Kern County trial binder and trial document requirements

At least five (5) days prior to any final case management conference set in advance of the day of trial but no less than fifteen (15) days prior to the date the matter is set for trial each party shall serve on every other party and submit to the court the following:

Offset token means exactly what it says: compute both dates and use the earlier. Worked examples. Conference 30 days before trial, documents due 35 days before trial. Conference 14 days before trial, documents due 15 days before trial, which is one day before the conference. No conference, documents due 15 days before trial. Division confirmed: Chapter III is headed Civil Rules and Civil Case Management and Rule 3.1 says these rules apply to limited and unlimited jurisdiction general civil cases filed in the Kern County Superior Court. Rule 3.9 as revised 1/1/14 is operative. Rule 3.9(b) twice contemplates that no final case management conference may be set. The rule says "days" with no qualifier and Kern defines nothing further, so whether these are calendar or court days is unresolved on the face of the rule.

All final case management documents shall be filed (pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 3.1110) under a cover sheet which lists the documents submitted.

Subdivision (c) fixes no time of its own. The deadline shown is imported from Rule 3.9(a), because the documents (c) governs are the five (a) submissions. (c) requires no tabs, no index beyond the cover sheet list, no copy count, no paper set and no delivery location. Any exhibit tabbing obligation comes from the cross-referenced state rule, CRC 3.1110(f), not from a Kern rule. "Filed" points to e-filing: Rule 1.10 makes e-filing mandatory for represented parties in Limited and Unlimited Civil. Note the verb mismatch, (a) says "submit to the court" and (c) says "filed," and no rule reconciles them.

All documents electronically filed with the court shall be in a text searchable Portable Document Format (PDF), i.e. containing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, and must adhere to the requirements for general format as required in California Rules of Court, rules 2.256 and 3.1110, including those related to electronic exhibits and bookmarks.

Rule 1.10 sits in Chapter I (General Rules) and its lead paragraph makes e-filing mandatory for represented parties in "Limited and Unlimited Civil," so it reaches general civil trial documents. The rule is a format rule with no deadline of its own. It bites when the Rule 3.9(a) documents are filed, which is why it belongs next to the cover-sheet row. The bookmark and electronic-exhibit obligations it imports from CRC 2.256 and 3.1110 are the functional substitute for a tabbed binder in this county, and they come from the state rules, not from a Kern rule.

Prior to the final case management conference, or prior to the trial if no final case management conference is set, counsel will confer in an effort to resolve the jury instructions, issues raised in the motions in limine, the generic statement of the case, and the admissibility of the various photographs, documents, physical objects and other tangible things included in each party's exhibit list. In addition, counsel shall review the witness lists and make their best estimate of the time anticipated for the direct and cross-examination of each of the witnesses.

Offset token means the rule states no numeric interval. The duty attaches before the conference, and if no conference is calendared it attaches before trial. There is no required written product, no joint statement and no declaration of compliance. The rule also says "Counsel will also attempt to work out stipulations concerning issues which are not contested." What the parties do not resolve, the court rules on, and the results go into Final Case Management orders settling the instructions (subject to augmentation after the evidence is received), ruling on the in limine motions, providing for admission of exhibits, and settling the generic statement of the case.

A list of all witnesses that said party intends to call in his or her case in chief.

Case in chief only by its terms. The rule does not require impeachment or rebuttal witnesses. No required content beyond the names, so no addresses, no subject of testimony and no expert designation column. The word "expert" appears nowhere in Chapter III. The joint document comes later and the court generates it: under Rule 3.9(b), "A master list of witnesses and the anticipated time involved for each witness will also be generated for use of court and counsel." Rule 3.10 turns this list and the Rule 3.9(b) time estimates into live sanctions exposure at trial.

A list of all photographs, documents, physical objects or other tangible things that said party intends to have marked as an exhibit and introduced in evidence at the time of trial. (In matters where a final case management conference has been set, said items will actually be brought to the final case management conference for examination).

