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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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PLAINTIFF’S NAME, et al., Case No. 0:00-cv-00000-CV ( x)
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Plaintiff(s), ORDER RE MOTIONS FOR
12 SUMMARY JUDGMENT
13 v.
[Updated 3/13/25]
14 DEFENDANT’S NAME, et al.,
15 Defendant(s).
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17 READ THIS ORDER CAREFULLY BECAUSE IT CONTROLS THIS CASE
18 AND DIFFERS IN PART FROM THE LOCAL RULES. WHEN
19 CONSULTING THIS ORDER, PLEASE BE SURE TO USE THE MOST
20 UPDATED VERSION LOCATED ON JUDGE VALENZUELA’S WEBPAGE. 1
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28 Judge Valenzuela’s webpage can be found at
https://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/honorable-cynthia-valenzuela.
1 1. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
2 a. Joint Brief. The parties shall work cooperatively to submit a single joint
3 brief for all motions for summary judgment or adjudication (MSJs)
4 brought by all moving parties. The joint brief shall be organized by issue,
5 presenting the parties’ competing positions on an issue-by-issue basis.
6 For each issue, the moving party shall present legal argument and citation
7 to the Joint Appendix of Facts (JAF), see infra, followed immediately by
8 the opposition’s response that similarly must be supported by legal
9 argument and citation to the JAF.
10 b. Form. Because summary judgment motions are fact-intensive, parties
11 should prepare papers in a fashion that will assist the Court in
12 considering the material (e.g., through use of tabs, tables of contents,
13 headings, indices). The joint brief must cite to the JAF, see infra.
14 c. Word Limit. Each separately represented party shall be limited to 7,000
15 words, exclusive of tables of contents and authorities. Leave for
16 additional briefing will be given only in extraordinary cases. Each party
17 is limited to the use of a total of eight footnotes.
18 d. Timing. The Court expects the parties to agree to a filing schedule for an
19 MSJ, which must be filed in compliance with the deadlines set forth in
20 Paragraph 1(e). The parties should not wait until the last day to file; on
21 the other hand, the filing of clearly premature motions requiring a
22 continuance to permit discovery wastes resources.
23 e. Briefing Schedule. If multiple parties are moving for summary
24 judgment, the parties should designate only one party as “the moving
25 party” for purposes of the briefing schedule.2 The schedule for the joint
26 brief shall be as follows:
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The Court expects the parties to work together professionally and agree on which
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1 i. Meet and Confer. For an MSJ to be timely filed, the moving party
2 must arrange for an in-person meeting or videoconference to take
3 place no later than 53 days before the motion hearing cutoff set
4 forth in the case management order. The parties shall thoroughly
5 discuss each issue to be raised and the law and evidence relevant to
6 that issue. A thorough discussion serves a critical function: It
7 often narrows the issues to be adjudicated, and it allows the parties
8 to squarely and fully address the actual issues requiring resolution.
9 ii. Moving Portion. No later than seven days after the meet and
10 confer, the moving party shall provide to the opposing party an
11 electronic copy of the moving party’s portion of the joint brief,
12 together with the moving party’s portion of the JAF and Joint
13 Appendix of Evidence (JAE), see infra.
14 iii. Opposing Portion. No later than 14 days after receiving the moving
15 party’s papers, the opposing party shall provide to the moving
16 party an electronic copy of the integrated motion, which shall
17 include the opposing party’s portion of the joint brief, JAF, and
18 JAE. At this point, the opposing party should sign the joint brief,
19 and include a Certificate of Compliance regarding its portions of
20 the brief. See Local Rule 11-6.2.
21 iv. Filing of Joint Brief. After receiving the integrated version of the
22 motion and related papers, the moving party shall finalize it for
23 filing without making any further revisions to the joint brief and
24 appendices, except to note in the JAF (in the format described in
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party should be designated the moving party. If the parties are unable to agree, the
26 defendant shall be deemed the moving party. If different parties seek summary
judgment on different issues, the parties may agree to modify the pre-filing deadlines
27 in the briefing schedule without leave of Court if and only if (1) all parties agree to the
28 modifications and (2) the summary judgment motion is timely filed under the case
management order.
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1 the instructions below) whether any facts added by the opposing
2 party are disputed or undisputed. Once finalized, the moving
3 party’s counsel shall sign and electronically file the joint brief,
4 JAF, and JAE no later than four days after receiving the opposing
5 party’s signed copy. The moving party should include a Certificate
6 of Compliance regarding its portions of the joint brief. See Local
7 Rule 11-6.2. The joint brief shall be accompanied by a Notice of
8 Motion and Motion for Summary Judgment and shall be
9 calendared pursuant to the Local Rules on an available date no
10 later than the motion hearing cutoff in the case management order.
