Los Angeles Superior Court Filing Rules

A proposed Preference Case Trial Setting Order must, at a minimum, identify discovery cutoffs, summary judgment deadlines, a former testimony designation schedule, and agreements on modifications to notice and hearing timing.

Trial Binder TAB J must contain the operative Complaint, Answer(s), Cross Complaint(s) and Answer(s), and Stipulation of Facts, each behind individual tabs.

Each motion in limine's caption must concisely identify the evidence the moving party seeks to preclude.

If more than five motions in limine were collectively filed, the first volume of the Motions in Limine Binder must include a joint table of motions listing motion numbers, descriptions of evidence to be excluded, opposition status, and a blank column for the court.

If the parties cannot agree on a joint verdict form after exhaustive meet and confer, each party must separately file a proposed verdict form.

Ex parte papers filed by self-represented parties after 9:00 a.m. will not be accepted for that same day's hearing.

The IDC standing order does not extend the deadline for bringing a motion to compel further responses, although the parties are encouraged (but not required) to reach a written stipulation on that timing.

Stipulations and orders for continuance must be e-filed at least 7 court days prior to the hearing date to be continued.

The motions in limine notebook must be submitted at least 2 calendar days before the FSC, and late notebooks may result in the motions not being considered.

All exhibits referenced in the Exhibit List must be exchanged and/or reviewed by counsel or the parties before the Final Status Conference.

Each page of each exhibit must be internally paginated (e.g., 1-1; 1-2; 2-1).

Proposed jury instructions must be organized into three cover-sheet-labeled groups: agreed-upon instructions; plaintiff's requested instructions with defendant highlighting objections; and defendant's requested instructions with plaintiff highlighting objections.

Final jury instructions and verdict forms must be in a clean format suitable for jury deliberations, without citations to authority, party identification, or letterhead/markings identifying the attorney.

Non-document exhibits must be identified with a page after the tab containing a disc, photograph, or description of the exhibit.

E-filed documents must be PDF text searchable when technologically feasible.

Ex parte applications are heard at 8:30 a.m., Monday through Friday.

Parties must meet and confer in person before filing joint trial documents.

A party must attend an Informal Discovery Conference before receiving a hearing date on any motion to compel further, and the moving party must contact the courtroom to obtain the IDC date.

Motions to Compel Further require an Informal Discovery Conference scheduled by the moving party, who must confer with opposing counsel to obtain three available dates and notice the court.

Trial counsel must meet and confer before filing discovery motions.

Exhibits must be in Exhibit Notebooks, 5 copies submitted first day of trial; exhibits prohibited from e-filing.

Self-represented parties may e-file ex parte documents by 10:00 a.m. day before hearing, or bring documents to Clerk’s Office by 8:30 a.m. day of hearing with fee payment.

Oppositions to motions in limine must be electronically filed by represented parties; exempt parties may file printed paper copies directly in Department F43.

Hearing exhibits are not to be filed electronically.

Stipulations and proposed orders/judgments must be filed electronically.

Parties may not call the courtroom to reserve a motion date.

Parties must not contact the department to inquire about the status of proposed judgments or orders until the applicable holding period (10-15 days for judgments; 5-10 days for orders) has expired.

Clerk's Office assistance is available by calling 213-830-0800 (Stanley Mosk) or 213-310-7000 (Spring Street).

Department E's courtroom telephone number is (310) 787-3713, reachable during courtroom hours of 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. / 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Department 300 phone number is (213) 633-0514, available during courtroom hours Monday-Friday 8:30 AM-12:00 PM, 1:30 PM-4:30 PM, closed for lunch 12:00 PM-1:30 PM.

Courtesy copies of all trial documents must be lodged in Department N five court days before the FSC in joint, tabbed three-ring binders with an index in front.

On the first day of trial and before trial begins, the parties must lodge the originals of all deposition transcripts with the courtroom clerk.

Joint courtesy copies of all trial documents must be lodged in Department J five court days before the final status conference in JOINT three-ring binders (spines max 2.5 inches), with each document tabbed, paginated, and indexed.

Courtesy copies of all motion papers must be provided to Department 307 at the time of e-filing; they need not be conformed but should include proof of e-filing submission.

