Hamilton County Circuit Court Pre-Motion Conference Requirements

CRITICALCivil cases

Parties are to confer about admissibility of electronic evidence before the event and designate stipulated exhibits in ECF 48 hours beforehand.

Parties are to confer concerning the admissibility of electronic evidence, and 48 hours before a trial, hearing, or motion docket designate in ECF exhibits to be admitted by stipulation.

CRITICALCivil cases

Parties must attempt to mediate parenting-plan disputes before coming to court, except that mediation is not required in the stated abuse cases; the legislation’s requirements exclude Title IV-D cases.

Must attempt to mediate all disputes over the parenting plan before coming to court. The requirements of the legislation will apply to all cases involving the custody or support of minor children except Title IV-D cases. Mediation is not required prior to court in cases where it is found that a parent has engaged in physical or sexual abuse or a pattern of emotional abuse of a child or a person living with the child.

CRITICALCivil cases

When the parties reasonably anticipate ESI discovery, counsel or pro se parties must meet and confer before, or no later than 10 days after, serving requests for production about the specified ESI discovery topics.

If the parties reasonably anticipate a likelihood of discovery of ESI, counsel for the parties – or, if proceeding pro se, the parties themselves – shall meet and confer prior to or no later than ten (10) days after propounding any requests for production to address: (a) the sources and types of ESI to be exchanged, including the use of search terms, date restrictions, custodian identities, and the strategies to reasonably limit the scope of ESI to be collected, reviewed, and produced, as well as information that is not readily accessible; (b) the format of the electronic production (e.g., native files, TIFF or searchable PDF, etc.) or, upon written agreement of the parties or a showing to the Court that electronic production would unduly burden the producing party, the format of paper production; (c) the steps the parties will take to segregate and preserve relevant ESI; (d) the procedures to be used if privileged ESI is inadvertently disclosed; and (e) the allocation of costs associated with gathering, producing, and preserving the ESI.

WARNINGCivil cases

Non-jury matters may be heard on a motion day, but motions take priority over them.

Non-jury matters may be heard on a motion day, but motions in any Court take priority over non-jury matters.

WARNINGCivil cases

Before filing a motion or requesting a hearing, lawyers should consult opposing counsel or a pro se litigant in an attempt to resolve the matter by agreement.

3.1 I will consult with opposing counsel or pro se litigant in an attempt to resolve matters by agreement before filing motions or requesting hearings.

WARNINGCivil cases

Parties may use any mediator, but if they cannot agree, the court will appoint only a certified Rule 31 mediator.

The parties will be free to use any mediator, but if they are unable to agree, the courts will only appoint certified Rule 31 mediators.

WARNINGCivil cases

The judge expects counsel and pro se litigants to make a good-faith attempt to resolve discovery disputes before moving to compel and may consider compliance when applying Rule 37.01(4).

Each Judge expects counsel, as well as pro se litigants, experiencing a discovery dispute to engage in a good faith attempt to resolve any such dispute before a motion to compel is filed, and may take into consideration counsel’s and/or pro se litigant’s compliance with this rule when applying Rule 37.01(4) of the Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure.

WARNINGCivil cases

Motions requiring oral testimony are heard after motions that do not require such evidence.

Motions requiring oral testimony will be heard after motions not requiring such evidence.

WARNINGCivil cases

Lawyers should make a good-faith effort to resolve discovery issues without protracted negotiation or unnecessary litigation and bring unresolved issues to the Court efficiently.

3.2 I will attempt in good faith to resolve discovery issues with opposing counsel or pro se litigant without protracted negotiation or unnecessary litigation. I will strive to present those issues that cannot be resolved efficiently and without needless litigation to the Court.

WARNINGCivil cases

Before filing a motion concerning a substantive issue, parties are expected to attempt to resolve it at mediation, except for discovery issues, child support pendente lite requests, and emergency requests.

With the exception of discovery issues, child support pendente lite requests, and emergency requests, parties are expected to attempt to resolve substantive issues at mediation prior to filing a motion concerning such an issue.