Nevada County trial binder and trial document requirements

At the case management conference, or pursuant to other court order, the court shall schedule a pretrial conference to be held within two weeks of the first day of trial, or as otherwise ordered by the Court.

Within two weeks is an outer limit, not an offset, and the court can order otherwise, so do not calendar this at trial minus 14 days. The same rule provides: "The pretrial conference shall be conducted by the assigned trial judge." How the date arrives: the court's Civil Case Management page states that based on the case management conference statement the court posts a proposed case management conference order "containing a trial, pre-trial, and settlement conference date" to the Tentative Rulings section of its website, and that the proposed order is deemed approved and adopted where no party appears or requests argument. Department 6 (Nevada City civil) hears Pretrial Conferences Friday at 11:00 a.m. per the court's published Department Calendars page. Rule 1.02 directs citation as NCSC Local Rule 4.03.

Any long cause case, and any short cause case at the discretion of the Court, shall be set for a judicially supervised mandatory settlement conference before a regularly assigned judge, retired judge sitting on assignment, or designated judge pro tem who may be a court commissioner or licensed California attorney.

The anchor is a court order rather than a fixed offset. The rule sets no interval between the MSC and trial, so the MSC date comes off the case management order, which the Civil Case Management page says the court posts as a proposed order containing trial, pre-trial and settlement conference dates. Rule 4.00.9 supplies the definition by cross-reference to California Rules of Court, rule 3.735(a): a short cause case is one where the trial estimate by all parties or the court is five hours or less, and all other civil cases are long cause. A construction defect case is always long cause. Department 6 hears Settlement Conferences Monday at 10:00 a.m. per the published Department Calendars page. Rule 4.02 closes by requiring that if the case settles before the MSC, a dismissal, notice of settlement or stipulated judgment be filed immediately.

Settlement conference statements are to be filed no later than ten (10) court days before the conference.

Rule 4.02's competing sentence, verbatim: "Except as provided in Local Rule 4.02.1, the parties, not later than five (5) court days prior to the scheduled conference, shall serve and file a settlement conference statement with the clerk of the court. Such settlement conference statements shall comply with Local Rule 4.02.1." The court has not resolved the conflict expressly, so the row states the earlier of the two. Note also that Rule 4.02.1 says filed while Rule 4.02 says serve and file, so serve as well.

The first page of each settlement conference statement shall specify, immediately below the number of the case, (1) the date and time of the settlement conference, and (2) the trial date. Each settlement conference statement shall include a full and complete statement of the following information to the extent known or contended: (Paragraph numbering of statements shall coincide with the following)

The two quoted sentences are consecutive in the rule except for the ten court day sentence between them, quoted in the row above. The ten required items, in order: 1, the attorney or party submitting the statement and the party counsel represents; 2, lead counsel and the represented party for all other parties; 3, statement of the facts including background necessary to understand the case; 4, any factual stipulations reached by the parties; 5, contested issues of fact including detail of claimed damages or defenses; 6, contested issues of law; 7, a good faith settlement demand and an itemization of economic and non-economic damages by each plaintiff and a good faith offer of settlement by each defendant; 8, the limits of any available insurance coverage; 9, whether the case has been through arbitration, attaching any arbitrator's award or opinion; 10, any special problems relating to settlement. Items 7 and 8 are the ones to flag with a client, since the rule requires a numbered demand and disclosure of policy limits in a filed document.

Principals and decision makers for clients and any insurance carriers must attend any scheduled mandatory settlement conference in person unless excused by order of the Court issued in advance of the mandatory settlement conference. Any party that files a request for telephonic appearance at a mandatory settlement conference by any principal, decision maker, or adjuster must submit their request no less than ten (10) court days prior to the mandatory settlement conference, and must submit with their request their mandatory settlement conference statement.

