
18 be objectionable and state the ground of the objection and nothing more. No
19 argument should be set forth in this document.
20 The opposing party may submit additional material facts that bear on or
21 relate to the issues raised by the moving party, which shall follow the format
22 described above for the moving party’s separate statement. These additional
23 facts shall follow the moving party’s facts, shall continue in sequentially
24 numbered paragraphs (e.g., if the moving party’s last statement of fact was set
25 forth in paragraph 30, then the first new fact will be set forth in paragraph 31),
26 and shall set forth in the right-hand column the evidence that supports that
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1 statement.
2 The moving party, in its reply, shall respond to the additional facts in the
3 same manner and format that the opposition party is required to adhere to in
4 responding to the statement of undisputed facts, as described above.
5 2. Supporting Evidence
6 No party should submit any evidence other than the specific items of
7 evidence or testimony necessary to support or controvert a proposed statement
8 of undisputed fact. Thus, for example, the entire transcript of a deposition,
9 entire sets of interrogatory responses, and documents that do not specifically
10 support or controvert material in the separate statements, should not be
11 submitted in support or opposition to a motion for summary judgment.
12 Evidence submitted in support or opposition to a motion should be
13 submitted either by way of stipulation or as exhibits to declarations sufficient
14 to authenticate the proffered evidence and should not be attached to the
15 memorandum of points and authorities. The Court will accept counsel’s
16 authentication of deposition transcripts, written discovery responses, and the
17 receipt of documents in discovery if the fact that the document was in the
18 opponent’s possession is of independent significance. Documentary evidence as
19 to which there is no stipulation regarding foundation must be accompanied by
20 the testimony, either by declaration or properly authenticated deposition
21 transcript, of a witness who can establish its authenticity.
22 3. Objections to Evidence
23 If a party disputes a fact based in whole or in part on an evidentiary
24 objection, the ground of the objection, as indicated above, should be stated in the
25 separate statement but not argued in that document. Evidentiary objections are
26 to be addressed in a separate memorandum to be filed with the opposition or
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1 reply brief of the party. This memorandum should be organized to track the
2 paragraph numbers of the separate statement in sequence. It should identify
3 the specific item of evidence to which objection is made, identify the ground of
4 the objection, and make a very brief argument with citation to authority as to
5 why the objection is well taken. The following is an example of the format
6 contemplated by the Court:
7 Separate Statement Paragraph 1: Objection to the supporting deposition
8 transcript of Jane Smith at 60:1-10 on the grounds that the statement
9 constitutes inadmissible hearsay and no exception is applicable. To the
10 extent it is offered to prove her state of mind, it is irrelevant since her
11 state of mind is not in issue. Fed. R. Evid. 801, 802.
12 Blanket or boilerplate objections to the Opponent’s Statements of Undisputed
13 Facts will be disregarded.
14 4. The Memorandum of Points and Authorities
15 The moving party’s memorandum of points and authorities should be in
16 the usual form required under Local Rule 7 and should contain a narrative
17 statement of facts as to those aspects of the case that are before the Court. All
18 facts should be supported with citation to the paragraph number in the separate
19 statement that supports the factual assertion and not to the underlying
20 evidence.
21 Unless the case involves some unusual application of Fed. R. Civ. P. 56,
22 the motion need only contain a brief statement of the Fed. R. Civ. P. 56 standard.
23 The argument should be organized to focus on the pertinent elements of the
24 claim(s) or defense(s) in issue, with the purpose of showing the existence or non-
25 existence of a genuine issue of material fact for trial on that element of the claim
26 or defense.
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1 Likewise, the opposition memorandum of points and authorities should be
2 in the usual form required by Local Rule 7, and where the opposition
3 memorandum sets forth facts, the memorandum should cite to paragraphs in
4 the separate statement if they are not in dispute, to the evidence that
5 contravenes the fact where the fact is in dispute, or, if the fact is contravened
6 by an additional fact in the statement of genuine issues, the citation should be
7 to such fact by paragraph number.
8 5. Timing and Format
9 The Court expects that the moving party will provide more than the
10 minimum twenty-one day notice for such motions. The moving party should
11 email, or if email is impracticable, deliver to the Courtroom Deputy a USB flash
12 drive, containing the statement of uncontroverted facts and conclusions of law
13 in Word format.
14 D. Motions in Limine
15 The parties must file any motions in limine addressing the admissibility
16 of evidence in accordance with Local Rule 7-3 by the date specified in the
17 Scheduling Order that has been issued for this case.
18 Before filing any motion in limine, counsel for the parties shall confer in
19 a good faith effort to eliminate the necessity for the filing of the motion in limine
20 or to eliminate as many of the disputes as possible. At least five days in advance
21 of such a conference, counsel for the moving party must send a letter requesting
22 such conference, and shall identify the testimony, exhibits, or other specific
23 matters alleged to be inadmissible and/or prejudicial, shall state thoroughly
24 with respect to each such matter the moving party’s position (and provide any
25 legal authority which the moving party believes as dispositive), and shall specify
26 the terms of the order to be sought.
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1 If counsel are unable to resolve their differences, they shall prepare and
2 file a separate sequentially numbered joint motion in limine for each issue in
3 dispute which contains a clear caption that identifies the moving party and the
4 nature of the dispute (e.g., “Plaintiff’s Motion in Limine No. 1 to Exclude the
5 Testimony of Defendant’s Expert”). Each joint motion in limine shall consist of
6 one document signed by all counsel. The joint motion in limine shall contain a
7 clear identification of the testimony, exhibits, or other specific matters alleged
8 to be inadmissible and/or prejudicial and a statement of the specific prejudice
9 that will be suffered by the moving party if the motion is not granted. The
10 identification of the matters in dispute shall be followed by each party’s
11 contentions and each party’s memorandum of points and authorities. The title
12 page of the joint motion in limine must state the Pre-Trial Conference date,
13 hearing date for the motions in limine, and trial date.
14 Each separately represented party shall be limited to five pages per issue,
15 exclusive of tables of contents and authorities. Repetition should be avoided and,
16 as always, brevity is preferred. Leave for additional space will be given only in
17 extraordinary cases.
18 The moving party must provide its portion of the joint motion in limine to
19 the nonmoving party, via e-mail, no later than nine days before the deadline set
20 forth below for filing motions in limine. The nonmoving party shall then provide
21 the integrated joint motion in limine, along with any exhibits, to the moving
22 party no later than two days before the filing deadline. (The moving party may
23 not make any further revisions to the joint motion in limine other than finalizing
24 it for filing.) The moving party shall be responsible for filing the joint motion in
25 limine and preparing and filing any supporting exhibits.
26 The moving party may file a reply memorandum of points and authorities
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1 no later than the deadline set forth below. The reply memorandum shall not
2 exceed five pages, unless otherwise ordered by the Court.
3 The Court will not consider any motion in limine in the absence of a joint
4 motion or a declaration from counsel for the moving party establishing that
5 opposing counsel (A) failed to confer in a timely manner; (B) failed to provide
6 the opposing party’s portion of the joint motion in a timely manner; or (C)
7 refused to sign and return the joint motion after the opposing party’s portion
8 was added.
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10 VI. Settlement
The Court has directed the parties to participate in the ADR option
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identified in the scheduling order; however, the parties are encouraged to
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explore an earlier settlement proceeding after exchanging initial disclosures
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and preliminary discovery. The parties must file a status report re settlement
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within seven days of each settlement proceeding.
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The Court does not conduct settlement conferences in non-jury cases that
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are to be tried before the Court.
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Dated: _______________________________________
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BRIANNA FULLER MIRCHEFF
20 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
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