Amador County trial binder and trial document requirements

Each party shall lodge with the court no later than five (5) court days before the conference and serve on the other parties a written statement that conforms to rule 3.1380 of the California Rules of Court.

Verified verbatim. The verb is lodge, not file, and it runs in court days. Content comes from CRC 3.1380(c), adopted by reference rather than restated. Amador publishes no civil settlement conference statement form. FCS-052 is the Family Law Settlement Conference Statement and FCS-092 is the family law Statement of Issues; neither applies in a general civil case. Effective 1/1/95, amended 1/1/00, 7/1/2015, 7/1/2017, 7/1/2019.

Trial counsel, the parties, and all persons whose consent is necessary for a settlement must attend. All persons required to attend must have full authority to settle the case.

Verified verbatim. The rule says trial counsel, so covering counsel who did not try the case is a problem. On a construction defect matter the consent language reaches the carrier representative and anyone else whose sign-off the settlement needs. Rule 5.01(B)(1) limits a judge pro tem hearing the conference: without a stipulation the pro tem cannot change the trial date and cannot hear or rule on law and motion matters.

Any person whose attendance at a settlement conference is required by these rules may be excused by the court, on request made in writing not less than five (5) court days before the date set for the settlement conference.

Verified verbatim. Two conditions attach. Rule 5.01(C)(2): a person excused for good cause "shall remain immediately available for telephone communication with counsel and the court for the duration of the settlement conference." Rule 5.01(C)(3) requires the requesting party to meet and confer and attempt to obtain a stipulation before submitting the request; the published sentence reads "before to submitting a request to the court," a typo in the rule itself. Same five court day window as the statement deadline, so both land on the same date.

Waiver of the provisions of this chapter or rule 3.1380 of the California Rules of Court is disfavored. The court may, in its discretion, waive certain provisions for good cause but absent extraordinary circumstances, will not waive the provisions of rule 3.1380 relating to settlement conference statements.

Verified verbatim. The passage straddles a page break in the PDF. Chapter 5 carries no sanction of its own; rules 8.06 and 1.06(B) supply the teeth.

A party to any contested civil proceeding may file a written application to the court for a specially set settlement conference. If granted, the rules in this chapter shall be applicable to such settlement conference.

Verified verbatim. Chapter 5 is titled Pretrial Settlement Conferences and sits between the civil law and motion chapter and the criminal chapter, so the division is confirmed. Open question, do not resolve it from the rule text: 5.00(B) creates an application route but says nothing about whether the court sets conferences on its own motion, while rule 7.01 refers to a "mandatory settlement conference date" already on calendar and rule 8.08 refers to continuing "a settlement conference date." Ask the clerk whether one is calendared as a matter of course. Local form CIV-131 is the Stipulation to Allow Trial Judge to Conduct Settlement Conference, with CIV-132 as the additional-parties attachment, both confirmed against the court's local forms page.

Unless otherwise ordered by the court, all motions in limine shall be filed no later than seven (7) court days prior to the date set for trial.

Verified verbatim. The sentence straddles a page break in the PDF, so a naive string search across the extracted text misses it; it is intact in the rule. This is the only trial document deadline the Amador civil rules publish. Rule 7.02 sits in Chapter 7, titled Civil Pretrial and Trial Setting for Civil Cases, so the division is confirmed. Court days, not calendar days. What the rule text does not contain: any separate service deadline, any joint or consolidated filing requirement, any cap on the number of motions, any meet and confer precondition, and any hearing procedure. The opening clause lets a trial setting order move the date either way. Do not confuse this with rule 6.06, which sets the in limine deadline at the date of the Trial Readiness Conference and opens "In felony and misdemeanor cases." Effective 1/1/00, renumbered 1/1/03, amended 7/1/11.

Any party requiring the services of the official reporter for trial or any other hearing shall file a statement with the court requesting those services at least seven (7) court days prior to the trial or hearing.

