Judge Katherine Polk Failla

Parties shall not include substantive communications in the body of the e-mail; such communications shall be included only in the body of the letter.

All communications with the Court by a pro se party must be sent to the Pro Se Intake Office, or filed directly on ECF if granted such permission, as discussed in Rule (2)(B)(2) below. You may contact the Pro Se Intake Office at (212) 805-0175 during normal business hours, 8:30am - 5:00pm, Monday – Friday. No documents or filings should be sent directly to Chambers.

Any party wishing to raise a discovery dispute with the Court must first confer in good faith with the opposing party, in person or by telephone, in an effort to resolve the dispute. If this meet-and-confer process does not resolve the dispute, the party seeking discovery shall promptly file on ECF a letter motion, no longer than three pages, explaining the nature of the dispute and requesting an informal conference.

If the opposing party wishes to respond to the letter, it must submit a responsive letter, not to exceed three pages, within three business days after the request is received.

Parties seeking emergency relief, including preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders, shall also notify Chambers by telephone immediately after filing their request for such relief on ECF.

To request a pre-motion conference for motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, motions for judgment on the pleadings, and motions for sanctions, the putative moving party shall file a letter motion, not to exceed three pages, describing the grounds for the proposed motion, and whether the motion is on consent of all parties.

If the motion is not on consent, any opposing party should file a letter setting forth its position, not to exceed three pages, within three business days after the request is received.

The typeface, margins, spacing, and length of motion papers must conform to Local Civil Rule 7.1 (or, in the case of motions for reconsideration, Local Civil Rule 6.3 and Rule 4(C) below). All text must be 12-point type or larger, except for text in footnotes which may be 10-point type; (2) all documents must have at least one-inch margins on all sides; (3) all text must be double-spaced, except for headings, text in footnotes, or block quotations, which may be single-spaced; (4) all memoranda of law are limited to 8,750 words, and reply briefs are limited to 3,500 words (if filed by a party who is not represented by an attorney and handwritten or prepared with a typewriter, briefs in support of and in response to a motion may not exceed 25 pages, and reply briefs may not exceed 10 pages).

all memoranda of law are limited to 8,750 words, and reply briefs are limited to 3,500 words (if filed by a party who is not represented by an attorney and handwritten or prepared with a typewriter, briefs in support of and in response to a motion may not exceed 25 pages, and reply briefs may not exceed 10 pages).

If a brief is filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer, it must include a certificate by the attorney, or party who is not represented by an attorney, that the document complies with the word-count limitations. The person preparing the certificate may rely on the word count of the word-processing program used to prepare the document. The certificate must state the number of words in the document.

If filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer, briefs in support of and in response to a motion may not exceed 3,500 words, and reply briefs may not exceed 1,750 words; if filed by a party who is not represented by an attorney and handwritten or prepared with a typewriter, briefs in support of and in response to a motion may not exceed 10 pages, and reply briefs may not exceed five pages.

As soon as a party files an application to seek a temporary restraining order, he or she must call Chambers at (212) 805-0290 and state clearly whether (i) he or she has notified the adversary, and whether the adversary consents to temporary injunctive relief; or (ii) the requirements of Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(b) are satisfied and no notice is necessary.

If a party’s adversary has been notified but does not consent to temporary injunctive relief, the party seeking a restraining order must call Chambers with all parties present at a time mutually agreeable to the party and its adversary, so that the Court may have the benefit of advocacy from both sides in deciding whether to grant temporary injunctive relief.

Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 7.1, in any action in which subject matter jurisdiction is founded on diversity of citizenship pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332, the party asserting the existence of such jurisdiction shall, prior to the Initial Pretrial Conference, file on ECF in accordance with Rule 2(B) above, a letter no longer than three pages explaining the basis for that party’s belief that diversity of citizenship exists.

Letters. Communications with the Court should be by letter filed on ECF except for settlement conference submissions and in camera submissions. Letters may not exceed 3 single-space pages in length (exclusive of exhibits).

Letter motions shall be filed on ECF in accordance with the S.D.N.Y. Local Rules and the S.D.N.Y. Electronic Case Filing Rules and Instructions. Requests that may be made by letter motion include requests for a discovery conference to address a discovery dispute before formal motion practice, adjournments, extensions, pre-motion conferences, sealing, and requests for a settlement conference. Letter motions are limited to 3 single-space pages (not including exhibits).

Faxes. No faxed communications shall be permitted without prior permission from Judge Parker's Chambers. Faxes must not exceed three pages.

Pro Se Parties. By Standing Order, a pro se party must mail all communications with the Court to the Pro Se Intake Unit located at 500 Pearl St., Room 230, New York, NY 10007. A pro se party may not call Chambers or send any document or filing directly to Chambers. Submissions requiring immediate attention should be hand-delivered to the Pro Se Intake Unit. Unless the Court orders otherwise, all communications with the Court will be docketed upon receipt; such docketing shall constitute service on any user of the ECF system. If any other party is not a user of the ECF system (e.g., if there is another pro se party in the case), a pro se party must send copies of any filing to the party and include proof of service affirming that he or she has done so. Copies of correspondence between a pro se party and opposing parties shall not be sent to the Court.

In some cases, the Court may require a joint pre-conference agenda letter. Joint pre-conference agenda letters shall be limited to 6 pages and filed a week in advance of a conference unless otherwise specified or permitted by the Court.

Any party wishing to raise a discovery dispute with the Court must first confer in good faith with the opposing party, in person or by telephone, in an effort to resolve the dispute. If this meet-and-confer process does not resolve the dispute, the party may submit an ECF letter-motion to the Court, not to exceed 3 pages, explaining the nature of the dispute and requesting a conference. Such letter must include a representation that the meet-and-confer process occurred and state when it occurred. Any responsive letter should be submitted within 3 business days after submission of the letter-motion.

Letters requesting a pre-motion conference should summarize the basis of the motion and follow the procedures for communicating with the Court set forth in Section I. Letters may not exceed 3 pages. Within 3 business days of receipt of the letter, each opposing party may submit a written response of no more than 3 pages.

All moving papers, letter-motions, and letters filed on ECF or emailed to chambers must be in searchable PDF form.

Unless otherwise directed by the Court, no later than 7 days before the Settlement Conference, found at https://nysd.uscourts.gov/hon-katharine-h-parker. Each party also must provide the Court with a letter, not to exceed three pages, summarizing the issues in the case, the settlement value of the case and rationale for it, case law authority relevant to settlement discussions, and any other facts that would be helpful to the Court in preparation for the conference.

A courtesy copy of Ex Parte Settlement Conference Summary Forms and Letters shall be submitted to the Court if the exhibits to the Letter exceed 10 pages. Courtesy copies must be provided no later than one business day after submission of the Form and Letter.

If a party is submitting a video, the clip shall be provided on a thumb drive delivered to Chambers and labeled with a case name and docket number. Alternatively, the clip may be emailed to the Chambers email address noted above.