Ellis County District Courts Filing Rules

Each party must furnish the court a list of all requested relief without commentary or reasons, with specified shorthand references preferred.

For all motions not covered by the specific pre-hearing communication rule, the court-provided certificate of conference must be attached to the motion and signed by the attorney in charge.

A witness list is a required final pretrial filing.

All depositions must be concluded by the specified date.

A waiver of appearance for the second announcement must be filed at least two business days before that setting.

For all testifying experts, the party must serve the attorneys of record with the expert’s identifying information, subject matter, mental impressions and opinions, and a brief summary of their basis.

Notice of the evidentiary motions must be given to opposing counsel in connection with motions filed for the pretrial conference.

Each party must electronically file the listed final-pretrial documents three business days before the final pretrial hearing and provide a courtesy copy at the hearing, except that the exhibit copies are delivered in person rather than e-filed.

Ex parte motions and orders must initially be submitted to the Court by e-filing, but a time-sensitive request may be presented to the Court Coordinator when the Court cannot promptly review it.

Exhibits must be presented on one side only and may not be printed front and back.

The proposed Charge of the Court must be provided in electronic Microsoft Word format on a flash drive.

Before a hearing is set on a motion for early termination from community supervision, bond reduction, a 17.151 application, or habeas corpus, the moving party must communicate with opposing counsel to determine whether the motion will be opposed.

A unilateral continuance motion will not be considered unless the filer first obtains a contingent appearance date from the Court Coordinator.

Each party must e-file the listed documents 3 business days in advance of Final Pretrial and provide a courtesy copy at the hearing; exhibits go to the Reporter and Judge that day, not by e-filing.