In person is the default and the exception requires an order obtained in advance, not a courtesy call. The telephonic request and the statement travel together, so the ten court day deadline governs both. Rule 4.02 states the attendance rule from the other direction: the conference "shall be attended by the attorney who will conduct the trial for each of the parties and by any unrepresented parties," and "All parties shall attend the conference, together with adjusters, corporate officers or other designated persons with authority to negotiate in good faith and reach settlements," with remote appearances permitted only "For good cause and upon written request" by court order under Code of Civil Procedure section 367.75 and California Rules of Court, rule 3.672.

Each person attending a settlement conference shall have a thorough knowledge of the evidence and shall be prepared to discuss the facts and law pertaining to both liability and damages. In a personal injury or wrongful death case, each attorney shall bring to the conference a copy of each medical report that pertains to the case.

The medical report requirement is bring to the conference, not file or lodge, so it is a physical set carried to the hearing. It is the only document-carrying obligation the civil rules attach to any hearing, and it is limited to personal injury and wrongful death cases. It does not reach construction defect or other property damage matters.

Unless otherwise ordered, at least five (5) court days before the pretrial conference, the parties shall serve and file the following:

The umbrella deadline, and it runs from the conference date, not from trial. The seven bulleted items are broken out as separate rows below. The Unless otherwise ordered opener lets the assigned trial judge reset all of it, and the last paragraph of the same rule lets the judge promulgate additional civil jury trial rules. Each party files its own set except the statement of the case, which is joint.

Unless otherwise ordered, at least five (5) court days before the pretrial conference, the parties shall serve and file the following: ... Witness lists;

The ellipsis marks the bulleted structure of the rule. No local form and no prescribed contents, so contents are a judgment call or a question for Department 6.

Unless otherwise ordered, at least five (5) court days before the pretrial conference, the parties shall serve and file the following: ... Exhibit lists;

The ellipsis marks the bulleted structure: the quoted lead-in is followed by a bulleted list and Exhibit lists is the first bullet. Both halves verified verbatim. Separate from this list, Rule 4.10 requires a letter-size copy of any large-sized exhibit to be submitted to the clerk at trial. No local form.

Unless otherwise ordered, at least five (5) court days before the pretrial conference, the parties shall serve and file the following: ... Proposed jury instructions;

The ellipsis marks the bulleted structure of the rule. California Rules of Court, rule 2.1055 governs form and content statewide and the local rule adds nothing. Rule 1.03 provides that where these rules directly conflict with a California Rule of Court, the California Rule prevails.

Unless otherwise ordered, at least five (5) court days before the pretrial conference, the parties shall serve and file the following: ... Proposed special verdicts;

The ellipsis marks the bulleted structure of the rule. Whether the court expects a general verdict form where no special verdict is sought is not addressed.

Unless otherwise ordered, at least five (5) court days before the pretrial conference, the parties shall serve and file the following: ... A joint non-argumentative statement of the case (two (2) paragraphs maximum) to be read to prospective jurors.

The ellipsis marks the bulleted structure of the rule. Three constraints on the face of the rule: joint, non-argumentative, two paragraphs maximum. The rule does not say what happens if the parties cannot agree on the text.

Parties shall file and serve trial preparation motions, opposition and replies, including motions in limine and dispositive motions, not including motions for summary judgment, in accordance with the time limits contained in Code of Civil Procedure Section 1005 so that the motions may be heard on the day of the pretrial conference (Nevada City Branch), or on the law and motion calendar (Truckee Branch), or as the Court may otherwise direct.

This is the earliest hard deadline on the chart and it runs well before the five court day document deadline. The arithmetic is statutory, not local: section 1005(b) is 16 court days before the hearing, extended by 2 court days for electronic service under section 1010.6(a)(3)(B), counted backward under section 12c, holidays off the published Judicial Council calendar. At Nevada City the hearing date is the pretrial conference itself, which Department 6 calendars Friday at 11:00 a.m. At Truckee the hearing is a separately reserved law and motion date, so the anchor there is that reserved date and not the conference. The court's published Department Calendars page puts Truckee Department A civil pretrial conferences on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Mondays at 1:30 p.m. and Truckee civil law and motion on the 2nd and 4th Mondays at 1:30 p.m., so at Truckee the two hearings fall in different weeks by design. The Civil Division page carries a Reserve a Law and Motion Hearing Date link. Motions for summary judgment are carved out and keep their own schedule under section 437c.

