Navarro County District Court, Texas Document Filing Requirements

CRITICALCivil cases

Applies to

Petition

The Petitioner must attach a copy of the order to the original petition and every copy before filing.

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

Motion

Must include

certificate of conference

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

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.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Contested pleading

Must include

certificate of conference

For a contested pleading in a civil case, the movant must attach a certificate documenting the good-faith effort to resolve the matter and the details of the consultation.

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

Judgment request pleading

A civil pleading requesting entry of judgment 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

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

Proposed discovery control plan

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

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

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.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Remote hearing motion

A party seeking to appear virtually must file a motion for a remote hearing and provide a legitimate reason.

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.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Notice of appearance

An attorney entering an initial appearance must give the Court written notice identifying the represented party and any co-counsel, with 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.

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 be treated like discovery-dispute documents, for which the rules recommend including a concise statement of resolution efforts and remaining disagreements.

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

WARNING

Applies to

Attorney fee voucher

A request for additional compensation must be accompanied by an itemized statement on office letterhead attached to the Attorney Fee Voucher for the Court to consider it.

In order to compensate for additional time spent on criminal, juvenile, CPS, and tax suits, the Court will consider additional compensation when accompanied by an itemized statement on office letterhead attached to the Attorney Fee Voucher.