Monterey County trial binder and trial document requirements

Category Three: The court may set a trial management conference approximately ten (10) days prior to trial. The attorneys shall meet and confer, prior to the trial management conference, for purposes of preparing the trial management report and brief.

Monterey's name for it is trial management conference. The phrase trial readiness appears in the consolidated rules only in chapter 14, the Criminal Department chapter, at rules 14.6 and 14.7; I confirmed chapter 14 is criminal both in the PDF chapter headings and on the court's published chapter list. This row uses the trial readiness bucket because that is the closest category available, not because the court uses that term. The conference is discretionary and Category Three only. Rule 6.7(A) defines Category Three as a case expected to reach disposition in eighteen to twenty-four months, generally with an estimated trial length of five court days or more and/or complex legal or factual issues.

A mandatory settlement conference will be set by the court approximately thirty (30) days prior to the trial date unless the court determines that an earlier settlement conference shall be appropriate.

Verified in the consolidated PDF. Rule 6.13(I) extends the whole of rule 6.13 to voluntary conferences: "These rules shall apply to all settlement conferences whether considered mandatory or voluntary." Rule 6.13 sits in chapter 6, Civil Department, confirmed against the chapter heading in the PDF and against the court's published chapter list.

Each party shall comply with California Rules of Court, rule 3.1380(c) and file a settlement conference statement no later than five court days before the conference.

The rule says file, not lodge. E-filing is mandatory under rule 1.7 for represented parties in all case types except appellate department cases.

1. A complete description of the nature of the case and the facts in support of that party's contentions, including both liability and damages, and indicating those matters that are agreed upon or in dispute; 2. The legal contentions of that party with supporting authorities; 3. A listing of all alleged economic damages incurred and the basis; and a statement of those agreed to and/or in dispute; 4. All prior settlement offers and demands; and 5. Any perceived impediments to settlement.

Items 1 through 5 verified as one contiguous passage. The lead-in sentence, "In addition, the settlement conference statement shall contain the following information:", is also verified but sits on the preceding printed page, so it is left out of the quoted string. Item 4 is the one that catches people out: all prior offers and demands go in, and by rule 6.13(F) the statement is not confidential unless the court orders otherwise.

Settlement conference statements shall not be confidential unless ordered by the court.

Read together with rule 6.13(D)(4), which requires all prior offers and demands to be stated. In a construction defect case that means the demand history becomes a public filing unless a protective order issues first.

Unless otherwise ordered by the court, at any mandatory settlement conference, all parties and/or principals with full legal and monetary authority to settle the case shall be in personal attendance. Insurance representatives shall have full authority to settle the case and shall be fully knowledgeable about the case.

Two companion subdivisions, both verified. Rule 6.13(G): "The trial attorneys or a fully informed associate with full authority to settle the matter shall attend for each party. Counsel shall be prepared to make a bona fide offer of settlement." Rule 6.13(C): "Requests to appear remotely shall be approved only by the settlement judge," and the court may continue the conference and order personal attendance. Correcting a claim in the prior draft: rules 6.14 and 7.7 do exclude settlement conferences from the option to appear remotely at a conference or non-evidentiary hearing, but rule 1.8(C)(1)(a) expressly lists settlement conferences among the proceedings at which a party or witness may appear remotely. The rules conflict. Treat rule 6.13(C) as the operative provision for an MSC and get the settlement judge's approval.

In actions brought under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, Civil Code section 1791 et seq., in addition to the information required in Rule 6.13(D)(1) - (5), each of the parties' statements shall contain the following information:

Case-type specific and not relevant to construction defect work. Kept because it is the only case type in chapter 6 with its own pretrial statement content, which tells you the court does differentiate when it wants to.

Courtesy chambers copies of all trial management reports, briefs and motions in limine shall be submitted on the same day that the document is e-filed.

In a complex case rule 6.6(A)(1) supplies the method: "A courtesy hard copy shall be mailed (or emailed if directed by the department) to the assigned judicial officer's department." Chapter 6 says nothing about method for an ordinary civil case. Rule 1.7(E) separately provides that "A judge may order a courtesy copy at any time, either printed or through electronic delivery."