All motions in limine shall be contained in one (1) document with consecutively numbered paragraphs for each motion. Separate motions in limine are not to be filed for each motion.

The most distinctive drafting requirement this court publishes, and it runs opposite to the common practice of one motion per document. Two consequences. It is the deliberate exception to this office's one-document-per-file rule: the in limine packet is one file containing every motion, numbered consecutively. And a combined in limine document with exhibits will often clear fifty pages, which triggers the printed courtesy copy requirement in Rule 1.06(A)(8)(iii) and the bookmarking requirement in Rule 1.06(A)(8)(i). The criminal counterpart, Rule 7.11, separately requires numbering of criminal motions in limine, and the two day criminal deadline in Rule 7.06 does not apply to civil cases.

The tentative ruling shall become the final ruling of the court if the Court has not directed oral argument in its tentative ruling and notice of intent to appear has not been given whereby a party desiring to be heard advises all other parties and the court of a request for a hearing. Notification of intent to appear shall be made by contacting the clerk's office by 4:00 p.m. the court day preceding the hearing, and it shall include confirmation that all other parties have been notified of the intent to appear.

Anchored to the hearing date, which the court sets, so court_order is used; offset means by 4:00 p.m. on the court day before that hearing. The first sentence of the subdivision provides: "On the afternoon of the court day before each regularly scheduled law and motion calendar, a tentative ruling will be posted on the court website (www.nevada.courts.ca.gov)." Scope limit, and it matters: Rule 4.03 puts Nevada City in limine motions at the pretrial conference rather than on the law and motion calendar, and the rules do not say whether a tentative issues for those. At Truckee the in limine motions go on the law and motion calendar, so this rule governs there and losing argument on a trial motion by not calling the clerk is a live risk. Subdivision (B) separately provides that the court's research attorney may sit as a temporary judge on law and motion unless a party objects to the clerk by 4:00 p.m. the day before, and failure to object is deemed a stipulation.

Unless otherwise ordered, at least five (5) court days before the pretrial conference, the parties shall serve and file the following: ... Proposed written voir dire, questions for the trial judge;

The ellipsis marks the bulleted structure of the rule. The rule sets no question limit and says nothing about a juror questionnaire. Nothing in Chapter 4 addresses attorney-conducted voir dire or its time limits, which are governed by Code of Civil Procedure section 222.5.

Unless otherwise ordered, at least five (5) court days before the pretrial conference, the parties shall serve and file the following: ... Any stipulations on factual or legal issues; and

The ellipsis marks the bulleted structure of the rule. The court has a general local form, CIV9 Stipulation (revised 07/01/2026, optional), though nothing ties it to trial. Separately, Rule 4.02.1 item 4 requires the settlement conference statement to set out any factual stipulations reached by the parties.

If counsel or a self-represented party utilizes large-sized exhibits at trial, counsel or the self-represented party shall submit an 8 ½ x 11-inch copy of such exhibit to the clerk. At the conclusion of trial, the clerk will return the large-sized exhibit and keep the copy for the record.

The published PDF hyphenates self-represented across a line break; the rule reads self-represented and is quoted that way here. The rules index confirms this rule is civil ("LARGE-SIZED EXHIBITS USED AT TRIAL: CIVIL PROCEDURE"). This is the only civil exhibit-handling rule in the local rules and the closest thing the court publishes to a physical trial exhibit requirement. It matters in a construction defect trial, where site plans, elevation drawings, defect matrices and blow-up photo boards are routine: every board needs a letter-size reduction for the clerk. The rule sets no deadline, so build the reductions with the exhibit set rather than at the courthouse.

