San Joaquin County trial binder and trial document requirements

Each trial attorney or attorney familiar with the case and self-represented party must attend, at which time the assigned judge will set any final deadlines for completion of discovery. A trial date shall be assigned with a mandatory settlement conference being set 15 to 30 days prior to trial. Settlement conferences will be governed by Rule 3-104.

Token -15_to_30_days means the MSC lands somewhere in the window 15 to 30 days before trial, with the exact date picked by the assigned judge. Rule 3-102 is headed NOT APPLICABLE TO LIMITED CIVIL CASES, confirmed at printed page 34, so this is an unlimited civil rule. Rule 3-101 separately states THESE RULES APPLY TO ALL CIVIL CASES (LIMITED AND UNLIMITED. EXCLUDING PROBATE) UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. The discovery cutoffs are judge set at the same hearing and are not published as a rule. This is the only pretrial conference in Rule 3 Civil that anchors any trial document deadline.

Each party must file with the court and serve all other parties with a Settlement Conference Statement at least ten (10) calendar days prior to the hearing. In addition to the items required by California Rules of Court, Rule 3.1380(c), the Settlement Conference Statement shall contain a concise summary of the case, a description of the matters agreed upon and the matters in dispute, and the factual and legal contentions as to the matters in dispute.

The rule says calendar days on its face. The personal injury sentence in the same section reads: "In a personal injury action, the statements shall set forth the medical condition of the party(s), medical treatment received and by whom, a listing of the medical bills, the amount of the general damages claimed and supporting documentation, offers and counter offers of settlement and all other information which will assist the court in settling the case." This is the closest thing San Joaquin publishes to a statement of the case requirement, and it is keyed to the MSC, not to trial.

All discovery should be completed prior to the hearing. If there is a dispute which requires an accounting, the accounting should be completed. If there is a material dispute as to the value of property, appraisals must be completed. If there is a substantial dispute as to medical condition of a party, all medical examinations should be completed.

No numeric offset. The rule says prior to the hearing. Note the mixed register: discovery and medical examinations "should be" completed, appraisals "must be" completed. The judge set discovery cutoff under Rule 3-102(I)(2) is the enforceable date.

In a personal injury case, copies of medical reports, copies of medical bills, and if loss of earnings are claimed, documentation therefore is to be brought to the conference. If economists are to be used to support loss of earnings, a copy of the economists' reports and all other material necessary to substantiate general and specific damages will be required. In other cases, copies of accountings, appraisals and other documentation will be required.

This is the only place in Rule 3 Civil describing a package of documents physically carried into a courtroom. It is not a trial binder: nothing is tabbed, indexed, copied in a set number, or lodged. It attaches to the MSC, not to trial. "documentation therefore" is the rule's own wording.

Each party claiming damages shall furnish to all other parties at least ten (10) days before the settlement conference, the amount of general damages claimed, an itemized list of special damages and medical billings, and in a personal injury or wrongful death case, a settlement offering.

Party to party exchange, not a court filing. Runs in parallel with the Settlement Conference Statement filed under Section 1 on the same 10 day clock. "a settlement offering" is the rule's own wording.

The trial attorneys shall attend the conference. If this is not possible, the attorney attending the conference shall have a thorough knowledge of the case and shall be prepared to have the authority to negotiate settlement. All parties, and when a party is insured, a representative of the insurance company who has authority to settle a case, shall attend the conference. The court may excuse the attendance of a party or insurance company representative for good cause, such as excessive distance, if the person excused agrees to be immediately available by telephone at all times during the conference.

The court's Civil Department page states it more tightly and I confirmed the sentence verbatim there: "Mandatory settlement conferences: trial counsel, parties, and persons with full authority to settle must personally attend unless excused by the judge for good cause." Rule 3-103(D) separately requires in person appearance at settlement conferences absent express written authorization to appear remotely.

Supply opposing counsel with copies of all medical reports and your itemization of special damages to date and future special damages at least ten (10) days before settlement conference.

