King County Superior Court

New cases and additional documents may be filed online, by mail, or in person at the Clerk's Office.

You must either file online, mail your documents (plus filing fee) or go in-person to the Superior Court Clerk's Office to file a new case or add additional documents to an ongoing case.

Page 1 | File a new case or add to an existing case

The Estimate of Witness Examinations form must not be filed with the clerk's office; it is submitted to the bailiff by email instead.

DO NOT FILE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THE CLERK'S OFFICE.

Page 1 | Estimate of Witness Examinations

Email may not be used to provide working copies of legal pleadings, including jury instructions, without prior permission of the court.

Absent prior permission of the court, email may not be used to provide working copies of legal pleadings, including jury instructions.

Page 1 | Service of Working Copies and Pleadings

Exhibits may be submitted digitally or in hardcopy, with the required format set by the Order from Pretrial Conference in each case.

Exhibits may be submitted digitally or in hardcopy. Please review the Order from Pretrial Conference issued in your case for specific instructions on which format is ordered.

Page 1 | Exhibits

Parties may email the courtroom to ask whether the judge will accept pleadings, jury instructions, legal memoranda, and similar documents as email submissions, with acceptance at the judge's discretion.

f. To determine whether the judge will accept pleadings, jury instructions, legal memoranda, and the like, in the form of an email submission;

Page 1 | Guidelines for Use of Email

All exhibits must be marked and logged with the Clerk before trial begins, in accordance with the pre-trial order.

Have all exhibits marked and logged with the Clerk before trial begins, in accordance with pre-trial order.

Page 1 | C. Testimony

All trial memoranda, the joint statement of evidence, and other trial submissions are due no later than 5 court days before the trial date.

Pursuant to local rules, all trial memoranda, the joint statement of evidence, and other trial submissions are due no later than 5 court days prior to trial.

Page 1 | Civil calendar trials

Email may not be used to serve pleadings on opposing parties absent agreement of opposing counsel or express permission of the court, even if the court accepts working copies by email.

Absent agreement of opposing counsel or express permission of the court, email may not be used for service of pleadings on opposing parties, even in those situations where the court has agreed to accept working copies by email.

Page 1 | Service of Working Copies and Pleadings

Emails to court staff containing substantive information must also be sent to opposing counsel and indicate on their face that opposing counsel was copied.

If an attorney is communicating substantive information to court staff, the email must also be sent to opposing counsel and so indicate on its face. Substantive information includes information regarding the likelihood of settlement, the timing of witnesses, anticipated problems with scheduling, concerns regarding security and other case-specific issues.

Page 1 | Ex Parte Communication Prohibited

Witnesses must be given copies of all orders on motions in limine, along with an explanation of the orders and their limitations, before they testify.

All witnesses are to be provided with copies of any Orders on Motions in Limine prior to their testimony, and an explanation regarding those Orders and their limitations on testimony.

Page 1 | C. Testimony

Copies of orders are mailed only when pre-addressed stamped envelopes are provided; otherwise they may be obtained from the Clerk's Office about 5 days after the ruling.

Copies of orders will not be mailed unless pre-addressed stamped envelopes are provided. If no envelopes were provided, copies of orders may be obtained from the Clerk's Office approximately 5 days after a ruling has been issued.

Page 1 | For longer documents

Documents filed by mail must include the filing fee.

You must either file online, mail your documents (plus filing fee) or go in-person to the Superior Court Clerk's Office to file a new case or add additional documents to an ongoing case.

Page 1 | File a new case or add to an existing case

The marked depositions must be emailed to the bailiff as PDFs, with timing and directions governed by the Pretrial Order.

Provide the marked depositions via email as PDFs to the bailiff as directed in the Pretrial Order.

Page 1 | THE PARTIES MUST COOPERATE USING ONE SET OF DEPOSITIONS MARKED FOR THE JUDGE'S CONSIDERATION

Working copies must be filed only after official copies; they may be submitted electronically via the e-filing application after paying a fee or delivered as hard copies to the judges' mailroom or proper department — never to the courtroom.

Working copies are not the official copies of your court documents. File those first in the Superior Court Clerk's Office. Do not deliver documents to the courtroom. You may either submit working copies electronically through the Clerk's Office e-filing application after paying the fee or deliver hard copies to the judges’ mailroom or appropriate department in the courthouse in which the judge or commissioner is located.

Page 1 | Deliver working copies to the Court

Documents 500 pages or longer must be delivered as printed copies in person.

If your document is 500 pages or more long, you must deliver printed copies in-person.

Page 1 | For longer documents

The parties must cooperate and prepare a single set of depositions marked for the judge's consideration rather than separate sets.

THE PARTIES MUST COOPERATE USING ONE SET OF DEPOSITIONS MARKED FOR THE JUDGE'S CONSIDERATION, as follows.

Page 1 | THE PARTIES MUST COOPERATE USING ONE SET OF DEPOSITIONS MARKED FOR THE JUDGE'S CONSIDERATION

Counsel/parties must jointly complete the Estimate of Witness Examinations form and email it to the bailiff at scott.court@kingcounty.gov as soon as possible.

