Southern District of California Local Rules and Judge Filing Requirements

Rule 34 responses are due 30 days after Rule 26(f) conference.

Witness and exhibit lists must be filed 7 days before trial.

The joint case management statement must detail all requested relief and damages calculations, including the responding party’s damages-calculation basis if liability is found.

Jurisdiction retention allowed with specific consent and language.

Email jury instructions in Word format to specified court email address.

Parties should not contact chambers to obtain a motion hearing date.

The jury should convene each day at 9:00 a.m. and will be met by a bailiff in the front of the courtroom.

If a scheduled court date is imminent, counsel must contact chambers to advise of the settlement.

Any party requesting to appear telephonically or on video should email the Courtroom Deputy, Emily Blase to obtain the appropriate link at least three (3) court days prior to the hearing.

Ex parte request required for leave of court.

Failure to comply with meet-and-confer results in denial.

After receipt, moving and opposing ex parte papers will be reviewed and a decision will be made without a hearing.

Party seeking amendment must provide proposed amended pleading and explanation to opposing counsel.

Briefing schedule must follow Civil Local Rule 7.1(e) unless Court orders otherwise.

The Court may hear temporary restraining orders ex parte only in extraordinary circumstances.

Court may order multiple concurrent examinations of different types.

Continuance requests must be made via joint or unopposed motion.

Conference call must cover dispute details, positions, meet and confer efforts, relief sought, and filing timeline.

Meet and confer required before filing discovery disputes.

Continuance requests must state prior requests, show good cause, explain opposition, and disclose effects on case-management dates.

Broad allegations without specifics don't satisfy Rule 26(c) test.

Public redacted version required alongside sealed filing.

Court records have presumptive public access right; sealing limited to documents/portions necessary to protect sensitive personal or confidential information.

Motion to seal must describe which documents/categories to seal and whether in full or part.

Materials submitted with a sealing motion must be marked for redaction in the provisionally sealed version.

Hard-copy exhibits may not be passed among jurors during trial.

Discs are not accepted for audio and video exhibits submitted to the jury.

Trial schedule is 9 AM - 4 PM, Monday-Thursday, with breaks.

A binder of exhibits must be provided for the bench.

Proposed orders must be in Word (.doc) format.

Missing the sentencing filing deadlines results in a continuance unless counsel is prepared to waive consideration of the late submissions.

If the plea agreement is not timely submitted, the change of plea will be removed from calendar and rescheduled absent extraordinary circumstances.

Notices and evidence disclosures (including FRE 404(b)/609(b) notices, expert reports, and FRCrP 12.1 alibi-defense demands) are due 35 days before the motions in limine hearing, unless otherwise ordered.

If the recipient is not a California resident, any required accounting must be filed in the court of general jurisdiction where the minor or incompetent resides.

five (5) court days before the date of trial, serve and file briefs on all significant disputed issues of law, including foreseeable procedural and evidentiary issues.

Sealed documents require digital courtesy copy to efile email.

Voluminous filings may be provided on USB with OCR scanning.

Two courtesy copies of trial exhibits required 3 days before trial.

Courtesy copies required for filings over 40 pages, delivered to chambers within 1 court day.

Ex parte applications must be served on opposing counsel via email with return receipt or overnight mail.

Motions in limine limited to 5 motions per side, 5 pages each, single subject.

Attachments to motions in limine limited to 10 pages.

Confidential Settlement Letters are limited to five pages of text.

Motions in limine and Daubert motions must be filed as single omnibus brief (max 25 pages).

Each side is limited to 10 depositions unless court grants leave.

Federal, state, or local governments that provide medical benefits are entitled to notice of settlement or suit.

Before the meet-and-confer discussion, the defendant must give the plaintiff a written response stating a specific offer amount.

An ex parte motion filed with the Court must be served on opposing counsel by fax, email with return receipt requested, or overnight mail.

Final Exhibit and Witness Lists must be exchanged 14 days before trial.

A party relying on a transcript or audio/visual exhibit must provide it to the other side sufficiently before the appearance to allow discussion of possible redactions or portions to be shown or heard.

Counsel who force an ex parte application by refusing to participate in a joint motion may be sanctioned.

If multiple parties are moving for substantially the same relief, they must make every effort to obtain the same hearing date for their motions.

Summary judgment and Daubert motions consolidated on single hearing date; 25-page limit without leave.

Multiple parties moving for same relief should coordinate hearing dates.

Motions to extend, amend, continue, or vacate deadlines must be filed as a single motion regardless of party agreement.

The Court encourages parties to allow attorneys with fewer than ten years of experience to argue matters before the Court. To that end, the Court will hold a hearing (either remotely or in person, at the Court’s discretion) on any motion if one party notifies the Court in advance that an attorney with fewer than ten years of experience will be arguing at least a portion of the motion on behalf of that party. The party will be able to have more than one attorney argue their side of the motion if one of the attorneys arguing has fewer than ten years of experience.

The Court generally decides motions based on the papers submitted by the parties. However, for lawyers with less than 5 years admission to the bar, the Court will hold argument on civil motions where: (1) the motion will be argued by attorneys with less than 5 years of admission to the bar for at least two opposing sides; or (2) where the motion will be argued by an attorney with less than 5 years of admission to the bar on one side and the opposing attorney, notwithstanding their time admitted to the bar, also requests oral argument. Counsel must meet and confer on this issue and advise the Court of their request for oral argument no less than seven (7) days before the hearing by written pleading.

Court encourages opportunities for young lawyers to conduct hearings.

Encourages specific requests for junior lawyer oral argument opportunities

In an effort to provide junior attorneys with opportunities to argue in court, on request, Judge Moskowitz will hold oral argument where: (1) the motion will be argued by attorneys with less than 5 years of admission to the bar for at least two opposing sides; or (2) where the motion will be argued by an attorney with less than 5 years of admission to the bar on one side and the opposing attorney, irrespective of his or her experience, also requests oral argument.

Jointly proposed and disputed preliminary, during trial, and final jury instructions must be submittedto efile_ohta@casd.uscourts.gov by the court-set deadline.

The Settlement Conference Statement and optional Confidential Settlement Letter must be lodged as PDFs by email to the stated address, not filed, and received at least 10 calendar days before the conference.

Appropriate ex parte motions may be made after first contacting chambers and must ultimately be filed electronically on CM/ECF.

Parties must email a Word copy of the proposed protective order to efile_cabrera@casd.uscourts.gov.

Lodged documents must not be filed with the Clerk of Court or on CM/ECF unless the Court directs otherwise.

The first accounting requires a new state-court petition, for which an initial filing fee applies where applicable.