Judge Troy L. Nunley

United States District Court - Eastern District of California
501 I Street, Suite 4-200
Sacramento, CA 95814

Courtroom Deputy, Michele Krueger
Phone: (916) 930-4163

CIVIL STANDING ORDER

In all cases assigned to Judge Troy L. Nunley, it is hereby ORDERED:

1. DISCOVERY GENERALLY
- (A) Discovery matters that do not implicate the schedule of the case or that do not relate to sealing or redaction of documents related to dispositive motions are referred to the assigned United States Magistrate Judge, who will hear all discovery disputes subject to his or her procedures. (The Magistrate Judge's initials follow the Judge's initials next to the case number.) All discovery filings must include the words "DISCOVERY MATTER" in the caption to ensure proper routing. Counsel are directed to contact the Magistrate Judge's Courtroom Deputy Clerk to schedule matters for hearing or informal consideration according to that judge's procedures. Please do not direct courtesy copies of these documents to this Court.
  
  All motions to compel discovery must be noticed on the Magistrate Judge's calendar in accordance with the local rules of this Court and the Magistrate Judge's own procedures. While the assigned Magistrate Judge reviews proposed discovery phase protective orders, requests to seal or redact in connection with dispositive motions or trial are decided by Judge Nunley as discussed in more detail below. In addition, while the assigned Magistrate Judge handles discovery motions, the Magistrate Judge cannot change the schedule set in the Initial Pretrial Scheduling Order.
  
  The decision of the Magistrate Judge shall be final unless a party shows the Magistrate Judge's order is clearly erroneous or contrary to law. Any party may file and serve a motion for review and reconsideration before this Court. See Local Rule 303(c). The moving party must file and serve the motion within fourteen (14) days of service of a written ruling or within fourteen (14) days of an oral ruling that the Magistrate Judge states will not be followed by a written ruling. The motion must specify which portions of the ruling are clearly erroneous or contrary to law and support the contention with points and authorities.
2. EXPERT WITNESSES

All counsel must designate in writing and serve upon all other parties the name, address, and area of expertise of each expert they propose to tender at trial, according to the schedule set forth in the Initial Pretrial Scheduling Order. A written report prepared and signed by the witness shall accompany the designation. The report shall comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(B).

Any party may designate a supplemental list of expert witnesses who will express an opinion on a subject covered by an expert designated by an adverse party. If a party does not timely disclose the designation of expert witnesses, that party's right to designate a supplemental list of expert witnesses will be limited to rebuttal purposes only.

Failure of a party to comply with the disclosure schedule as set forth in Initial Pretrial Scheduling Order likely will preclude that party from calling the expert witness at the time of trial. An expert witness not appearing on the designation will not be permitted to testify unless the party offering the witness demonstrates: (a) good cause for the party's failure to designate the expert witness in accordance with this Order; (b) that the Court and opposing counsel were promptly notified upon discovery of the witness; and (c) that the witness was promptly made available for deposition.

For purposes of discovery an "expert" is any person who may be used at trial to present evidence under Rules 702, 703 and 705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, which includes both "percipient experts" (persons who, because of their expertise, have rendered expert opinions in the normal course of their work duties or observations pertinent to the issues in the case) and "retained experts" (persons specifically designated by a party to be a testifying expert for the purposes of litigation). A party shall identify whether a disclosed expert is percipient, retained, or both. The Court presumes a party designating a retained expert has acquired the express permission of the witness to be so listed. Parties designating percipient experts must state in the designation who is responsible for arranging the deposition of such persons.

All experts designated are to be fully prepared at the time of designation to render an informed opinion, and give the bases for their opinion, so that they will be able to give full and complete testimony at any deposition taken by the opposing party. Experts will not be permitted to testify at trial as to any information gathered or evaluated, or opinion formed, after deposition taken after designation.