Exhibit Packet: You must prepare an Exhibit Packet. The Exhibit Packet should consist of all of your exhibits in order. The first page of the packet should be the Exhibit List. If you have several exhibits, organizing them in a three-ring binder with tabbed dividers is recommended.

This is the only binder guidance the court publishes anywhere. I searched the full consolidated rule set: binder appears zero times, notebook zero times, and tabbed once, at rule 15.3(D), the writ-case administrative record rule. Scope caveat now stated in the requirement itself rather than left to a footnote. Rule 1.8(D)(1) incorporates this document as the court's current guidance for trials and evidentiary hearings "conducted partially or completely remotely," and its title says the same. The document nonetheless addresses in-person appearances and in-person delivery, and its register is aimed at self-represented litigants, referring the reader to Self-Help Center staff. Whether it binds a fully in-person civil jury trial with counsel is unresolved.

Binders: If you have several exhibits, or if they are voluminous, the court may require you to lodge your Exhibit Packet in a three-ring binder with tabbed dividers.

Same document, Other Procedures, verified: "Depending on your case, the court may direct you to lodge your exhibits in a manner different than the procedures outlined above." In a construction defect case with a large exhibit set, assume the department will want binders and raise it at the settlement conference or the trial management conference. The county rules impose no binder requirement of their own.

Remote Appearances: You must deliver your Exhibit Packet to the Court at least two (2) business days prior to the scheduled trial/hearing (see delivery methods below).

Offset token corrected. The source says business days, which is the guidelines' own term and is neither calendar days nor court days; the prior draft rendered it as -2_days, which would produce a different date across a holiday week. Mailing address in the document is Monterey County Superior Court, 1200 Aguajito Road, Suite 100, Monterey, CA 93940. The in-person line reads, verified: "In Person Appearances: You may bring your Exhibit Packet with you to court."

The attorneys shall prepare a trial management report and brief (see Appendix A) and file the report as set forth below.

The deadline is not one date. It is three, keyed to the case category the court assigns under rule 6.7(A), whose operative sentence reads: "In the discretion of the court, cases will generally be assigned, under these policies and rules, into one of the following categories." Nothing in the rules says how or when a party learns its category. Appendix A was last amended January 1, 2026; rule 6.11 was last amended July 1, 2016.

Category One: Friday prior to trial.

Offset is see_rule because the deadline is a named weekday, not a day count, and it moves with where in the week trial falls. No time of day is stated, unlike Category Two. Rule 6.7(A) defines Category One as a case expected to reach disposition in no more than twelve months, generally with an estimated trial length of two days or less and no complex issues.

Category Two: Four (4) court days prior to trial, no later than 3:00 p.m.

Court days, and a hard 3:00 p.m. cutoff. Rule 6.7(A) defines Category Two as a case expected to reach disposition in no more than twelve to eighteen months, generally with an estimated trial length of four days or less and/or significant legal issues.

The trial management report and brief shall be filed jointly or individually at least three (3) days prior to the conference, otherwise (4) court days prior to trial.

The anchor is the trial management conference, not the trial date, and getting that wrong is the error that would make a practitioner late here. The conference is discretionary and floats, so a party who counts back from trial can miss the filing. The rule says three days for the first figure and court days for the second in the same sentence, and does not say whether the three are calendar or court days. Read it as three calendar days until the department says otherwise.

The "Trial Management Report" and "Brief" shall provide the information requested below. The Report shall be prepared according to California legal format and shall contain the full case caption. The Report shall be typed or computer printed on pleading paper. Failure to file a Report as required or provide all requested information may result in exclusion or limitation of evidence, monetary sanctions, dismissal of the case, striking of pleadings, or entry of a default judgment.

Second paragraph of the same subdivision, verified: "All information requested below must be provided or its absence explained. Attachments may be used to provide additional information or to state the positions of each of the parties." Subdivision (B) opens the template with an attorney and case information block calling for case name, trial attorneys, plaintiff and telephone, defendant and telephone, and additional parties.

