Judge Tamara Hall
Individual Rules, Standing Orders & Policies
Limits & Logistics
Document Limits
Courtesy Copies
Summary Judgment Motions, Summary Adjudication Motions
- On Date Of Electronic Filing
- Upon request
All filings
Court-wide- Chambers Drop Off • Upon Filing
- Hand Delivery
Courtesy copies
Court-wide- 3 copies
Exhibits
Court-wide- 3 copies • Hand Delivery • At Final Status Conference
Adjournments
- All attorneys and parties are expected to grant reasonable requests for extensions of time to respond to pleadings, discovery, or other matters.
- Trial continuances based on calendar conflicts will not be granted until the conflict is imminent, and the court will accommodate counsel's vacation plans only if they are disclosed in a timely fashion.
- An ex parte application to advance the hearing on a summary judgment/adjudication motion due to unavailable hearing dates must include an alternative request to continue the trial to a date after the motion hearing.
- +2 more
Request must include
Communication
Phone
Chambers
Chambers
Chambers
Phone
Court-wideClerk
Phone
Court-wideClerk
Phone
Court-widePhone
Court-wideClerk
Document Format Requirements2 rules
Reply separate statements are not recognized by the Rules of Court and will not be considered by the court.
Reply separate statements are not provided for in the Rules of Court and will not be considered.
For alternative summary adjudication issues, counsel should not repeat facts verbatim or restart numbering; instead, list repeated facts by number and incorporate them by reference beneath each issue heading.
Where counsel intends to move for summary adjudication in the alternative, the court asks counsel not to repeat verbatim facts that were previously given or to re-start the numbering sequence for each issue. Counsel should simply list the relevant repeated facts by number and incorporate them by reference beneath each issue heading.
Document Filing Requirements3 rules
Ex parte applications must comply with California Rules of Court, rules 3.1200-3.1207.
Ex parte applications must comply with the requirements of California Rules of Court, rules 3.1200-3.1207.
Document Type
Ex Parte Application
Ex parte applications must affirmatively show irreparable harm, immediate danger, or another statutory basis for ex parte relief, and demonstrate why the relief cannot be sought by other means such as a noticed motion.
PLEASE CAREFULLY REVIEW WHEHTER YOU HAVE A PROPER BASIS TO SEEK EX PARTE RELIEF. There must be an affirmative showing of “irreparable harm, immediate danger, or any other statutory basis for granting relief ex parte.” (See Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.1202(c).) You will need to demonstrate to the court the reason(s) why you cannot seek the requested relief by other means, such as a noticed motion.
Document Type
Ex Parte Application
In every case set for trial, counsel and self-represented parties must jointly prepare and submit the documents and binders required by Department 5's Trial Preparation Order.
Department 5 has a Trial Preparation Order which applies to every case set for trial. The court expects the parties’ counsel and any self-represented parties to work together to jointly prepare and submit the documents and binders required by that order.
Document Type
Trial Preparation Order Documents
Filing & Service rules
Electronic Filing Rules
Civil documents must be electronically filed under section 8 of the First Amended General Order governing Mandatory Electronic Filing for Civil, except for self-represented litigants and other persons excused from electronic filing.
Please note that section 8 of the First Amended General Order governing Mandatory Electronic Filing for Civil, filed May 3, 2019, provides that, with the exception of self-represented litigants and other persons excused from filing documents electronically:
Page 5 | 6. Ex Parte Applications
Filing Timing and Cure Windows
Ex parte applications and all supporting documents must be electronically filed no later than 10:00 a.m. the day before the ex parte hearing.
a) Ex parte applications and all documents in support thereof must be electronically filed no later than 10:00 a.m. the day before the ex parte hearing.
Page 5 | 6. Ex Parte Applications
Any written opposition to an ex parte application must be electronically filed by 8:30 a.m. the day of the ex parte hearing.
b) Any written opposition to an ex parte application must be electronically filed by 8:30 a.m. the day of the ex parte hearing.
Page 5 | 6. Ex Parte Applications
Service and Proof of Service Rules
All parties who use e-filing must accept electronic service, except where personal service is required by law or any party is self-represented.
Pursuant to CCP Section 1010.6 and Local Rule 3.4 which references General Order 2020-GEN-018-00 issued June 11, 2020, the Court orders all parties who use e-fling to accept electronic service, except in those circumstances when personal service is required by law or where any of the parties are self-represented.
Page 3 | 4. Law and Motion
Courtesy Copy Requirements
Courtesy copies of trial documents and MSJ/MSA papers are required and must be hand-delivered directly to the Courtroom Assistant because Department 5 has no drop box.
This court requires courtesy copies of trial documents and papers submitted in connection with a Motion for Summary Judgment or a Motion for Summary Adjudication, as discussed further below. Department 5 does not maintain a “drop box;” please deliver courtesy copies directly to the Courtroom Assistant.
Page 3 | 4. Law and Motion
Courtesy copies for papers submitted in connection with a Motion for Summary Judgment or Summary Adjudication must be lodged on the date the papers are electronically filed.
submitted in connection with a Motion for Summary Judgment or a Motion for Summary Adjudication. Please lodge these courtesy copies on the date the papers are electronically filed.
Page 5 | 5. Motions for Summary Judgment/Adjudication
Pre-Motion Conference Requirements
All motion hearing dates must be reserved in advance via the Court Reservation System (CRS), and motions are heard Monday through Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
All motion hearing dates must be reserved in advance on the Court Reservation System at www.lacourt.ca.gov, under “Online Services,” “Court Reservation System (CRS).” Motions are set for hearing Monday through Thursday at 8:30 a.m. The court encourages reserving non-discovery motion dates as soon as possible.