Counsel are instructed to complete all discovery of expert witnesses in a timely manner in order to comply with the Court's deadline for filing dispositive motions.
3. ELECTRONIC FILING

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California requires electronic filing of documents in all new and pending civil cases in which parties are represented by counsel. A party proceeding without counsel may request authorization to file electronically. Information about the Court's Electronic Case Filing system ("ECF") is available on the Court's website at www.caed.uscourts.gov/caednew/index.cfm/cmecf-e-filing. See also Local Rule 133.

All manually filed documents (only those documents exempted from the electronic filing requirements by the Local Rules) shall be served as otherwise required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or Local Rule 133.

No party shall submit paper courtesy copies of pleadings or exhibits to the Court unless expressly ordered to do so.
4. MOTIONS AND HEARINGS; MEET AND CONFER REQUIREMENTS
- A. Time For Filing and Hearing Motions; Meet and Confer Requirement
  
  Motions shall be filed in accordance with Local Rule 230 and this order. Once a motion, opposition and reply are filed, no supplemental brief shall be filed without prior leave of the Court.
  
  All purely legal issues must be resolved by timely pretrial motions. Local Rule 230 governs the calendaring and procedures of civil motions; the following provisions also apply:
  - (a) Prior to filing a motion in a case in which the parties are represented by counsel, counsel shall engage in a pre-filing meet and confer to discuss thoroughly the substance of the contemplated motion and any potential resolution. Plaintiff's counsel should carefully evaluate the defendant's contentions as to deficiencies in the complaint and in many instances the party considering a motion should agree to any amendment that would cure a curable defect. Counsel should discuss the issues sufficiently so that if a motion of any kind is filed, including for summary judgment, the briefing is directed only to those substantive issues requiring resolution by the Court. Counsel should resolve minor procedural or other non-substantive matters during the meet and confer.
    
    (b) The parties are cautioned that failure to raise a dispositive legal issue that could have been tendered to the Court by proper pretrial motion prior to the dispositive motion cut-off date may constitute waiver of such issue. See Shewbridge v. El Dorado Irrigation Dist., No. 05-0740, 2007 WL 1294392, at *3 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 30, 2007) (citing North Pacifica, LLC v. City of Pacifica, 366 F.Supp.2d 927, 930 (N.D. Cal. 2005) (finding defendant, who raised res judicata defense for first time at trial's damages phase, waived defense)).
5. MULTIDISTRICT LITIGATION (MDL) TRANSFER

In addition to the requirements imposed by the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) for a potential MDL, parties must notify this Court promptly whenever a case is pending possible transfer by the JPML. Prompt notification is mandatory whether or not the parties are the filing parties before the JPML formally requesting the transfer.
6. PROPOSED ORDERS: LIMITATIONS AND PROCEDURES

Pursuant to Local Rule 137(b), regarding the requirements for proper filing of a proposed order, you are required to email the proposed order (in Microsoft Word) to chambers at tlnorders@caed.uscourts.gov, in addition to filing the pdf version via the CM/ECF system. Pursuant to Local Rule 101, the definition for electronic signature, and Local Rule 131, you may enter /s/ for signatures for all counsel.

Pursuant to Local Rule 137(b), the email must contain the case number and words 'proposed order' in the subject line.
7. EX PARTE APPLICATIONS AND MOTIONS FOR ADMINISTRATIVE RELIEF

Local Rule 233 applies to motions for administrative relief, such as motions to exceed page limits or requests to extend a response deadline. If a party cannot obtain the relief it seeks through Local Rule 233, that party may seek relief in an ex parte application. Ex parte applications typically are not heard but are submitted by the Court unless otherwise notified. The filer is required to contact the opposing party prior to the filing of the ex parte application to advise that such request is being made. In addition, the document(s) must indicate whether an opposition will be filed. The filer shall include an affidavit indicating a satisfactory explanation for the following: (1) the need for the issuance of such an order, (2) the inability of the filer to obtain a stipulation for the issuance of such an order from other counsel or parties in the action, and (3) why such request cannot be noticed on the Court's motion calendar as provided by Local Rule 230. Any opposition shall be filed no later than 48 hours from the filing of the ex parte application. When an ex parte application is filed on a Friday, the time for filing the opposition is extended to 72 hours from the filing.
8. TROS AND INJUNCTIONS