The Report shall include a listing of specific causes of action and defenses as contained in the pleadings.

Keyed to the operative pleading, not to the issues as the parties would now frame them. The subdivision heading is STATEMENT OF ISSUES, CAUSES OF ACTIONS, AND DEFENSES.

O. OTHER REQUESTS: [list all additional requests]

Where a reader room, a view of the property, a time limit request or an out of order witness request goes.

Each party shall prepare a list of witnesses and the general nature of their testimony (e.g., percipient witness, character witness, expert witness on damages, etc.). No witness, except a witness for purposes of impeachment, who has not been designated as a witness in the list above shall be allowed to testify except on a showing of good cause, to include, but not be limited to, a showing of why that witness was not so designated. Any witness needing any special assistance shall be identified (e.g., interpreter, disabled, etc.).

The list requires the general nature of the testimony, not just names. Under rule 6.15(D) the attorney or party, not the court, is responsible for obtaining a civil interpreter.

All witnesses are expected to be available as needed for trial. Any special scheduling problems shall be noted.

Expert availability windows belong here.

The Report shall include a list of all proposed exhibits. Each party shall file a declaration indicating any objections to the exhibits of the opposing parties with a brief statement of reasons. Failure to object to an exhibit may be deemed a waiver of all objections thereto, and the exhibit may be entered into evidence without further argument.

The objections declaration is a separate filed document from the Report, which matters under a one document per file convention. The rule sets no separate deadline for it, so treat it as due with the Report. The same subdivision adds, verified: "Objections to and editing of medical records shall be accomplished prior to trial, unless otherwise ordered by the court."

All proposed exhibits shall be pre-marked and exchanged and/or reviewed between the parties. Unless otherwise designated by the trial judge, the Plaintiff/Petitioner will mark their exhibits using numbers and the Defendant/Respondent will use letters. Exhibits which are not pre-marked and exchanged shall not be admitted in evidence except on a showing of good cause, to include, but not be limited to, a declaration as to why said exhibit was not so marked and exchanged.

Quotation corrected. The prior draft joined the first and third sentences and presented the result as verbatim; those two sentences are not adjacent, and the joined string does not appear in the rule. The full contiguous passage is quoted here and verified. No date attaches to the exchange in Appendix A. The operative timing comes from the rule 6.11(A) pretrial meet and confer on exhibits and, where the proceeding is remote or hybrid, from the Exhibit Guidelines' five business day sharing deadline.

Unless otherwise designated by the trial judge, the Plaintiff/Petitioner will mark their exhibits using numbers and the Defendant/Respondent will use letters.

The Exhibit Guidelines repeat it: "Petitioner/Plaintiff should use exhibit numbers, Respondent/Defendant should use exhibit letters." In complex cases rule 6.6(A)(5) points the other way and suggests a single unified numbering scheme used by all parties for depositions, motions and trial, or split number ranges, "in order to eliminate the use of letters."

Any and all exhibits (including any demonstrative evidence, charts, posters, etc.) which are to be viewed by the jury before deliberations shall be identified. These exhibits shall be made available for review. If permitted by the court, it shall be the duty of counsel to arrange for sufficient copies for each juror, enlargement, or viewing by overhead projector.

This is the juror copy obligation, which does the work a juror exhibit binder does in other counties. The court sets no number and no advance deadline, and the obligation is conditional on the court permitting the exhibit. Note the size cap in rule 19.5(D)(2): diagrams and charts may not exceed twenty-seven inches by forty inches without a prior court order.

The parties are responsible for obtaining and making available all equipment necessary to listen to and/or view any evidence. Necessary equipment shall be available, set up, and approved by the court.

Local rule 1.8(D)(4) repeats the obligation for remote or hybrid proceedings. Practical offset to the rule: the court's own Courtroom Technology page states that Departments 1 through 21 have digital evidence presentation, an HDMI connection for digital evidence, a document camera for physical evidence, a court-provided projector and screen, and touch panel control at counsel tables. Ask the department what it supplies before hauling equipment in.