This is the closest Kern comes to requiring anything physical to travel anywhere, and it is a bring-for-examination instruction, not a binder. It gives no numbering convention, no tab or index requirement, no copy count and no direction on paper versus electronic. Admissibility of the listed items is resolved by Final Case Management order under Rule 3.9(b). Two format rules do reach exhibits from outside Chapter III: Rule 1.10(i) (CRC 2.256 and 3.1110 compliance including electronic exhibits and bookmarks) and Rule 1.10(l) (over-sized exhibits and electronic evidence cannot be e-filed). Rule 1.14 (Hazardous, Heavy, or Bulky Exhibits) and Rule 1.11 (Return of Exhibits) are the only other exhibit rules and neither bears on pretrial submission.

Said party's proposed jury instructions. All parties are invited to use the Instruction Request form for the standard CACI instructions. If any standard instructions are not on the request form, or if any special instructions are going to be requested, they must be served with the request form.

The Instruction Request form is not on the court's Local Court Forms page. I parsed all 101 rows of that table and there is no jury instruction, verdict, witness or exhibit form of any kind for civil. Rule 1.4.2(a) says the court maintains printed CACI copies and that a schedule listing the designated instructions by number "will be available to practitioners," which points to the clerk rather than a download. Rule 1.4.2(b) requires a modified pattern instruction to specify the modification in parenthesis or another appropriate manner. Rule 1.4.2(c) requires the requesting party to type into every blank in a CACI, CALJIC or CALCRIM instruction all the words needed to adapt it to the pending case. Rule 1.4.2 is a second, later delivery obligation, not a substitute for this one.

In both civil and criminal cases, the parties shall submit copies of requested jury instructions on the day the jury is sworn unless otherwise ordered by the trial judge.

Rule 1.4.2 sits in Chapter I (General Rules) and by its own terms reaches civil cases, so it runs alongside Rule 3.9(a)(1). The two do different work. Rule 3.9(a)(1) is the pretrial service and submission of proposed instructions. Rule 1.4.2 is the delivery of copies at trial. Plan on both. The closing "unless otherwise ordered by the trial judge" is an express grant of authority over jury instruction timing to the assigned judge. Rule number verified by coordinate pairing on the body page (margin label "Rule 1.4.2" at y=580.4 sits on the same baseline as the heading "Jury Instructions/Verdict Forms"), and the table of contents agrees. Body and TOC labels match throughout; there is no numbering discrepancy in this rule set.

All requested and relevant jury instructions shall be submitted to the court no later than 9:00 a.m. on the date first assigned for trial.

Rule 3.15 sits inside Chapter III and governs unlawful detainers, which are civil. Rule 3.15.11(e) adds that a "Case management conference will be set at the time jury is demanded." Note the phrasing runs to the date FIRST assigned for trial, so a continuance does not move this deadline forward on its face. The consequence for missing it is jury waiver under subdivision (f), not sanctions.

Each party shall submit proposed verdicts in completed form suitable for use by the jury in the pending case. This requires a separate form for each verdict with the caption of the case typed on paper that has nothing on it to identify the form with any party.

Treat the offset as a reading of the rule's structure, not as stated text. Subdivision (d) fixes no time and the lead paragraph's timing sentence names only jury instructions. Confirm the date with the trial setting order. Two drafting points a practitioner will miss: one form per verdict, not one combined form, and the paper must be clean of anything identifying which side submitted it, which rules out a pleading-paper footer, a firm name and an attorney service stamp. Rule 3.9(a) does not list verdict forms among the five pretrial submissions, so verdict forms are a trial-date item in Kern, not a final case management conference item.

A proposed generic statement of the case to be read to the jury at the beginning of the case.

Per party and proposed. Counsel then confer on it under Rule 3.9(b) and the Final Case Management order settles it. The rule says "generic," which reads as neutral and non-argumentative, but it supplies no length limit and no template.

All motions in limine in written form, together with any points and authorities in support thereof.

No page limit, no separate-document rule, no opposition deadline, no hearing procedure and no motion-specific meet and confer requirement anywhere in Chapter III. Rule 3.9(b) does require counsel to confer generally on "issues raised in the motions in limine" before the conference, and unresolved issues are ruled on by the court at the conference or at trial, with the rulings going into Final Case Management orders. Motions in limine under this rule are submitted with the trial documents rather than noticed as regular law and motion, so the Rule 3.3.1 date-reservation procedure does not reach them.