Courtesy copies are not required for any filings except Motions in Limine.

In newly filed cases, Defendant must serve verified responses to the Standard Request for Production of Documents on Plaintiff within 60 days after service of its answer to the complaint.

Plaintiff's attorney must serve this Order and the attached Joint Case Management Conference Statement Addendum on all defense attorneys upon service of the Summons and Complaint.

Visual aids may not be used in opening statement unless opposing counsel was first given the opportunity to review them prior to trial.

The Song-Beverly Act Addendum to the Case Management Conference Statement must be served on all parties/attorneys of record concurrently with the Notice of Case Management Conference.

Attorneys must give proper 24 hours' notice before an ex parte hearing.

Continuances require court approval, must be in writing (except emergencies), submitted before original date, with good cause for trial continuances; clerks cannot grant continuances.

Repeated trial continuances, even by stipulation, require a case-specific showing of good cause.

Trial dates are firm and continuances are disfavored; any request to continue a trial or trial setting conference must specifically demonstrate good cause under California Rules of Court, Rule 3.1332.

Without a stipulation, continuances may be sought by noticed motion or ex parte application, and the court will not continue hearing/trial dates over opposition without a good-cause showing by the requesting party.

The Court expects parties to agree to reasonable extensions of time to file discovery motions to facilitate informal resolution; if they cannot agree, the Court may permit filing only if an Informal Discovery Conference is scheduled and completed before the hearing.

Motion filing fees must be paid when reserving a hearing date online via the Court Reservation System.

Jury fees must be posted no later than 30 days before trial.

Ex parte applicants must pay the filing fee before appearing in court.

Self-represented parties must pay any applicable filing fee when filing ex parte papers, unless they have a fee waiver.

Motion filing fees must be paid when reserving hearing date online via CRS.

Parties must jointly prepare and lodge a Motions in Limine Binder in Department 205 no later than five calendar days before the Final Status Conference.

Motions in Limine Binder required, lodged 3 days before Final Status Conference, three-ring binders, tabbed numerically, one-sided conformed copies.

Motions in limine must be submitted in a 3-ring binder with table of contents and tabs, due 2 calendar days before FSC.

Three sets of tabbed, numerically organized exhibit binders (max 3" per volume) required for court, judicial assistant, and witnesses; lodged first day of trial.

The trial binder must contain all required trial documents (trial briefs, Statement of the Case, and Witness List) placed in the specified order.

Settled statement memoranda must not exceed 5 pages in length.

Bench trial briefs are limited to 15 pages except in extraordinary cases.

The responding party may file and serve a responsive IDC memorandum of no more than three pages at least two court days before the IDC.

Each party's trial brief is limited to 15 pages.

IDC statements in discovery disputes are limited to 5 pages and must be filed/served 3 court days before the IDC.

A party may designate material as 'Highly Confidential' only if the material is non-public and the party in good faith believes disclosure would create a substantial risk of serious financial or other injury that cannot be avoided by less restrictive means.

To file confidential material with a discovery motion, parties must narrowly redact the confidential information, submit the unredacted version in a sealed envelope stapled behind a caption page that states the submission is for a discovery motion, and file a redacted public version.

Motion to seal must be e-filed and comply with CRC 2.550-2.551.

A party who believes the information disclosed under this Order should be protected must serve and file a proposed protective order within 5 days of the Order, the parties must meet and confer on agreeable language, and the default is the standard LASC Protective Order from its website.

Parties must strictly comply with California Rules of Court 2.550 and 2.551 when filing under seal and should seal only when absolutely necessary because the Court must make specific findings for each part of every sealed document.

The Court strongly encourages firms and agencies to let less experienced attorneys argue motions and take key trial roles.

When a junior attorney argues a motion, the Court will permit one senior attorney for the same party to augment the argument if needed and will allocate more hearing time.

The Court strongly encourages law firms and governmental agencies to give less experienced attorneys the opportunity to argue motions and to have an important role at trial.

The Court strongly encourages law firms and governmental agencies to give less experienced attorneys opportunities to argue motions and play important roles at trial.

Junior attorneys are encouraged to argue hearings; when one argues, a senior attorney may augment and the Court will allow extra argument time (no specific experience threshold is defined in the order).