Any party wishing to offer into evidence an electronic sound or sound-and-video recording must comply with California Rules of Court, rule 2.1040. Except as provided in Rule 2.1040, the party offering the recording into evidence must provide the opposing party with a copy of the recording and any required transcript prior to the hearing.

Offset corrected from -5_court_days to see_rule. Appendix A says only "prior to the hearing" and then cross-references local rule 1.8(D). Rule 1.8 is titled REMOTE CIVIL PROCEEDINGS and subdivision (D) is headed "Evidence - Physical and Electronic Evidence for Remote Trials or Evidentiary Hearings," so the five court day figure is scoped to remote and hybrid proceedings and should not be published as a flat civil trial deadline. Rule 1.8(D)(3), verified: the offering party "must provide the equipment necessary to listen to and/or view the recordings and provide the opposing party with a copy of the recording and any required transcript at least 5 court days prior to the hearing, unless for good cause the judicial officer makes an exception." Rule 1.8(D)(2) separately bars filing evidence on flash drives, memory sticks or compact discs, though a properly marked removable device may be received and admitted at trial if the court orders it.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES: You must share your exhibits with the other party no later than 5 business days prior to your trial/hearing. Depending on your type of case, however, this deadline may be EARLIER. If you have any questions about your deadline, you may ask the Judicial Officer, Self-Help Center staff, or seek legal guidance. Failure to share your exhibits before your deadline could result in exclusion of your evidence.

Offset token corrected from -5_days. Business days, the guidelines' own term. Printed copies satisfy the requirement; electronic copies only if the other party agrees. The guidelines themselves warn the deadline may be earlier for some case types, and in a Category Two civil case the Appendix A exhibit list is due four court days before trial, which is tighter. Work to the earlier date. Same scope caveat as the other guidelines rows: the document is titled for remote trials and evidentiary hearings.

Exhibit Lists: You must prepare an Exhibit List. The Exhibit List must list in order, the exhibit number/letter and a brief description of the exhibit. The exhibit list should also be formatted with columns to indicate at trial "Marked for Identification" and "Admitted into Evidence."

Exhibit stickers come from the court clerk. The multi-page rule, verified: "Exhibits consisting of more than one page should have page numbers on each page in sequential order to avoid confusion during witness testimony." This format is more prescriptive than Appendix A, subdivision (H), which says only that the Report shall include a list of all proposed exhibits. Same remote-proceedings scope caveat.

All proposed instructions shall be lodged with the court with the Report. All proposed instructions shall be fully edited without any blank lines or unused bracketed portions and submitted in duplicate. One (1) copy shall be prepared on plain paper, separate from argument or authorities, and shall not indicate by whom the instructions are presented. At the close of evidence, the trial court will conduct a hearing on instructions to determine the final instructions to be given to the jury.

Lodged, not filed, and on the Report deadline. Fully edited means every CACI bracket resolved before lodging. The rule does not say whether "in duplicate" means two copies in total, one of which is the anonymous plain paper set, or two in addition to an identified set.

Proposed verdict forms shall be filed with the Report. The verdict forms shall be prepared on plain pleading paper and shall not indicate by whom the verdict forms are presented. The trial court will conduct a hearing to determine the final form of verdict.

Note the difference from the preceding subdivision: verdict forms are filed, jury instructions are lodged. Both are anonymous as to the submitting party.

The Report shall include a summary of the allegations and supporting facts as contended by each party. It is anticipated that the trial court shall use this information to acquaint itself with the competing allegations and contentions, the contested factual issues, and to inform the jury as to the nature of the proceedings. The summary shall be non-argumentative and concise.

This is Monterey's statement of the case. It is a section inside the Trial Management Report, not a separate filing, and it carries the non-argumentative instruction because the court reads it to the jury.

The attorneys shall file all trial briefs, as necessary, with the Trial Management Report and Brief.