11 f. Supplemental Memoranda. After the joint brief is filed, each party may
12 separately file a supplemental memorandum of points and authorities, not
13 exceeding 3,000 words, no later than 14 days before the scheduled
14 hearing date. A supplemental brief must be accompanied by a Certificate
15 of Compliance pursuant to Local Rule 11-6.2. The parties may not use
16 this filing to supplement the JAF or the JAE in any way. No additional
17 briefing or filing in support of or in opposition to the MSJ is permitted.
18 g. Multiple Motions. No more than one joint motion may be filed under
19 Fed. R. Civ. P. 56, whether brought as a motion for summary judgment
20 or summary adjudication, without leave of Court. In the rare case in
21 which leave of Court is sought, the parties shall file a joint noticed
22 motion setting forth their respective positions on the existence of good
23 cause for the filing of multiple motions.
24 2. JOINT APPENDIX OF FACTS (JAF)
25 The joint brief shall be accompanied by a single statement of undisputed and
26 disputed facts contained in a JAF presented in a table. This Court’s requirements for
27 the JAF supersede the requirements in Local Rules 56-1, 56-2, and 56-3 for a
28 “Statement of Uncontroverted Facts,” which the parties need not additionally file.
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1 a. Table Format. The JAF table shall contain four columns.
2 i. Column No. 1. The first column shall contain the number of the
3 fact alleged to be undisputed. All asserted undisputed facts shall
4 be sequentially numbered and divided into sections according to
5 the element of proof to which the facts relate.
6 ii. Column No. 2. The second column shall contain a plain statement
7 of the fact.
8 Facts shall not be compound (e.g., Mike and Jane signed a
9 contract, and Jane mailed the contract in May 2017).
10 Each fact must be stated separately in its own row as shown
11 below.
12 Neither legal arguments nor conclusions constitute facts.
13 Facts shall not be repeated if they relate to multiple claims
14 for multiple elements of proof. The first reference to a fact in
15 the JAF shall serve and—through incorporation by
16 reference—can be cited to support all subsequent claims
17 (e.g., “See JAF 1–5”).
18 iii. Column No. 3. The third column shall contain a citation to
19 admissible evidence that supports the proffered fact; the evidence
20 cited must be included in the JAE.
21 iv. Column No. 4. The fourth column shall contain the opposing
22 party’s response to the fact alleged to be undisputed: (1) stating
23 that the fact is undisputed or disputed, (2) briefly stating why the
24 opposing party disputes the fact, (3) citing with specificity the
25 evidence that refutes the fact, and (4) explaining how the cited
26 evidence refutes the fact; the evidence cited must be included in
27 the JAE.
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1 b. Headers. Where feasible, parties should use headers to group facts
2 relevant to a particular issue. The table below illustrates the format that
3 must be used.
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5 Fact Supporting Def.’s Response
SUF No. Evidence
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Issue No. 1. Plaintiff’s Claim for Breach of Contract is Barred by the Statute
7 of Limitations.
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1. Witness 1and Witness 3 Decl. ¶ 5, Disputed. Witness 2
9 Witness 2 signed a Ex. 6. testified that the contract
10 contract for the was for a lease, not a
sale and purchase purchase. Witness 2 Depo.
11 of property. 29:4-8, Ex. 1.
12 2. Witness 2 mailed Witness 3 Decl. ¶ 8, Disputed in Part. Witness
the contract in Ex. 21. 2 testified she mailed the
13 May 2017. contract in January 2017.
14 Witness 2 Depo. 3:4-6,
Ex. 1.
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16 c. Good-Faith Preparation. The parties shall cooperate to prepare the JAF
17 in good faith and otherwise will be subject to appropriate sanctions.
18 i. The parties shall work cooperatively to identify a single set of facts
19 alleged to be undisputed to avoid unnecessary duplication or
20 confusion.
21 ii. The parties shall provide only material facts, in a noncompound
22 form, arranged according to their relevancy to a particular issue.
23 Do not rotely “cut and paste” from the “Background” of the joint
24 brief.
25 iii. If a party disputes a fact in bad faith by offering evidence that does
26 not contradict the proffered fact or by failing to provide a specific
27 citation to the supporting evidence, the Court will deem the fact
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1 undisputed for purposes of the motion. See Fed. R. Civ. P.
2 56(e)(2); L.R. 56-4.
3 iv. If a party disputes a fact in part, the disputing party should state
4 “Disputed in Part,” highlight the disputed part in bold italics, and
5 provide the specific evidentiary support for the dispute (see
6 example above). A party that lacks candor in failing to
7 acknowledge the limited extent of the dispute forces the Court to
8 expend needless resources discovering it itself.
