Holmes County Court of Common Pleas, General & Domestic Relations Division Adjournment & Extension Requirements

CRITICAL

An extension to plead or file a pleading requires leave of Court, must be requested by motion with a supporting memorandum and draft journal entry, and cannot be established by stipulation alone.

Leave to plead or an extension of time to file a pleading, including but not limited to an answer, motion, reply, or response to request for discovery, shall be upon leave granted by the Court only. No stipulations for extensions of time shall be binding upon the Court. A party desiring an extension of time to file a pleading shall do so by motion, together with supporting memorandum and draft journal entry.

CRITICAL

An untimely request for leave to plead or an extension must be styled as a Motion for Leave to Plead Instanter, explain the untimeliness in a supporting memorandum and, if necessary, affidavit, and include the proposed pleading and a draft journal entry.

All certifications or motions for leave to plead or extensions which are not filed with the Court before the expiration of the otherwise applicable time period shall be styled a “Motion for Leave to Plead Instanter.” Said motion shall be supported by memorandum and affidavit if necessary, which shall set forth the reason that the pleading was not filed timely. The motion shall be accompanied by the proposed pleading to be filed instanter together with a draft journal entry which may be executed by the Court in the event the “Motion for Leave to Plead Instanter” is granted.

CRITICAL

Continuance requests generally must be submitted in writing at least seven days beforehand, with a motion, separate proposed entry, and supporting memorandum containing specified information; the Court may excuse the timing for an emergency or other sufficient cause.

Requests for continuance shall be submitted to the judge in writing at least seven (7) days prior to the trial, hearing date or other date set by order or Rule of this Court, absent emergency or other cause deemed sufficient by the Court. Requests for continuance include continuances of case management conferences, pretrial conferences, matters established by scheduling orders, motion dates, trials and any other dates or time limits established by order of the Court or these Rules. Requests for continuance shall be made by written motion and separate proposed journal entry. The motion shall be supported by a memorandum which shall include: (a) The reason for the request for continuance. If the reason is another case scheduled on the same date in another court, the memorandum shall be supported by a copy of that court’s scheduling order setting forth the name of the court and assigned judge, the case caption, the date and time of the conflicting case, and the date that the conflicting case was assigned for trial, together with whether said conflicting case is a criminal or civil matter; (b) The number of continuances of the hearing, trial or other date which is sought to be continued which have been previously made by any party, together with the Court’s ruling upon said requests. (c) The request for continuance shall bear the signature of movant’s client approving the continuance and the necessity thereof.

CRITICAL

A scheduled mediation may be continued only for good cause after a mutually acceptable future date is determined; pending motions alone are not good cause absent court authorization, and mediation must be schedulable before the final pretrial.

Continuances of scheduled mediations shall be granted only for good cause shown after a mutually acceptable future date has been determined. The case may be continued by the judge or magistrate who referred the case. Except as authorized by the court, the existence of pending motions shall not be good cause for a continuance and no continuance will be granted unless the mediation can be scheduled prior to the final pretrial.

WARNING

The Court may grant leave to prevent manifest injustice.

Nothing herein shall prevent the Court from granting leave to prevent manifest injustice.