Sixth Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan, Oakland County Filing Rules

When signed final orders are submitted before statutory proofs and the defendant is represented, the defendant and counsel need not appear for proofs.

A party with an issue involving a factual dispute must file a motion requesting an evidentiary hearing.

The court will not take proofs unless it has the judgment documents in its actual possession.

The Court may dismiss a motion without prejudice after a third re-praecipe.

Every Uniform Child Support Order must include the child support calculation.

Requests for a prisoner to participate by phone conference must be emailed to chambers and the Judicial Assistant at least seven days before the hearing, or as soon as practicable based on the participant’s incarceration date.

Contact the Judicial Clerk by email or telephone for PPOs, scheduling matters, or general questions.

The moving party should call chambers for instructions to receive prompt assistance with an emergency motion.

After e-filing an emergency motion, the party must email the motion and attachments to chambers and call chambers.

The document lists judicial clerk Mary’s email address.

A motion order filed after 4:30 p.m. on the hearing day is untimely and must instead be submitted as a stipulated order or under MCR 2.602(B)(3).

Responsive pleadings must be filed by 11:59 p.m. on the Monday before the motion hearing.

Motions in limine must be heard at least 30 days before the scheduled trial date.

Each party must e-file proposed motions in limine and proposed jury instructions at least seven days before the final pretrial or settlement conference.

Failure to timely submit an order as required may result in any sanctions available to the Court.

Motions to compel are referred to the Discovery Master for resolution.

Before filing any motion, attorneys must comply with Local Rule 2.119(B), make reasonable and diligent personal-contact attempts, and request concurrence.

Parties must timely and professionally attempt to resolve discovery disputes and file only substantive discovery motions requiring a legal ruling.

To schedule a PPO motion hearing, follow the PPO Office webpage instructions.

For motions heard by Zoom, the court assigns a time and will attempt to call the case within 15 minutes after that time.

An attorney with a conflict may request an adjournment of the response filing deadline or motion hearing time, and the Court may consider the request.

Submit a stipulated adjournment order at least two full business days before the court date, including the reason for the adjournment.

The Judge generally allows stipulated trial adjournments for cause.

A responding party with service concerns should ask the moving party for an adjournment or raise the issue in the response.

A first adjournment of scheduling-order dates may extend them by up to 60 days by stipulation and order.

Parties must connect to the e-file system in every case.

The Court will e-file a Zoom hearing notice, and parties are responsible for reviewing it when received.

A Praecipe must be submitted through the e-praecipe system for a motion to be heard and a court date scheduled.

Emergency motions must be written and properly filed through MiFILE before review.

Emergency motions must be e-filed with the county clerk through Mi-File (powered by TrueFile), with notice to the Judicial Staff Attorney and a copy to Chambers.

A judge’s copy of a summary-disposition motion, supporting brief, and attachments is appreciated.

Motions, briefs, and responses exceeding 20 pages, including exhibits, must be delivered as a printed Judge’s Copy to chambers.

Submit the required binder to chambers by noon on the Monday before the hearing.

Printed Judge’s Copies must be delivered to chambers for motions, briefs, and responses exceeding 20 pages, including exhibits.

Emailed Judge’s copies are retained for only two weeks.

Counsel of record accept service of filings and other communications by email at the identified or directed address.

Trial exhibits must be emailed to the staff attorney and opposing party or attorney no later than one week before trial, as required by the scheduling order.

If parties are not connected to e-filing, file a separate proof of service timely or the motion will be dismissed for improper service.

All other parties must receive notice of a request for a witness to testify by Zoom.

When service is selected during submission, selected parties are served at checkout and MiFILE generates a proof of service for filing in the court file.

Non-confidential exhibits should be appended to the motion filing, with plaintiff exhibits numbered sequentially and defendant exhibits lettered sequentially.

Attorneys are expected to participate in only one Zoom court appearance at a time.

Public viewers must mute themselves and turn off their video.

Electronically produced documents presumptively must be provided in native format with load files preserving all metadata.

Plaintiff exhibits must be labeled with numbers and defense exhibits with letters.

Copies of official court transcripts may be obtained for a fee under MCL 600.2543.

Failure of the moving party to appear may result in a $100 penalty.

Parties may not agree by stipulation to seal documents or records.

Confidential exhibits omitted from the public file must be emailed to chambers as part of a complete judge’s copy and provided to opposing counsel by noon on the Thursday before the hearing.

For confidential exhibits, the moving party must state in the motion that they are excluded from the public file and provided to chambers and the responding party, and email copies to chambers with the staff attorney copied.

Confidential materials may not be filed except in sealed envelopes bearing the specified caption, inventory, and notice; only confidential portions should be sealed when practical, and non-disclosing references may be filed without sealing.

Each pleading or document must be separated from other documents in a PDF packet and uploaded as its own document.

For an order under the 7-day rule, file the Notice of Presentment, Proposed Order, and Proof of Service together as one document, and file a separate additional copy of the proposed order.

The Court encourages parties to agree on jury instructions and submit them jointly.

Multiple motions may not be heard in a single filing.

Parties seeking default judgments are encouraged to e-file proposed judgment documents at the same time as their motion.

A party seeking to exceed the page limit must file a separate motion.

Summary-disposition motions exceeding the applicable page limit or filed late will be rejected.

Motions that exceed the applicable page limit will be rejected.

Briefs must comply with the MCR’s form and length limits, though the Court may approve a longer limit before the motion deadline for specified complex or first-impression cases.

Briefs are limited to 10 pages, excluding exhibits, unless the Court expressly grants otherwise.