Parties seeking emergency or provisional relief shall comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65 and Local Rule 230. The Court typically will not rule on any application for such relief for at least twenty-four (24) hours after the party subject to the requested order has been served; such party may file opposing or responding papers in the interim.
9. APPLICATIONS OR STIPULATIONS TO EXTEND THE TIME TO FILE ANY REQUIRED DOCUMENT OR TO CONTINUE ANY PRETRIAL OR TRIAL DATE

The parties are reminded that under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b), no stipulations extending scheduling requirements are effective until and unless the Court approves them. Agreement of the parties by stipulation alone does not constitute good cause. Except in extraordinary circumstances, unavailability of witnesses or counsel does not constitute good cause. Both applications and stipulations must be filed well in advance of the date due and set forth:
- (A) the existing due date or hearing date as well as the discovery cutoff date, the last date for hearing motions, the pre-trial conference date and the trial date, when included in the existing schedule;
- (B) whether there have been prior requests for extensions, and whether these were granted or denied by the Court.
10. TRIAL SETTING

The parties shall file a Joint Notice of Trial Readiness not later than thirty (30) days after receiving this Court's ruling(s) on the last filed dispositive motion(s). If the parties do not intend to file dispositive motions, the parties shall file a Joint Notice of Trial Readiness not later than thirty (30) days after the dispositive motion filing deadline.

The parties are to set forth in their Notice of Trial Readiness, the appropriateness of special procedures, their estimated trial length, any request for a jury, their availability for trial, and if the parties are willing to attend a settlement conference. The parties' Notice of Trial Readiness Statement shall also estimate how many court days each party will require to present its case, including opening statements and closing arguments. The parties' estimate shall include time necessary for jury selection, time necessary to finalize jury instructions and instruct the jury.

After review of the parties' Joint Notice of Trial Readiness, the Court will issue an order that sets forth dates for a final pretrial conference and trial.
11. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE

A Settlement Conference may be set at the time of the Final Pretrial Conference or at an earlier time at the parties' request. At any time, parties may request jointly, in writing, the Court set a settlement conference before a randomly assigned magistrate judge or have the case referred to the Court's Voluntary Dispute Resolution Program (VDRP).

Counsel are instructed to have a principal with full settlement authority present at any Settlement Conference or to be fully authorized to settle the matter on any terms. Each judge has different order requirements for the submission of settlement conference statements; the appropriate instructions will be sent to you after the settlement judge is assigned.
12. CASES REMOVED FROM STATE COURT

All documents filed in state court, including documents appended to the complaint, answers and motions, must be refiled in this Court as an attachment to the Notice of Removal. See 28 U.S.C. § 1447(a), (b). If the defendant has not yet responded, the answer or responsive pleading filed in this Court must comply with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Rules of the Eastern District. If a motion was pending in state court before the case was removed, it must be re-noticed in accordance with Local Rule 230.
13. SEALING AND PROTECTIVE ORDERS

No document will be sealed, nor shall a redacted document be filed, without the prior approval of the Court. If a document for which sealing or redaction is sought relates to the record on a motion to be decided by Judge Nunley, the request to seal or redact should be directed to Judge Nunley and not the assigned Magistrate Judge. All requests to seal or redact shall be governed by Local Rules 141 (sealing) and 140 (redaction); protective orders covering the discovery phase shall not govern the filing of sealed or redacted documents on the public docket.

The Court will only consider requests to seal or redact filed by the proponent of sealing or redaction. This means that if a party plans to make a filing that includes material an opposing party has identified as confidential and potentially subject to sealing, the filing party shall provide the opposing party with sufficient notice in advance of filing to allow for the opposing party to seek an order of sealing or redaction from the Court.
14. COMMUNICATIONS WITH CHAMBERS

No counsel or party shall attempt to contact the Court or its chambers staff by telephone, e-mail or by any other ex parte means. Counsel may contact the Courtroom Deputy with appropriate inquiries.

New CAED

Judge Troy L. Nunley