Counsel/parties shall work together to complete this form and submit it to the bailiff via email at scott.court@kingcounty.gov, as soon as possible.

Page 1 | Estimate of Witness Examinations

Ex parte contact prohibitions apply fully to email communication with the court.

The prohibitions regarding ex parte contact with the court are fully applicable to email communication.

Page 1 | Ex Parte Communication Prohibited

Attorneys, pro se litigants, and others must use only the courtroom email address to communicate with court staff; the judge's individual email address may not be used absent the judge's express invitation.

The only address to be used by attorneys, pro se litigants or others who need to communicate with court staff about a case is the courtroom e-mail address. Absent express invitation by the judge, the judge’s individual e-mail address is not to be used.

Page 1 | Use of Judge’s Individual Address Prohibited

To strike a motion set before the assigned judge, notify the bailiff and always provide the case name, cause number, and the noted date.

Please notify the bailiff to strike a motion set before the assigned judge. Always provide the case name and cause number and the date for which the motion is noted.

Page 1 | Striking a motion set before the assigned judge

Parties may not contact the court to check the status of a ruling until one week past the date noted for the motion.

Do not contact the court to check the status of the ruling until one week past the date noted for the motion.

Page 1 | Motions heard by assigned Judge without oral argument (KCLR 7)

To schedule a motion or hearing requiring oral argument, contact the bailiff with the case name, cause number, hearing type, moving party, proposed dates, and counsel phone numbers, after checking with all counsel.

Contact the bailiff to schedule motions or hearings requiring oral argument. Please include the Case name, Cause number, Type of hearing, Name of moving party, Proposed dates, Names and phone numbers for all counsel. Please check with all counsel when scheduling hearings.

Page 1 | Motions heard by assigned Judge with oral Argument (KCLR 7)

Parties must check with the Court before faxing or emailing documents or pleadings.

Check with the Court before faxing or emailing documents or pleadings.

Page 1 | For longer documents

Parties must notify the court immediately of any issues affecting the trial, such as interpreter needs, scheduling issues, or other special needs.

Please notify the court immediately if there are issues affecting your trial, such as interpreter needs, scheduling issues, or other special needs.

Page 1 | Civil calendar trials

Parties needing extra courtroom equipment (TV/DVD/VCR) must contact the bailiff with equipment questions at least 5 days before the trial date.

If the parties need extra equipment (TV/DVD/VCR), please contact the bailiff with equipment questions at least 5 days prior to the trial date.

Page 1 | Equipment

Email to the courtroom is appropriate for scheduling in-court hearings and settlement conferences, checking trial equipment availability and jury instruction copy preferences, advising of a settlement, asking whether the judge accepts email submissions, and similar matters suitable for a phone call to court staff.

Email communication with the courtroom is appropriate in the following situations a. To obtain a date for an in-court hearing; b. To determine the judge’s availability for a settlement conference; c. To determine the availability of equipment needed for trial (such as a video player or speaker phone); d. To determine the judge’s preference as to number of copies of jury instructions required for trial; e. To advise the court of a settlement (to be immediately followed by formal written notice pursuant to CR 41(e); f. To determine whether the judge will accept pleadings, jury instructions, legal memoranda, and the like, in the form of an email submission; g. Other matters of a similar nature that would be appropriate to handle by way of a phone call to court staff.

Page 1 | Guidelines for Use of Email

This policy governs only email communication with court staff and does not establish a preference for email over other forms of communication.

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines for the use of e-mail in communicating with court staff. This policy does not apply to the other forms of communication, and does not establish a preference for email communication over any other form of communication.

Page 1 | Purpose

Each courtroom has an assigned email address ([judge's last name.court]@kingcounty.gov) for counsel and staff to use when emailing the court; commissioners' and certain departments share department addresses, and courts that do not accept email auto-respond with their phone number.

Each courtroom will be assigned an email address to be used by counsel (or their staff) in communicating with court staff, when e-mail communication is appropriate. The address will be [judge's last name.court]@kingcounty.gov. Commissioners' departments will not have individual addresses, but the family law, ex parte and mental health departments will each have an address for the department. Courts not wishing to receive email communication will have an automatic response indicating that the courtroom does not accept email and providing the court's phone number.

Page 1 | Address

In courtrooms with a court reporter, contact the bailiff and/or court reporter before the hearing or trial if you will want a copy of the transcript.

For courtrooms operating with a court reporter: If prior to the hearing or trial you know that you will want a copy of the transcript, please contact the bailiff and/or the court reporter.

Page 1 | Court transcripts

In digitally recorded courtrooms, notify the bailiff or courtroom clerk before the hearing or trial if you will want a copy of the CD.

For digitally recorded courtrooms: If prior to the hearing or trial you know that you will want a copy of the CD, notify the bailiff or courtroom clerk, who will be able to provide the information needed at the end of the hearing.

Page 1 | Court transcripts

Because judges' calendars fill up several weeks in advance, hearing dates should be obtained from the bailiff as far in advance as possible.

Please note that time available for judicial hearings is limited, and judges' calendars often fill up several weeks in advance. Hearing dates should be obtained from the bailiff as far in advance as possible.

Page 1 | Motions heard by assigned Judge with oral Argument (KCLR 7)