The required document is titled "Trial Management Report and Brief," so the brief half is contemplated as part of it. Courtesy chambers copies of briefs go to the department the same day under rule 6.11(B). No local page limit applies to civil trial briefs outside the complex rules, where rule 6.6(A)(2) holds memoranda to the California Rules of Court limits absent advance permission.

The Report shall include a list of all depositions intended to be used during trial and any objections thereto. Original, signed depositions to be used during the trial shall be lodged with the courtroom clerk, on the first day of trial. Procedures for presenting the materials during the trial, shall be established by the court.

The list and the objections go in the Report, so they follow the category deadline. The originals are lodged separately on day one of trial, a distinct at-event obligation. Presentation procedure is expressly left to the trial judge.

Parties shall indicate in the Report the intended use of any video depositions. The parties shall review video depositions prior to the preparation of the Trial Management Report and Brief. Objections shall be identified in the Report. The party intending to use a video deposition shall be responsible for editing of any further objections sustained by the court. The court shall be provided with an original, signed written transcript of the video deposition.

Note the sequencing. Review of the video has to precede preparation of the Report, so the real working deadline sits earlier than the filing date.

An edited version of the video deposition shall be exchanged with counsel thirty (30) days before the pre-trial or settlement conference;

This sits in chapter 19, Miscellaneous Rules, a court-wide chapter, not in the civil chapter, and it is easy to miss. It reaches civil cases because rule 19.7 opens "In addition to the requirements of Civil Code of Procedure section 2025.340," the civil video deposition statute. Because the mandatory settlement conference is itself set about thirty days before trial under rule 6.13(A), the practical effect in most cases is that edited video designations come due about sixty days before trial, but that is arithmetic across two rules, not a published deadline. Rule 19.7(B)(7) exempts impeachment sections from pretrial exchange. Rule 19.7(B)(8), verified: "At the time of the use of impeaching material, opposing counsel and the court must be provided with marked transcript pages or pages and line numbers."

Trial counsel for each of the parties shall meet and confer prior to trial for purposes of reviewing exhibits, potential witnesses, stipulations, exchange of trial motions, and compliance with this order.

This is the exchange obligation for motions in limine. The rule calls it "exchange of trial motions" and sets no service date. The next sentence of the same subdivision, verified: "Failure to meet and confer concerning the matters herein may result in sanctions in accordance with Code of Civil Procedure section 575.2, including but not limited to the exclusion or limitation of evidence, monetary sanctions, dismissal of the case, striking of pleadings or entry of a default judgment."

In addition, the Report shall include a list of all requests for judicial notice, pretrial motions, motions in limine, and appropriate points and authorities.

Rule 6.11(B) separately requires courtesy chambers copies of motions in limine on the day they are e-filed. I searched the full consolidated rule set for "in limine": the civil hits are rule 6.6(B)(3), rule 6.11(B) and Appendix A, subdivision (E), and none of them says how a motion in limine is noticed or when it is heard. Rule 6.6(B)(3) encourages early motions in limine in complex cases to narrow issues.

All discovery must be completed prior to trial. Delays will not be granted for the purpose of conducting further discovery except on a showing of good cause, to include, but not be limited to, a showing of why discovery could not reasonably have been completed prior to trial.

Pairs with Appendix A, subdivision (F), which makes each party state in the Report whether discovery is complete and, if not, why and what remains.

Each party shall indicate whether discovery is completed. If discovery is not completed, the Report shall indicate why discovery has not been completed and shall specify the specific areas yet to be completed.

Read with subdivision (A), which will not continue trial for more discovery absent good cause.

Each party shall list agreed upon stipulations and any matter to which they are willing to stipulate.

Stipulations are also a required subject of the pretrial meet and confer under rule 6.11(A).

The Report shall indicate the subject areas which the parties wish the court to inquire into and those subject areas which the parties request to ask questions about themselves. Requests for a juror questionnaire or in camera questioning of a juror as to particular matters shall be indicated in the Report and a copy of the proposed questionnaire attached to the Report.