Verified verbatim. Amended effective 1/1/2025, so this is current. Same subdivision carries a short-notice fallback the practitioner needs when a trial date moves: "If the nature of the hearing does not allow for such notice, notice must be given at the earliest possible time, but no later than twenty-four (24) hours in advance of the hearing." It then adds: "All fees for the Court Reporter must be paid prior to the hearing. Proof of payment shall be presented to the Court Reporter at the time of the hearing." Rule 11.06(A) lists the calendars for which the court will not generally have a certified reporter available: case management conferences, civil harassment and elder abuse restraining orders, civil law and motion, unlawful detainer, family law civil trials, infractions, probate, probate guardianships and conservatorships, domestic violence restraining orders, small claims, traffic appellate division matters, and criminal misdemeanor cases. Unlimited civil jury trials are not on that list. If the court cannot supply a reporter, rule 11.06(C) puts the burden on the requesting party to arrange and pay a pro tempore reporter under CRC 2.956. Same seven court day count as the in limine deadline.

Fees are subject to change without notice or amendment of these rules. Fees shall be deposited with the court prior to the commencement of trial or hearing.

Verified verbatim. The token before_commencement means the rule fixes no numbered lead time, only that the deposit clears before the proceeding opens. Civil reporter fees as amended 1/1/2025: full day $600.00, half day $300.00, proceedings less than one hour $75.00. The rule cites Gov. Code section 68086 and CRC 2.958. Daily transcript fees go to the court reporter contracted with the court, not to the court, and are due before each day of trial.

Whenever a case assigned a trial date settles, the attorneys or parties appearing in pro per shall immediately notify the court. The primary obligation to notify the court shall lie with the party seeking affirmative relief or with plaintiff if either is unrepresented; otherwise this shall be counsel's obligation.

Verified verbatim. The duty triggers on settlement rather than on a date counted back from trial, which is why the offset is varies. The rule continues: "No trial or mandatory settlement conference date will be vacated and no action will be dropped from the civil active list until the court receives written Notice of Settlement." It then requires compliance with CRC 3.1385 and mandatory Judicial Council form CM-200, and provides that outside a conditional settlement the action is scheduled for dismissal on the court's own motion, with dismissal forty-five days after the court receives the notice unless a request for dismissal is filed or good cause is shown. Rule 8.11 backs this up: parties are not excused from a scheduled proceeding on a promise of dismissal "unless the dismissal has actually been filed with the clerk of the court."

All parties or their counsel of record shall file with the courts, a Case Management Conference Statement (Judicial Council Form CM-110) at least fifteen (15) days prior to the Case Management Conference. Failure to submit a timely Case Management Conference Statement will result in the issuance of an Order to Show Cause and sanctions may be imposed, pursuant to Local Rule 8.06. A new Case Management Conference Statement is required prior to each Case Management Conference, unless otherwise ordered by the court.

Verified verbatim. The real anchor is the case management conference date, which the court calendars; court_order is the nearest token the schema offers, since there is no CMC token. Fifteen days, and the rule does not say court days. This is the same period CRC 3.725(a) sets, which reads "No later than 15 calendar days before the date set for the case management conference or review," so the local rule matches the state rule rather than shortening it. What the local rule adds is the consequence: an order to show cause issues automatically on its face, with sanctions available under rule 8.06. This is the conference at which trial gets set in Amador, which makes it the practical gateway to the trial schedule.

No later than thirty (30) calendar days before the first scheduled Case Management Conference, the parties shall meet and confer, in person or by telephone, and discuss the issues identified in subdivisions 1-9 of rule 3.724 of the California Rules of Court.

Verified verbatim. Anchor is the first case management conference. The thirty calendar day window matches CRC 3.724, which reads "Unless the court orders another time period, no later than 30 calendar days before the date set for the initial case management conference." The local reference to subdivisions 1-9 captures all of rule 3.724's numbered subdivisions, which run (1) through (9); it does not narrow anything. What it does not restate is CRC 3.724's separate direction to consider the issues identified in rule 3.727, so cover those too. The local rule limits the conference to in person or telephone and does not authorize meeting and conferring by letter or email.

