Eastern District of California Local Rules and Judge Filing Requirements

Supplemental briefs and sur-replies prohibited without prior leave of court.

Witnesses not on Final Trial Witness List may only be called for impeachment/rebuttal, stipulation, motion in limine ruling, or manifest injustice.

For open pleas without a plea agreement, the government or defendant must file a memorandum covering the charge to which the defendant will plead, the factual basis, maximum sentence, fines and penalties, sentencing guidelines, and elements of the offense.

Joint Pretrial Statement must be filed 7 days before Final Pretrial Conference and emailed as Word doc.

Multi-page exhibits must be internally paginated starting at page 1.

Exhibit and witness lists must be emailed to the courtroom deputy at jwood@caed.uscourts.gov by 12:00 PM (Noon) on the Friday before the scheduled trial date.

Sealing requests require electronic Notice and email to dadorders@caed.uscourts.gov.

Criminal hearings scheduled daily at 2:30 p.m.

Remote Zoom or telephonic appearances for scheduling conferences and certain law and motion hearings are generally acceptable with prior approval, and attorneys must notify the Courtroom Deputy so a calendar notation can be made and dial-in information provided.

Letter brief must be filed with court and emailed to saborders@caed.uscourts.gov, with all parties cc'd.

Proposed orders emailed to chambers must be in Microsoft Word format.

Photographs and visual images must be submitted electronically in JPG, PNG, or TIFF format.

Joint Pretrial Statements emailed to chambers must be in Word (DOCX) format.

Briefs must use Times New Roman, minimum 12pt font, footnotes no smaller than 11pt.

The joint pretrial statement must be emailed as a Word document to JLTorders@caed.uscourts.gov.

Four-page limit applies even for multiple discovery disputes, unless court grants leave.

Joint Statements limited to 25 pages (excluding exhibits and tables).

Prisoner case motions limited to 20 pages, oppositions to 20 pages, replies to 10 pages. Exceeding limits without leave will not be considered.

Memoranda limited to 25 pages (support/opposition) and 10 pages (reply).

The discovery dispute summary submitted with an informal conference request must be 2-3 pages and may not include exhibits or attachments.

No courtesy copies needed for answers or shorter pleadings.

Motion briefs, memorandums, and declarations must still be sent to Judge Shubb's Chambers despite the availability of the Box App.

Mandatory courtesy copies of Joint Statements (with tabbed exhibits) due 14 days before hearing.

Copies of exhibits must be provided for the judge and placed on the witness stand before trial commences.

Two sets of courtesy copies required for multiple trial documents by noon after filing deadline.

Motions in limine are prohibited from being filed before the pretrial conference.

Parties must meet and confer in good faith to resolve a discovery dispute without court action before filing a discovery motion or requesting an informal telephonic discovery conference.

Motions to tax costs are taken under submission upon filing with no hearing date set, and briefs/responses must follow Local Rule 292 and the Federal Rules.

Counsel must conduct a pre-filing meet and confer on motion substance before filing any motion in cases where all parties are represented.

Informal Discovery Dispute Letter Brief limited to 3 pages, filed 24 hours before conference, no attachments.

Stipulations continuing dispositive motion dates or trial dates are disfavored.

Copy of plea agreement must be filed 3 court days before plea entry by noon.

Before submitting any request to continue a deadline or hearing date in a civil or criminal case, counsel must first check dates with the courtroom deputy.

Court disfavors requests to modify established dates due to impacted civil case docket.

Continuances of civil trials that conflict with a prioritized criminal trial will not be entertained absent a specific and stated finding of good cause, and the civil trial will instead trail the criminal case.

Documents cannot be sealed or redacted without court approval unless required by Local Rule 140.

Protective orders don't govern sealed/redacted filings; only proponent can request.

Sealing/redaction requests for Judge Coggins' motions go directly to Judge Coggins.

A party filing material that the opposing party has designated as confidential must give the opposing party sufficient advance notice before filing so the opposing party can seek a sealing or redaction order.

Counsel must follow the sealed document procedures set forth in Local Rule 141.

The joint scheduling conference report must be electronically filed at least seven calendar days before the Scheduling Conference.

Upon settlement, general terms are placed on the record immediately; dispositional documents must be filed within 60 days.

The joint pretrial statement must be filed 14 days before the final pretrial conference hearing date and emailed as a Word document to JLTorders@caed.uscourts.gov.

Joint Statement re Discovery Disagreement must be filed 14 days before the hearing.

Joint Pretrial Statements must be filed 7 days before the Final Pretrial Conference.

E-filing of lodged Administrative Records and large quantity documents is not required unless counsel choose to e-file them.

Notice of Request to Seal Document(s) must be filed electronically pursuant to Local Rule 141.

Notice of Request to Seal must be filed electronically.

A joint scheduling conference report prepared and executed by all counsel must be electronically filed in compliance with the Order Setting Mandatory Scheduling Conference.

Counsel must provide opposing counsel with a list of the witnesses they intend to call the next day before the close of each business day.

Parties have 3 days to submit opposition or non-opposition to sealing request if opposed or not stated unopposed.

Plaintiff's counsel must immediately serve this standing order on all parties (including parties added later), unless the case arrived by noticed removal, in which case the defendant must serve the order on all other parties.

Joint neutral statement of the case must be filed 1 week before trial.

Parties must coordinate to submit only two total sets of courtesy copies.

Proposed jury instructions must be filed jointly in a single set.

Court will hold hearing if junior attorney (under 5 years) requests oral argument 10 days in advance.

Attorneys with 7 or fewer years of experience arguing motions increase the likelihood of an oral argument hearing.

Parties are encouraged to provide less experienced attorneys opportunity to present oral argument.