Court reporters are not available at the expense of the Court for all civil proceedings and hearings, including trials, unless a party has an appropriate fee waiver on file and the party requested, in writing, the presence of a court reporter at least five (5) court days in advance of the hearing. ... The party requesting a reporter shall provide written notice to the clerkand all other partiesof their request and intent to have a reporter present during any hearing or trialat least five (5) court days before any hearing or trial.

The ellipsis drops one intervening sentence providing that in all other cases reporters may be used but must be obtained by and at the expense of the party requesting one. The run-together clerkand, partiesof and trialat are in the court's own PDF text layer and reproduce identically in all three pdftotext extraction modes, so they are quoted as they appear; read them as clerk and, parties of, and trial at. Subdivision (B) carves out the jury trial case: "An official court reporter shall report any oral determination of a summary judgement motion or civil jury trials in unlimited jurisdiction cases, whether contested or uncontested, at the expense of one or more of the parties." The spelling judgement is the court's. This is a real five court day pre-trial deadline sitting outside Chapter 4, easy to miss when working only from the civil chapter. Chapter 10 is court-wide but this subdivision is expressly civil and probate.

Parties/Counsel who are granted a voluntary remote appearance for a hearing, and who want to submit documents for the hearing, must submit any and all documents, including exhibits, no later than 3:00 p.m. two (2) court days prior to the scheduled court hearing to the clerk's office. Any documents submitted to the court in advance of the court hearing must also be served on the opposing parties so that they will be received two (2) court days prior to the court hearing.

Anchored to the hearing date, which the court sets. This reaches a pretrial conference or an in limine hearing attended remotely, and the cutoff is a clock time, not just a day count. The subdivision closes: "The Court may issue an order requiring any such documents be submitted to the court and provided to opposing parties on a date earlier than what is required herein." Remote appearance in civil is governed by Code of Civil Procedure section 367.75 and California Rules of Court, rule 3.672.

Trial counsel and, except for good cause, backup trial counsel must be specified at the first case management conference. If such trial counsel is not specified or designated trial counsel does not appear, relief from the scheduled trial date may not be obtained based upon the ground that counsel is engaged in trial elsewhere.

Anchored to the case management conference, which is not one of the fixed anchor tokens, so court_order is used. Rule 4.00.8(A) sets the CMC approximately 120 days after the complaint is filed, with the court setting and filing the notice at filing. Subdivision (D) separately requires that "Counsel designated as trial counsel shall personally attend the case management conference" and makes failure to attend or participate effectively sanctionable. A trial-preparation consequence that attaches at the front of the case, which is why it belongs on a trial deadline chart.

Pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Section 631, jury fees shall be paid on or before the date scheduled for the initial case management conference. Failure to timely deposit jury fees results in a statutory waiver of trial by jury.

Anchored to the initial case management conference, so court_order is used. The most severe self-executing consequence in the civil chapter, and it lands months before any trial document is due. Rule 4.00.8(I) sets the case management conference statement at fifteen calendar days before the conference, and Rule 4.00.8(H) requires proofs of service of complaints and cross-complaints to be filed at least fifteen calendar days before it.

Additional rules for civil jury trials may be promulgated by the trial judge from time to time and distributed to the parties at the pre-trial conference or at any other appropriate time.

This is where a trial binder requirement would live if the court has one, and it is why a Nevada County trial-prep answer cannot be closed out on the local rules alone. The rule describes distribution at the pretrial conference, which is paper handed out at a hearing, not a published order. The court's website publishes department calendars and administrative court orders but no civil department trial rules or courtroom procedures. Combine this paragraph with the two other discretion hooks in the same rule, "or as otherwise ordered by the Court" on the conference timing and "Unless otherwise ordered" on the document list, and the department can reset every deadline in Rule 4.03. Practical step: call the Department 6 clerk after the CMC and ask whether Judge Tice-Raskin issues written civil jury trial rules and whether they can be sent in advance.