A juror questionnaire has to be drafted and attached by the Report deadline. In a Category Two case that is four court days before trial, which is late to be starting one.

Electronic filing of documents in all case types is required, excepting appellate department cases.

Cited to the introductory paragraph because the quoted sentence is unlettered and precedes subdivision (A). Rule 1.7(B) exempts self-represented parties, documents the court exempts by order, materials not feasibly scanned, documents lodged provisionally under seal or as confidential, documents with jurisdictional time limits, certain originals, and section 170.1 challenges. Rule 1.7(D)(4), verified: "Electronic exhibits must include electronic bookmarks with links to the first page of each exhibit and with bookmark titles that identify the exhibit number or letter and briefly describe the exhibit. Electronic exhibits not so bookmarked are subject to rejection." That bookmarking duty is the electronic analogue of tabbed dividers and it is the one binder-adjacent requirement that is mandatory in every civil case.

Diagrams and Charts. Diagrams and charts shall not exceed twenty-seven (27) inches by forty (40) inches without prior order of the court.

Chapter 19 is Miscellaneous Rules, a court-wide chapter, not the civil chapter, and much of rule 19.5 addresses criminal and traffic exhibits. It reaches civil because the rule's lead-in reads "Evidence admitted in any case before any court shall be only those items required in the case." This matters in a defect case where site plans, elevation drawings and repair diagrams are routinely blown up past that size. Rule 19.5(D)(1), verified: "Original photographs shall be substituted for any photographically enlarged exhibits. A court, in its discretion, may order a photograph substituted for large or bulky exhibits which might pose a storage problem."

All requests for continuances of trial dates, whether contested or uncontested, must comply with California Rules of Court, rule 3.1332 and shall only be allowed for good cause.

Appendix A, subdivision (A) separately forecloses a continuance sought to finish discovery absent good cause.

Local rules 6.5 - 6.11 shall apply to all civil cases except domestic relations, adoption, probate, and unlawful detainer unless otherwise ordered by the court.

This is the division check. Chapter 6 is the Civil Department chapter, and rule 6.5(A) confirms the trial management rules reach ordinary unlimited civil cases including construction defect. Rule 6.5(B), verified: "The setting of all civil cases for trial shall be in accordance with California Rules of Court, rules 3.713 - 3.735 and these rules."

Failure to follow these rules, file a mandatory case management statement or trial management report and/or attend a mandatory case management conference may result in sanctions.

Three other sanction provisions back it up, all verified. Rule 6.13(H) adds attorney fees or sanctions under California Rules of Court, rule 2.30 and Code of Civil Procedure section 128.5 for settlement conference violations. Rule 19.2, in the court-wide Miscellaneous chapter, is the general backstop: the matter dropped from the calendar, a fine ordered paid to the clerk within thirty days, and costs, actual expenses and counsel fees. Rule 6.11(A) carries its own Code of Civil Procedure section 575.2 sanction for failing to meet and confer.

Filing of papers. All pleadings, motions, applications, briefs and any and all other papers shall be e-filed consistent with Local Rule 1.7. A courtesy hard copy shall be mailed (or emailed if directed by the department) to the assigned judicial officer's department.

Row rebuilt so the quoted sentence actually carries the requirement. Other complex provisions, each verified: motions heard on the second and fourth Friday complex law and motion calendar at 8:30 a.m.; other hearings and settlement conferences on the second and fourth Tuesday complex case management calendar at 9:00 a.m.; a joint prose case management statement filed fifteen court days before each case management conference (rule 6.6(A)(4)); a suggested unified exhibit numbering scheme across all parties and all uses (rule 6.6(A)(5)); and early motions in limine to narrow issues (rule 6.6(B)(3)). Rule 6.6(B)(3) as printed contains a stray date: "The goal would be to allow the parties 8/18/2024 to defer expensive discovery issues and proceedings." I confirmed the artifact is in the published rule and absent from the court's standalone Complex Litigation order at https://www.monterey.courts.ca.gov/system/files/complex-litigation.pdf, which reads the sentence clean.