All motions, including motions in limine, shall be submitted in writing to the court no later than 9:00 a.m. on the date first assigned for trial.

Applies to all motions, not only in limine motions, so a trial-day oral motion is out. Writing is required. Same first-assigned-trial-date measuring point as subdivision (c), and the same jury-waiver consequence under subdivision (f).

Certain documents/filings are not eligible for submission through electronic filing and must be submitted in hard copy format.

I read all thirteen items. The full list is sealed documents, documents requested or intended to be sealed, subpoenaed documents, bonds, undertakings, civil bench warrants, original contracts and instruments, over-sized documents and exhibits, sister-state judgments, affidavits re real property of small value, original wills and codicils, appeal-related documents including notices of appeal, and electronic evidence. The rule states no deadline and no delivery location for the hard copy. Rule 1.10(m) does set one for a related category, requiring originals of notarized or certified foreign filings to be lodged at least ten days before any hearing, which is the only lodging deadline in the rule set.

If the matter is to be tried at the Metropolitan Division, the judicial officer shall set a trial setting conference no later than three (3) weeks following the case management conference.

Offset token runs forward from the case management conference, not backward from trial. This paragraph carries no rule number; coordinate extraction confirms it sits in the Chapter III preamble above the Rule 3.1 margin label. It is a trial-setting event, not a trial-document deadline, and no documents are due at it under any published rule. The preceding paragraph is the one that sets up the choice: "In civil matters filed in the Multi-Divisional Courts, the court shall determine the appropriate location for the trial at the case management conference." The rule adds that transfer does not affect the county's time standards for disposition.

Jury fees and court reporter's fees, if a court reporter is desired, shall be posted by the party requesting a jury not later than five (5) days prior to the date first assigned for trial.

Added because Rule 3.15.11(f)'s jury-waiver consequence reaches "any of the above," which includes this posting, and the draft's 3.15.11(f) row was unusable without it. Days are unqualified here too. Separately, Rule 3.15.10(d) requires a written request for stenographic recording of any unlawful detainer trial not less than 5 days before the date the case is first set for trial, with one-half day's reporter fees posted at the time of the request, cross-referencing Local Rule 1.6.

Failure to comply with any of the above will result in a waiver of jury and the trial will proceed immediately by court.

Self-executing on its face ("will result in"), not discretionary and not tied to a noticed motion. "Any of the above" reaches subdivisions (a) through (e), so it covers the 5-day fee posting in (a), the per-day posting in (b), the 9:00 a.m. instruction deadline in (c) and the 9:00 a.m. written motion deadline in (d).

An unexcused inability of a party to proceed because of a failure to schedule adequate witnesses, or otherwise, may result in sanctions being imposed, including a determination by the trial judge that said party has rested.

This is what turns the Rule 3.9(a)(3) witness list and the Rule 3.9(b) time estimates into a live risk. The deemed-rested sanction is stated in the rule itself, not borrowed from CCP 575.2. The quoted sentence spans a page break at printed pages 46 and 47, so a plain text extract will show it interrupted by the running header; the text is continuous in the PDF. Relevant to a multi-expert construction defect trial, where witness sequencing across disciplines is the usual source of dead time.

Any failure to comply with these rules shall result in the issuance of an order to show cause why sanctions, including monetary sanctions, issue sanctions, evidence sanctions or terminating sanctions, should not be imposed.

Rule 3.18 closes Chapter III, so it reaches Rule 3.9 directly. Note the verb: the OSC is mandatory on its face, the sanction is not. Rule 1.1 is the courtwide backstop and reads: "Any counsel, party represented by counsel, or self-represented litigant, 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." Rule 1.1 also states the rules' authority: CCP 575.1, CRC 10.613 and Gov. Code 68070 et seq. Rule 3.9 itself states no consequence; everything for a late trial document runs through 3.18 or 1.1.