Page 3 | 4. Law and Motion
Parties intending to file a summary judgment or summary adjudication motion must reserve a hearing date immediately, because dates fill quickly and may not be available at least 30 days before trial.
Any party who intends to file a motion for summary judgment or summary adjudication must reserve a hearing date immediately because the reservation dates for such motions are limited on the Court Reservation System, they fill up fast, and the present reservation dates available for such motions are very close to the trial dates being set by the court. Do not wait until discovery has been completed to reserve a hearing date for a motion for summary judgment or summary adjudication because, at a later date, hearing dates might not be available at least 30 days before the trial date set in your case.
Page 4 | 5. Motions for Summary Judgment/Adjudication
Counsel must meet and confer verbally (telephone, video conference, Teams, Zoom, or in person) before filing any discovery motion, except a motion to compel initial responses to party discovery.
Should any party wish to file any discovery motion, other than a motion to compel initial responses to party discovery, at any time during the pendency of their case, counsel must first meet and confer verbally (i.e. by telephone, video conference, Teams, Zoom, or in person).
Page 7 | 8. Discovery Disputes, Motions, and Informal Discover Conferences
Before filing a discovery motion, counsel and self-represented parties must meet and confer and make a reasonable, good faith attempt to informally resolve each disputed discovery issue.
The court expects and encourages the parties’ counsel and any self-represented parties to informally resolve discovery disputes, instead of using expensive and cumbersome discovery motions. The court first expects the parties’ counsel and any self-represented parties to meet and confer to make a reasonable and good faith attempt to informally resolve each discovery issue in dispute before filing a discovery motion.
Page 7 | 8. Discovery Disputes, Motions, and Informal Discover Conferences
The court is currently not conducting Informal Discovery Conferences, though this will change in time.
Currently, this court is not conducting Informal Discovery Conferences. This will change in time. Thank you in advance for your patience.
Page 7 | 8. Discovery Disputes, Motions, and Informal Discover Conferences
Adjournment & Extension Requirements
To advance a hearing date by ex parte application, the motion must already be both reserved and filed; the court will not advance a motion that is merely reserved, and failure to timely reserve a date is not irreparable harm.
Failing to timely reserve a motion dates does not constitute irreparable harm. If any party wishes to advance a hearing date, the motion must already be both reserved and filed. The court will not advance a motion if it is merely reserved.
Page 6 | 6. Ex Parte Applications
Trial continuances based on calendar conflicts will not be granted until the conflict is imminent, and the court will accommodate counsel's vacation plans only if they are disclosed in a timely fashion.
However, the court will not continue its own trial dates on that basis until the conflict becomes imminent. The court is generally willing to adjust its dates to accommodate the vacations plans of counsel, so long as those plans are disclosed in a timely fashion.
Page 3 | 3. Case Management Conference (CMC)
An ex parte application to advance the hearing on a summary judgment/adjudication motion due to unavailable hearing dates must include an alternative request to continue the trial to a date after the motion hearing.
Because it is usually extremely difficult for the court to advance the hearing on a motion for summary judgment or summary adjudication, if a party files an ex parte application to advance the hearing on such a motion because no hearing dates are available on the Court ... alternative request that the court continue the trial to a date after the hearing on the motion.
Page 5 | 6. Ex Parte Applications
A continuance request to attend mediation or a settlement conference requires that the conference date already be scheduled, and that date must appear in the ex parte papers.
If any party seeks to continue any proceedings so that they can attend mediation or any sort of settlement conference, they must have the date already scheduled. The court will expect to see that date in the ex parte papers.
Page 6 | 6. Ex Parte Applications
All attorneys and parties are expected to grant reasonable requests for extensions of time to respond to pleadings, discovery, or other matters.
The court expects all attorneys and parties to grant reasonable requests for professional courtesies, such as requests for reasonable extensions of time for deadlines to respond to pleadings, discovery, or other matters.
Page 1 | 1. Civility and Professionalism
Chambers Communication Rules
After electronically lodging a document requiring court action, parties must not call court staff for status updates and should instead track the document's progress on the court's website.
The court requests that, after the parties’ counsel or any self-represented parties electronically lodge a document which requires action by the court (e.g., stipulation and proposed order, and proposed judgment), they please refrain from calling the court’s staff to ask about the status of the document, and that they instead follow the document’s progress on the court’s Website (which the court updates as soon and as often as possible).
Page 7 | 10. Electronically Lodged Documents Which Require Action by the Court
Department 5 chambers staff (Judicial Assistant Ms. Neya Estrada and Courtroom Assistant Ms. Tymeka Jobe) can be reached by phone at (310) 419-1305.
Judicial Assistant: Ms. Neya Estrada (310) 419-1305 Courtroom Assistant: Ms. Tymeka Jobe (310) 419-1305
Page 1 | Courtroom Information for Department 5
Junior Lawyer Participation Incentives
The court strongly encourages law firms and governmental agencies to give less experienced attorneys opportunities to argue motions at law and motion hearings and to play important roles at trial.
The court strongly encourages law firms and governmental agencies to give less experienced attorneys the opportunity to argue motions at law and motion hearings, and to have an important role at trial, including examining witnesses, conducting voir dire, and giving opening statements and closing arguments.
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