San Diego Superior Court Filing Rules

A proposed sealing order must be provided to the Court setting forth the facts and legal basis.

Exhibits referenced in pre-trial filings (trial briefs or Motions in Limine) must be attached to those filings.

Parties must provide a current address and phone number to the Court and include contact information in each court filing.

Ex parte filings must include a declaration stating disputed issues and attaching requests and responses.

Counsel must file a Case Management Statement per CRC rule 3.725.

Ex parte papers must be filed by 12:00 p.m. at least one court day before the hearing, with the appropriate fee.

Trial briefs and witness lists must be filed and served 7 days before the hearing.

Ex parte papers must be filed by 11:00 a.m. the business day before the hearing.

IDC briefs must be submitted to the department and opposing counsel two court days before the IDC.

Ex parte papers must be filed one day before the hearing by 10:30 a.m.

Motion papers must comply with CRC 3.1110 et seq. and San Diego Local Rule 2.1.4.1 for formatting, bookmarking, and filing.

Petitioner's exhibits must be pre-marked and tabbed with numbers in numerical order; Respondent's exhibits with letters in alphabetical order.

The Advance Trial Review Conference document must be complete, on pleading paper, and without the firm name.

Exhibits submitted with motions must be separately tabbed and electronically bookmarked.

All exhibits must be pre-marked in an up-to-date exhibit book(s) of no more than 2 inches each.

Ex parte hearings are reserved by calling the calendar clerk at (619) 450-7325 during 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Call chambers before making a delivery to the court.

Minor's compromise hearings require a reservation and are held Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:30 a.m.

Priority requests on the Friday calendar must be made by calling the department and leaving a voicemail by Thursday before the hearing at 3:30 pm.

Contact numbers for courtroom clerk and calendar clerk; calendar clerk available 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

All motion hearing documents require a courtesy copy to Dept. 70, and courtesy copies must have tabbed exhibits.

Three copies of exhibit binders and lists must be provided: for the court, the court clerk, and the witness.

Courtesy copies of trial exhibits are appreciated.

A courtesy copy of ex parte papers must be placed in Department 75's mailbox.

Courtesy copies of ex-parte applications for hearings set within 3-5 days must be placed in Department 67 drop box before noon the day prior.

Motions to compel initial responses must be filed as a single motion regardless of the number of discovery sets.

Counsel must provide a three-ring binder with tabs to the Court on the Friday before trial containing trial briefs, pre-trial motions, jury instructions, verdict form, exhibit list, and witness list.

Motions to compel initial responses must be filed as a single motion regardless of number of sets.

Motions in Limine and any oppositions must be combined in a second notebook, not filed as separate notebooks.

A trial notebook containing the trial brief, pre-marked exhibits, exhibit list, and witness list must be delivered to the courtroom Clerk five court days before trial or hearing; two notebooks are required (one for the Court, one for the Clerk).

Parties must meet and confer before trial to attempt settlement.

Parties must meaningfully meet and confer before setting an ex parte hearing; a mere email is insufficient.

Counsel must meet and confer before filing a demurrer, per CCP 430.41.

Participation in an Informal Discovery Conference before filing discovery motions is encouraged but not required.

Parties must meet and confer before filing demurrers, motions to strike, and discovery motions.

All written material must be directly filed (hand-delivered) in Department 702.

Ex parte papers must be filed digitally via E-FILE.

Parties are encouraged to e-file all exhibits they intend to rely upon.

All parties must upload trial and evidentiary hearing exhibits to the Electronic Exhibit Portal per Local Rule 5.8.4 unless exempted by court order.

All trial-related documents must be filed directly in Department 704; e-filing of trial documents is prohibited.

Sealing requests must comply with CRC 2.550 and 2.551; records may not be sealed based solely on party stipulation.

Sealing requests will not be addressed ex parte unless the Court instructs otherwise.

Sealing requires a motion complying with CRC rules 2.550/2.551; records are not sealed by stipulation alone, and a substantive motion is not decided until the sealing motion is heard.

Requests to seal court records must comply with CRC 2.550 and 2.551.

Protective orders and motions to seal must comply with CRC rules 2.550/2.551; records are not sealed by stipulation alone, and substantive motions are held until the sealing hearing is resolved.

Stipulated requests to continue dates or deadlines may be made by written stipulation and must state good after cause.

Parties who cannot complete trial in the allotted time must request new dates at the pre-trial conference or ex parte to revise the time estimate or reset the trial date.

Trial continuances beyond 20 days after a trial request require all parties' agreement or good cause.

Continuances of CMC, Failure Hearings, Trial, TRC, and motion cut-off dates may be requested by stipulation and proposed order.

Case Management Conferences may be continued 1-2 weeks by stipulation and proposed order.

Filing an ex parte application requires payment of the appropriate fee.

Jury fees must be paid five days before trial unless a fee waiver is granted.

Filing a CM-020 form requires a $60.00 filing fee.

No filing fee is charged for a minor's compromise hearing.

Ex parte papers must be filed with the appropriate fee.

Each party must submit a concise IDC brief no longer than five pages before the Informal Discovery Conference.

Trial briefs are limited to 15 pages without leave of court.

Informal Discovery Conference briefs are limited to 5 pages.

Each party must submit a concise brief not exceeding 5 pages no later than 3 court days before the IDC.

All exhibits, demonstrative aids, or other material for opening statements must be shared with opposing counsel in advance.

All exhibits, demonstrative aids, and other material for opening statements must be shared with opposing counsel in advance.

Each party must serve all exhibits on every other party, either electronically or in hardcopy, at least five days before the trial or evidentiary hearing.

Each party must provide one set of exhibit binders to opposing counsel and have binders available to witnesses, with advance delivery of all exhibits to remote MS Teams witnesses.