A Case Management Conference shall be held before a judicial officer or judge pro tem designated by the Presiding Judge approximately 125 days after the filing of the initial pleading. All parties or their attorneys shall be present and be prepared to discuss all elements of the case, including, but not limited to, the suitability of the case for arbitration (as required by Code of Civil Procedure section 1141.16) or other form of alternative dispute resolution, the status of discovery, pending or anticipated law and motion matters, and scheduling the matter for trial.

Verified verbatim. This is the trial setting event in Amador. There is no civil trial readiness conference rule, no final status conference rule, and no rule creating a standalone trial setting conference, although rule 8.08 refers to continuing a trial setting conference date and the court's CourtCall list names trial setting conferences as a proceeding type. The same subdivision allows telephone appearance if rule 11.09 is followed; the Civil Division page says CourtCall appearances must be arranged no later than five court days before the hearing, and that trials, pre-trials and settlement conferences cannot be handled through CourtCall, nor can motions in limine. Rule 8.04 has the clerk issue a Notice of Inclusion in Delay Reduction Program at filing, which must be served with the complaint, and rule 8.13 makes a cross-complainant serve that notice plus notice of any pending CMC date on every new cross-defendant.

At the time of the Case Management Conference, the court or judge pro tem designated by the Presiding Judge, shall be empowered to establish discovery schedules, set an additional Case Management Conference, order the matter to arbitration, schedule the exchange of expert witness information, set the matter for trial, consider a request to be placed on an 18 or 24 month case disposition track, and otherwise actively manage the progress of the litigation.

Verified verbatim. Read with rule 11.23, which assigns civil cases to one judicial officer for all purposes. Note what the list does not include: a settlement conference. Reading a power to set an MSC into "otherwise actively manage the progress of the litigation" is an inference, not something the rule states. Also in 8.05(D): at the first CMC the court may order the matter to arbitration to be completed within 90 days, but absent waiver a case may not be referred to arbitration before 210 days after the complaint is filed, citing Gov. Code section 68616(g), and failing to object at or before the CMC to an earlier referral "shall be deemed a forfeiture." Chapter 9 governs the arbitration itself, including the trial de novo request in rule 9.05.

If the motion to exempt the case from the Delay Reduction Program is granted, a status conference shall be set before the judge within thirty (30) days of the granting of the motion for exemption and the judge shall thereafter set further status conferences as necessary to actively monitor the progress of the case.

Verified verbatim. Added on audit; the draft missed it and then asserted that the case management conference and the Chapter 5 settlement conference were the only pretrial conferences the civil rules create. Thirty days runs forward from the order granting the exemption, not backward from anything. The motion may be filed at any time the case is at issue, must be signed by the attorney and the moving party absent a good cause declaration on the party's unavailability, and the court weighs subject matter, number of parties, cross-complaints, anticipated law and motion, anticipated discovery and anticipated trial time. Out-of-county residence alone is not good cause. This is the provision a construction defect case in Amador is most likely to use.

At 2:00 p.m. on the day before a scheduled conference, the court will post tentative rulings on the court's website at www.amadorcourt.org. Any party who wishes to contest the tentative ruling must request a hearing and notify the opposing party of the request no later than 4:00 p.m. on the day before the hearing. If a hearing is not requested by 4:00 p.m., the tentative ruling will become the final ruling of the court.

Verified verbatim. The offset -1_day means the day before the conference, with the two clock times the rule sets. A separate tentative ruling procedure runs for civil law and motion under rule 4.03, amended effective 1/1/2025: tentatives post after 2:00 p.m. on the court's online portal at amadorportal.org under Events of the case after logging in, with a backup line at (209) 257-2603 before 3:00 p.m. and an oral argument line at (209) 257-2692. Rule 4.03(D) requires specific tentative ruling language in the notice of every civil noticed motion and demurrer, and the language the rule prescribes still points to www.amadorcourt.org rather than the portal. Neither tentative procedure applies where a self-represented party is in CDCR custody.

