Dallas County Civil District Courts Filing Rules

Counsel presenting a TRO application must certify the case is not subject to transfer under Local Rule 1.06 at the time of presentation.

Absent a plea pointing out disclosure failures, the answering attorney's signature on the original defensive pleading certifies that the disclosure was accurate or that the case is not related to a prior filed or disposed of case.

Cases relied upon should be attached to the brief with relevant provisions highlighted.

Jury questionnaires must be pre-approved by Judge Frazier at the pre-trial conference and copies for the venire delivered to the Bailiff at least 3 business days before trial.

Motions must have certificates of conference under Local Rule 2.07 or the clerk will not set them for hearing; summary judgment motions are excepted.

Telephone hearings are permitted only when no evidence/testimony will be presented or counsel must travel over one hour, and must be pre-approved by the Judge and arranged through the Court Coordinator.

Contact the Clerk at (214) 653-7256 to schedule a hearing or place a motion on the Agreed Submission Docket.

Parties expecting more than one hour of pre-trial issues must notify the Court and schedule a pre-trial conference the week before trial.

A word-formatted copy of proposed jury charges must be provided to the court reporter (vdobbins@dallascounty.org) and the court (193Court@dallascourts.org).

Requests for oral argument must be submitted to the District Clerk; the Court may grant them upon a showing of good cause.

Motions for summary judgment must be heard no later than 45 days before trial, subject to leave for good cause; they are heard by submission.

In emergencies when the clerk's office is closed, the case must be docketed and assigned at the earliest practicable time, and the judge must notify the assigned court.

Responses should be filed with the court clerks by the morning before the hearing so the Judge can review them.

Jury questionnaires must be submitted for pre-approval at least 3 days before trial.

Proposed judgments and proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law must be submitted no later than 7 days before trial.

E-filed documents may not contain security restrictions, password protection, encryption, or embedded multi-media.

Reduced, multiple-page formats (Min-u-script) are prohibited.

Use of reduced, multiple pages (Min-u-script) is prohibited.

Media exhibits must be submitted on thumb drive or SD card in .wav or .mp3 format only.

Fonts smaller than 12 point and margins smaller than 1 inch are prohibited.

Substitute service requires mailing the citation, Petition, and Order by both certified mail (return receipt requested) and regular mail to the defendant's address.

Before presenting a TRO application to the Court, the applicant must notify the opposing party (or counsel) and provide a copy of the application and proposed order at least 2 hours in advance, unless an exception applies.

Service of process is deemed complete upon compliance with this order, regardless of whether the defendant signs the certified mail return receipt.

Attorneys and parties must work together to send a single consolidated remote-access submission to the Court Reporter, copying all counsel and self-represented parties.

Motions and pleadings must not be served in any manner that unfairly limits another party's opportunity to respond.

Documents may be designated confidential by stamping "CONFIDENTIAL" or another agreed method, without obscuring the underlying writings.

Parties are not required to challenge confidentiality designations at the time of designation, and failing to do so does not bar a later challenge.

A party may designate deposition portions as confidential on the record or by written notice to opposing counsel within 72 hours after receiving the deposition transcript.

Jury trials are suspended until May 8, 2020, and previously set jury cases are continued sua sponte and reset on future jury dockets.

A hearing on a continuance motion must be filed and set for hearing at least 14 days before trial.

Opposed continuance motions must be filed and set for hearing at least 7 days before trial.

After one year on file, a case may only be reset upon a written motion for continuance personally approved by the client in writing and granted by the Court.

The first continuance is granted if the case is under one year old; older cases must comply with Local Rule 3.01 and may require a hearing.

Do not email exhibits if proceedings are in-person only.

Email courtesy copies of exhibits to 193court@dallascourts.org.

Movant must provide paper courtesy copies of motion, response, reply, and proposed orders to the Court at least three days before the hearing; binding is required only if the pleadings exceed 10 pages.

Opposed motions for the pre-trial conference must be hand delivered to the Court at least 3 business days before the conference.

For all contested motions, courtesy copies of the motion, any response, and any reply must reach the Court at least two business days before the hearing.

All reports must be entered into the reporting database at card.txcourts.gov, beginning with the September 2016 report.

Minor prove-ups are done by submission and require e-filing of specified documents.

The notice of hearing must be filed electronically.

Pleadings may not be filed with the Administrator; the Administrator is not a e-filing channel.

All orders must be e-filed along with the motion and/or response.

Before filing a motion, movant's counsel must make at least three attempts to contact respondent's counsel during regular business hours on at least two business days.

Agreed motions are typically set for submission; non-agreed motions are set for oral hearing.

No motion may be filed unless accompanied by a Certificate of Conference; movant's counsel must make at least three attempts on at least two business days to confer with opposing counsel before filing.

Parties must conference in compliance with local rules before filing a discovery motion.

Unliquidated default judgment motions require a prove-up hearing.

Motions and briefs are limited to 25 one-sided pages.

Only one appendix, limited to 25 one-sided pages, may support any motion or brief.

E-filed documents should be combined into a single PDF with bookmarks separating content, unless the file exceeds 35 MB.

For complicated motions, the Court appreciates brief books containing briefs, orders, and highlighted important cases.

Attorneys and parties must collaborate and transmit participant information to the Court Reporter in a single submission.

The Court accepts electronic or courtesy binders delivered before the hearing and requests a proposed order be filed prior to the hearing.

Additional charges apply if exhibits, a word index, or expedited service are selected on the request.

Before a severed claim is assigned a new cause number, plaintiff's attorney must satisfy the Clerk's deposit-for-costs requirement.

Before a severed claim is assigned a new cause number, plaintiff's attorney must satisfy the Clerk's deposit-for-costs requirement.