Sits inside the Settlement Conference Checklist. Section 4(c) frames the checklist as items each attorney "shall have read, considered, and be ready to respond to," so the directive register of the checklist items is real but softer than the Section 1 filing duty. It overlaps Section 4(a) and carries its own 10 day clock.

Give opposing counsel, in writing, your settlement figure at least ten (10) days before settlement conference.

Note the writing requirement, which Section 4(a) does not carry. Section 5(c)(12) separately asks whether counsel discussed the settlement figure with the client within one week of the conference, which is a de facto one week client contact expectation.

Courtesy copies are required for all substantive motions, all trial documents, and additionally on a case-by-case basis per the assigned judge's request. Such courtesy copies shall be stamped with "Courtesy Copy" and shall be delivered directly to the Courtesy Copy Drop Box on the 10th floor or 11th floor.

This is the only local rule in San Joaquin that uses the phrase "trial documents," and it never defines it or lists what they are. It sets no deadline of its own, so the courtesy copy rides with the filing. It does not say how many copies beyond one. It is the closest thing the county has to a trial binder rule and it is not one. The rule text continues: "If the box is unavailable, please follow the instructions on the notice posted on the box." The rule has no subdivisions; the heading prints Eff. 01/01/21 and the revision note at the end prints Rev. 1/1/2022.

Courtesy copies: Local Rule 3-117 requires courtesy copies for all substantive motions and trial documents, and may be required on a case-by-case basis by the judge. Deliver courtesy copies to the drop box on the 1st floor. Failure to provide courtesy copies may result in continuances, monetary sanctions, or other sanctions permitted by law. CCP sections 128 and 575.1.

I refetched and confirmed this passage verbatim. Direct conflict with Rule 3-117 on where the box is. The web page is the later maintained source; the rule text still says 10th or 11th floor. Call the department before hand delivering. The page also supplies the consequence the rule omits, citing CCP 128 and 575.1. Not a numbered rule, so treat it as court published guidance rather than authority a judge is bound to.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO PROVIDE A COPY OF THE COMPLETED RECORD OF EXIBITS TO THE COURTROOM CLERK VIA CD OR FLASH DRIVE. THIS WILL ALLOW THE CLERK TO UPDATE THE LIST AS NEEDED DURING THE TRIAL.

Typo "EXIBITS" is in the original. The instructions set no deadline at all, only a delivery method and a recipient. The Exhibit List web page states it slightly differently and I confirmed that sentence verbatim too: "The completed Record of Exhibits must be saved as a Microsoft Word document (or compatible format) on a flash drive and provided to the courtroom clerk." The template file is RECORD_OF_EXHIBITS_2016.docx. Neither document is referenced anywhere in the local rules, and the instructions print no revision date.

Exhibit Number - Must be identified by a letter according to the parties submitting the exhibits in the case followed by the number of the exhibit. The range of numbers for the exhibits will be pre-determined by the court in the Trial Management Orders. For example 01-300 for the Plaintiff and 301-600 for the Defendant. Plaintiff's first exhibit would be marked P01. Defendant's first would be marked D301.

This sentence is the hinge of the San Joaquin answer. It confirms the assigned department issues a Trial Management Order carrying operative trial document specifics, and it is the only reference to such an order in the seven court pages and documents reviewed. The court publishes no template, sample or department version, so what else those orders contain is unverified. CONFLICT, and the draft this corrects got it backwards: the local rules themselves set a different convention, plaintiff exhibits marked consecutively with NUMBERS and defendant exhibits marked consecutively with LETTERS. See the next row. Follow the Trial Management Order in the case and confirm with the courtroom clerk.

Exhibits submitted by plaintiff, petitioner or the People should be marked consecutively with numbers. Exhibits submitted by defendant or respondent should be marked consecutively with letters.