9 v. The JAF should be as narrow and concise as the issues on
10 summary judgment properly warrant. If the Court determines that
11 the JAF is unjustifiably long or unwieldy, the Court may strike the
12 JAF and require the parties to refile it (and any document citing it)
13 within two business days.
14 vi. Deliberate gamesmanship designed to abuse the process may result
15 in an order to show cause (OSC) re sanctions against the abusive
16 party and/or counsel, including, if appropriate, terminating and/or
17 monetary sanctions. A party who is the subject of an OSC should
18 be prepared to justify each purportedly disputed fact at the hearing.
19 Abuses that may invite an OSC include but are not limited to the
20 following tactics:
21 Stating a fact is undisputed when it clearly is not;
22 Disputing a clearly undisputed fact in whole or part;
23 Manufacturing a dispute by mischaracterizing evidence,
reframing the stated fact in order to dispute the fact as
24 reframed, or using an evidentiary objection to dispute an
25 undisputed fact;
Making legal argument in the JAF; and
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Introducing clearly irrelevant or immaterial facts for the
27 obvious purpose of obfuscation.
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1 3. JOINT APPENDIX OF EVIDENCE (JAE)
2 The joint brief shall be accompanied by a JAE—i.e., a separate, tabbed
3 appendix of all evidence in support of or opposition to the MSJ, including
4 declarations, deposition excerpts, documents, photographs, etc. Physical evidence
5 (e.g., video recordings) shall be lodged separately. No evidence should be attached to
6 a memorandum of points and authorities or included anywhere other than in the JAE.
7 The JAE shall include a table of contents. The JAE shall be filed as a single,
8 combined PDF; more than one PDF may be filed if file-size constraints preclude filing
9 the JAE as a single PDF. In the event multiple PDFs are necessary to file the JAE,
10 each file shall be titled by part and exhibit series (e.g., JAE Part 1, Exhibits 1–50).
11 Each exhibit within the JAE must be bookmarked; the bookmark should include the
12 exhibit number and a brief description of the exhibit (e.g., Ex. 1 – Jones Depo.
13 Excerpts).
14 Declarations shall set out admissible facts without any argument, and evidence
15 must be properly authenticated by stipulation, declaration, or otherwise. No party
16 shall submit evidence other than the specific evidence necessary to support or
17 controvert a proposed statement of undisputed fact. Do not, for example, submit the
18 entire deposition transcripts or an entire set of interrogatory responses when relying on
19 only a portion thereof.
20 When multiple parties wish to produce different excerpts of the transcript of the
21 same deposition, the excerpts shall be combined into a single exhibit containing all
22 pages to which either party cites.
23 4. JOINT APPENDIX OF OBJECTIONS (JAO)
24 The parties shall prepare a Joint Appendix of Objections (JAO) containing any
25 evidentiary objections in a single, separate document presented in a three-column
26 table as follows:
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Objector Evidence Objection (O)/Response (R)
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Plaintiff 1. “Witness 2 mailed the O: Lacks foundation.
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contract in May 2017.” (Witness R: Witness 1 saw Witness 2 mail it.
4 1 Decl. ¶ 8.) (Party 1 Decl. ¶ 8.)
5 Failure to comply with this formatting requirement will result in a waiver of the
6 objections. Blanket or boilerplate objections will be overruled and disregarded.
7 To allow both sides the opportunity to respond to the other’s evidentiary
8 objections, the JAO is due after the joint brief, JAF, and JAE, as follows: The party
9 opposing summary judgment shall provide the moving party with any objections to
10 the moving party’s evidence at the same time that it provides its portion of the joint
11 brief, the JAF, and the JAE. No later than seven days after receiving these materials,
12 the moving party shall provide to the opposing party its responses to the opposing
13 party’s evidentiary objections, together with any objections to the opposing party’s
14 evidence. Within seven days thereafter, the opposing party shall add its responses to
15 the moving party’s objections (without making any other changes) and file the JAO.
16 The parties’ objections and responses in the JAO shall be brief and strictly
17 limited to the admissibility of the evidence. No substantive legal arguments will be
18 permitted. If an evidentiary dispute is dispositive of a claim or argument, it should be
19 addressed in the briefing on that claim or argument.
20 5. FAILURE TO COMPLY
21 If it appears that the parties have not met and conferred in good faith, have not
22 worked to fully integrate the MSJ, or have otherwise failed to fully comply with this
23 Order, the MSJ may be stricken, and the parties may be required to repeat the process.
24 The deadline for hearing the MSJ will not be continued for failure to comply with this
25 Order, absent good cause. If it appears that one (or more) of the parties is primarily
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1 responsible for the failure to properly file a compliant joint brief, the primarily
2 responsible party or parties shall be subject to appropriate sanctions.
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4 IT IS SO ORDERED.
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6 Dated: ______________________________
HON. CYNTHIA VALENZUELA
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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