Middlesex County Circuit Court, Virginia Pre-Motion Conference Requirements

CRITICAL

Only motions scheduled under the Rule will be heard, and adding a motion to a scheduled hearing requires prior Court approval.

Only motions scheduled pursuant to this Rule will be heard on the scheduled date and time. No motions may be added to a scheduled date and time without prior approval of the Court. Any motions not scheduled pursuant to these rules will not be heard.

CRITICAL

The moving party must follow the stated sequence to schedule a motion hearing, and offered dates are not held and may become unavailable if counsel does not act promptly.

After filing the motion, the moving party must contact support staff at (804) 693-1358 to advise the type of motion filed and the expected length of the hearing, and to obtain the dates and times available for the hearing. The moving party must then contact the opposing counsel and agree on a hearing date. Once a hearing date is agreed, the moving party must contact support staff at (804) 693-1358 to advise of the chosen date. The days offered are not held and could be rendered unavailable if counsel does not act promptly. Once a date is finalized, the moving party must file and serve the appropriate Notice of Hearing, listing the date and time scheduled, the name of the motion to be heard, and the time allotted by the Court.

CRITICAL

Counsel must confer with other counsel and self-represented parties to avoid unnecessary motions and narrow disputes; when a duty to confer applies, consultation must be in person or by telephone unless binding authority provides otherwise.

Accordingly, counsel must confer with each other and prose parties to decrease, in every way possible the filing of unnecessary motions, and to narrow the issues to be decided by the court. Absent binding authority to the contrary, a duty to confer to resolve a dispute without court action-whether imposed by the Rules of the Supreme Court or by order-will be interpreted to require consultation in person or by telephone to explore the possibility of resolving or narrowing the matters in controversy.

WARNING

Counsel are expected to respond promptly to hearing-scheduling requests; after no response within a reasonable time, the moving party may send three dates by fax or email and, if opposing counsel still does not respond within ten days, may schedule the hearing on one of those dates.

Counsel are expected to respond promptly to a request to schedule a motions hearing. Should counsel fail to respond in a reasona:ble time, the moving party may then fax or email to opposing counsel three (3) available motion dates and times along with notice that after ten (10) days without a response, the moving party will seek to schedule the hearing on one of the provided dates and times. Should opposing counsel fail to respond within ten (10) days of such fax or email, the moving party may then schedule the hearing on one of the provided dates and times.