Any failure to comply with these Local Rules, or order of the court, unless good cause is shown, is an unlawful interference with the proceedings of the courts. For any such failure, the courts may impose upon the offending party, attorney, or both, sanctions which may include, but not be limited to, monetary sanctions, attorney's fees, expenses, striking pleadings, entering the default of any party, dismissal of the action, and contempt.

Verified verbatim. Rule 8.06 sits in the delay reduction chapter and is the sanctions provision rule 8.05(A) cross-references by number. Written broadly enough to reach a missed in limine deadline under rule 7.02 or a missed settlement conference statement under rule 5.00(C). Relief from a delay reduction deadline runs through rule 8.08 by noticed motion on good cause, signed by both the attorney and the moving party, and if a continuance of a status conference, trial setting conference, settlement conference or trial date is granted the matter is reset on a specific date at the time the motion is granted.

These rules, where applicable to civil actions and proceedings and as amended from time to time, are adopted pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 575.1. Any counsel, party represented by counsel, or party appearing in pro per, who fails to comply with any of the requirements set forth in these rules, shall upon motion of a party or the court be subject to the sanctions set forth in Code of Civil Procedure section 575.2, Code of Civil Procedure section 177.5 and California Rules of Court, rule 2.30.

Verified verbatim. CCP 575.2(b) matters here: where the failure is the attorney's, the penalty falls on the attorney and not the party. Rule 4.00 adds that local rules on pleadings, demurrers, ex parte applications, motions, discovery, provisional remedies and the form and format of papers are preempted by the California Rules of Court and the Code of Civil Procedure, with CRC 2.30 sanctions available. Rule 1.04 says the local rules are construed so as not to conflict with the California Rules of Court, and rule 1.05 adopts the California Rules of Court plus the Uniform Local Rules for Third Appellate District Superior Courts.

It is the policy of the court that all program cases shall be this policy, the court adopts the case disposition time standards set forth in the Appendix to the California Rules of Court, Division 1, Standards of Judicial Administration, Section 2.2.

Verified verbatim, garbled sentence included. The defect is in the published rule, not in the text extraction; the July 1, 2019 edition carries the same wording. Quoted exactly as printed. The reference is to Standard 2.2, the general civil case disposition goals, which also supplies the exceptional-case language that matters on a long construction defect matter. Do not read this rule as saying Amador has no local timetable at all: rule 8.05(D) lets the court place a case on an 18 or 24 month disposition track, and rule 8.10 provides the complex-litigation exemption.

No at-issue memorandum shall be filed by the clerk's office in any delay reduction case.

Verified verbatim. Worth flagging because the family law chapter runs the opposite way: rule 13.15(C) provides that "The at-issue memorandum shall be filed before any contested case may be set for trial," and local form FCS-031 is the Memorandum To Set Case For Trial. FCS-031 is a family law form and filing it in a general civil case would be wrong. Caution on form numbers generally: the Appendix of Local Forms inside the rules PDF has its number and name columns offset by one row, so pairings read off that table are unreliable. Use the court's local forms page instead. Effective 1/1/06.

Cases subject to direct calendar assignment shall be assigned to a judicial officer for all purposes, who shall, thereafter, handle all proceedings in the case, except as otherwise provided or required by law. At the time of filing of any case, the clerk shall affix to the face of the complaint or petition, by stamp or other writing, a notice regarding the judicial assignment.

Verified verbatim. The civil 170.6 windows in the same rule: plaintiff or petitioner within fifteen days of the notice of assignment, defendant or respondent within fifteen days of filing the first pleading or the first appearance, whichever is earlier. Criminal windows are ten days and are stated separately. The rule closes by preserving the Presiding Judge's authority to assign or reassign. This is the rule that makes the assigned judge's own trial order, rather than any published local rule, the source of the trial document list in an Amador civil case.