Any request to continue a mandatory settlement conference, civil trial conference or trial of any civil case must comply with California Rules of Court, Rule 3.1332. A trial conflict may not be deemed good cause for a continuance unless the conflict arose after the trial date was set, and the conflict could not have been reasonably been avoided. Unopposed motions to continue the trial date must include mutually acceptable future trial dates agreed upon by all parties.

Quoted exactly as printed, including the doubled verb in "could not have been reasonably been avoided." Two practical points. The rule adds a local requirement on top of rule 3.1332: even an unopposed continuance motion has to come with agreed replacement dates, so clear dates with every party before filing. And the trial-conflict carve-out is narrower than the statewide rule, so a conflict that existed when the date was set will not carry the motion.

If any counsel, party, person or entity subject to these local rules fails to comply with any part thereof, the Court on motion of a party or on its own motion, may strike out all or any part of any pleading of that party, or dismiss the action or proceeding or any part thereof, or enter a judgment by default against that party, or impose other penalties of a lesser nature as otherwise provided by law, and in conjunction with imposition of these penalties or in addition to them, may order that the offending party, attorney or entity pay reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the court and to other participants.

This is the enforcement rule for everything in Chapter 4, including Rule 4.03. Rule 4.03 carries no sanction of its own, so a late or missing witness list, exhibit list or in limine packet is sanctioned through Rule 4.08 rather than through a trial-specific penalty. Note that the rule reaches attorney fees payable to the court as well as to the other side.

Regardless of the time of electronic submission, a printed courtesy copy (along with proof of electronic submission) is required for submissions where the total pages submitted - including notice, points and authorities, declarations, judicial notice requests, separate statements, exhibits, appendices, table of contents, etc. - exceed fifty (50) pages. The printed courtesy copy shall be provided the same day the electronic copy is submitted.

A page break falls inside this sentence in the published PDF, between is and required; the sentence is otherwise contiguous and both halves verified. A general Chapter 1 filing rule rather than a trial rule, but it is the only paper-delivery obligation the court publishes and the one most likely to bite on a trial filing. A combined motions in limine document with exhibits, or a trial exhibit list in a defect case, routinely clears fifty pages. Same-day delivery means the paper set has to be ready when the eFiling goes out, not the next morning. eFiling has been mandatory since July 1, 2022 under subdivision (A)(1), self-represented parties excepted, and subdivision (A)(2) forbids direct email or fax transmission to the court.

All documents that exceed ten (10) pages and contain multiple exhibits/sections must be bookmarked. Bookmark titles shall match the corresponding section/exhibit. The use of hyperlinks is strongly encouraged.

General Chapter 1 filing rule. It functions as this court's substitute for a tabbed binder: the electronic set has to be navigable by bookmark. Subdivision (A)(8) supplies the format requirement: "EFiled documents must be submitted in PDF (Portable Document Format), text-searchable format, and viewable on any standard PDF Viewer." A combined in limine document with consecutively numbered motions under Rule 4.03 should be bookmarked motion by motion, and an exhibit list filing exhibit by exhibit.

All civil cases of any type (excluding family law matters as defined in Local Rule 5.00) that are filed in, pending in or transferred to the Nevada City Branch, are assigned for all purposes to the judge whose regular assignment is in Department 6.

Included because it identifies whose trial rules will apply under the last paragraph of Rule 4.03. Per the court's Judicial Assignments and Profiles page as of September 2026, Department 6 is Assistant Presiding Judge S. Robert Tice-Raskin, assignment Civil and Probate, at the Nevada City Courthouse, 201 Church Street. Truckee civil runs through Truckee Department A, Judge Yvette Durant, whose listed assignment is Family Law, DCSS, Traffic, Criminal, Civil, Probate, and Juvenile Justice. Subdivision (B) preserves reassignment: "These cases and related proceedings may be reassigned as necessary, or as appropriate to the timely and orderly conduct of the court's business." Because the case is assigned for all purposes, the pretrial conference judge is known from the outset, which makes it practical to ask the department early whether it issues its own civil jury trial rules.