Navarro County Court at Law Document Filing Requirements

CRITICAL

Applies to

Vacation notice

Covered attorneys must file written vacation notice with the Clerk and copy applicable court coordinators at least 30 calendar days before the vacation; this rule applies when lead counsel is affected unless the Court expands its coverage.

Attorneys with any cause pending before the Court, and any attorney on the Court's list of potential Court-appointed counsel may not designate more than four weeks during any calendar year as vacation. Written notice of any vacations must be filed with the Clerk with a copy to all applicable court coordinators no less than thirty (30) calendar days in advance of the vacation. This Rule operates only where lead counsel, as defined by Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 8, is affected, unless the Court expands coverage of this Rule to other counsel.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Initial appearance notice

An attorney entering an initial appearance must give the Court written notice identifying the represented party and any attorney with whom the attorney is working, and include the specified identifying and contact information; sufficiently informative letterhead may suffice.

So that the Court may keep track of which attorneys represent which parties, any attorney entering an initial appearance in a cause shall give written notice to the Court of which party they represent and with whom they are working, if anyone. The written notice shall include the attorney's name as he or she shall use it in practice, the attorney's state bar membership number, and the attorney's full contact information including mailing address, an address at which the attorney may be served process, the attorney's phone number, facsimile number (if any), and e-mail address (if any). A short statement of who the attorney represents on sufficiently informative letterhead may suffice.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Unopposed matter submission

An unopposed matter must be submitted to the Court in writing with a certificate signed by all parties stating that it is unopposed.

Unopposed matters shall be submitted to the Court in writing with a certificate signed by all parties indicating that the matter is unopposed.

CRITICALCivil cases

Applies to

Petition

The Petitioner must attach a copy of the order to the original petition and each copy before filing with the District Clerk.

7.1 The Petitioner shall attach a copy of this order to the original petition and to each copy of the petition prior to filing same with the District Clerk.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Contested pleading

Must include

certificate of conference

A contested pleading must include a certificate documenting the movant’s good-faith effort to resolve the matter and the consultation details.

If a party contests the pleading, the movant shall affix a certificate to the pleading stating that the movant made a good faith effort to resolve the matter with all parties prior to filing the contested pleading. The movant shall state, specifically, with whom they consulted, via what medium (e.g., in person, over a conference call, etc.), on what date, and the movant shall provide a brief explanation of why an agreement could not be reached.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Proposed discovery control plan

A proposed Level 3 discovery control plan must state a proposed discovery-close date, explain any proposed date more than nine months away, and propose limits for depositions and specified discovery requests.

The proffered discovery control plan shall: (1) Clearly identify a proposed date for the close of discovery; (2) Provide a brief explanation of why the party believes discovery will last longer than nine (9) months if the proposed date for the close of discovery is more than nine months in the future; (3) Propose a maximum number of hours that each side shall be allowed to take depositions; (4) Propose a maximum number of interrogatories to be allowed to each side; (5) Propose a maximum number of requests for admission to be allowed to each side; (6) Propose a maximum number of requests for production to be allowed to each side.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Pleading requesting entry of judgment

Must include

proposed order

A pleading requesting judgment in a civil case must include a separate draft judgment marked as a draft on every page, unless the Court orders otherwise.

Pleadings requesting the entry of a judgment in a civil case shall include a proffered draft of the judgment. The proffered draft shall be separate from the pleading itself, and shall be clearly marked as a draft on all pages of the document, unless otherwise ordered by the Court.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Motion

A party seeking to appear virtually must move for a remote hearing and provide a legitimate reason; the Court retains discretion over all virtual hearings.

Any party seeking to appear virtually must file a motion for a remote hearing and provide the Court with a legitimate reason for the need to appear virtually. All virtual hearings are conducted at the discretion of the Court.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Electronically filed document

An email address must appear on every electronically filed document.

All e-Filing shall be done through EFileTexas.gov, and an email address must be provided on any electronically filed document.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Motion

For an uncontested motion, the movant must attach a certificate stating that no party contests it, signed by lead counsel for all parties.

If no party contests the motion, the movant shall affix a certificate to the pleading that is signed by lead counsel for all parties, indicating as such.

WARNING

Applies to

Discovery dispute document

Appended to or included in any document related to a discovery dispute should be a statement that clearly and concisely lists the efforts that were made to resolve the dispute without the aid of the Court, the pertinent issues upon which the parties continue to disagree, and why those disagreements were not resolved despite the good faith efforts to do so.

Appended to or included in any document related to a discovery dispute should be a statement that clearly and concisely lists the efforts that were made to resolve the dispute without the aid of the Court, the pertinent issues upon which the parties continue to disagree, and why those disagreements were not resolved despite the good faith efforts to do so.

WARNING

Applies to

Scheduling dispute document

Documents related to scheduling disputes are to follow the same approach as documents related to discovery disputes.

Documents related to scheduling disputes are to be treated analogously to documents related to discovery disputes. See Local Rule 34,supra.