CITATION CAVEAT, read it before relying on the number. This section prints no rule number of its own in the published PDF, appears in neither the table of contents nor the back index, and its subdivisions restart at (A) after Rule 1-110 has already run (A) through (E). By page span the table of contents puts it inside Rule 1-110, whose entry covers pages 19 through 22, but the restarted lettering says otherwise. Cite it by location, not by a number the court did not print. It is in Rule 1 General, which Rule 1-100(B) makes applicable in all judicial districts, and subd. (E) of the same section expressly addresses exhibits used in a civil action, so it reaches civil. DIRECT CONFLICT with the Record of Exhibits Instructions, which use P01 and D301 for both sides. The rule says "should," the instructions say "must." Neither source acknowledges the other. Get the Trial Management Order.

All exhibits must be individually tagged with the proper exhibit tag. Each exhibit tag must be properly completed and security attached to the exhibit. Any exhibit improperly tagged will not be accepted by the court. Original photographs or 8 1/2 x 11-inch copies shall be substituted for any photographically enlarged or oversized exhibits.

Same citation caveat as the row above. "security attached" is a typo in the original for "securely attached." This is the only published San Joaquin requirement about the physical form of a trial exhibit, and it is the answer to the oversized demonstrative question: the blowup does not come in, an original photograph or a letter size copy does. Rule 1-110(D) states the tagging duty again in slightly wider terms: "All exhibits must be individually tagged with the proper exhibit tag, properly completed and securely attached to the exhibit. Any exhibit improperly tagged, marked, weighed, or identified will not be accepted by the court." No deadline is stated in either place.

All trial attorneys or attorneys familiar with the case and self-represented parties shall attend trial setting conference, unless a Declaration in Lieu of Personal Appearance has been filed. Said declaration must be filed with the Court Clerk's Office at least ten (10) days prior to the trial setting conference.

The anchor is the trial setting conference date, which the assigned judge orders at the case management conference under Rule 3-102(F)(4)(e) and sets under Rule 3-102(I)(1). The anchor vocabulary has no token for a trial setting conference, so court_order stands in. The rule does not say court days, so read 10 calendar days. This row matters to a trial binder tab only because the trial setting conference is the hearing where the MSC date and the discovery cutoffs get fixed.

Permission from the judge assigned to the hearing or trial must be obtained before a party may bring dangerous, large or bulky exhibits into the courthouse. If possible, the party should substitute a photograph, technical report, or dummy object for proposed exhibits which are either:

Rule 1 is the General division. Rule 1-100(B) provides that "Unless otherwise provided in these rules, all rules set forth herein are applicable in all judicial districts in this county," and nothing limits 1-110 to criminal, so it reaches civil. The written application sentence sits at the end of subdivision (A)(2): "If a party believes the exhibit should be brought into the courtroom without substitution, an application for permission must be made in writing and describe the materials to be brought into the courtroom and the reason a substitution should not be made." No lead time is stated. Subdivision (A)(1) lists ten categories of inherently dangerous items and (A)(2) covers large and cumbersome items such as a ladder, sewer pipe or automobile chassis. Subdivision (C) lists eight sealing and packaging conditions the clerk or exhibits custodian enforces before accepting an exhibit.

Documents containing exhibits must be bookmarked. An electronic bookmark must be created for each exhibit, and between each exhibit a slip sheet must be inserted containing identification of the following exhibit. For example, a page where the words printed are "Exhibit A" or Exhibit B" or other appropriate identification.

Rule 6's preamble says it "shall apply to all eFiling regardless of the division and/or department, unless this court's local rules provide otherwise," so it reaches civil. It is a general e-filing rule and says nothing about trial exhibits specifically, but it is the only indexing requirement the county publishes and the closest analogue to an indexed and tabbed set. Section 3(A): "All electronic filed documents must be in electronic text searchable PDF format. There is not a limit on the number of pages a document can contain, unless prohibited by another rule." Note the third exhibit labeling convention in play: Rule 6 uses "Exhibit A" as its example, the Rule 1 EXHIBITS section uses numbers for plaintiff and letters for defendant, and the Record of Exhibits Instructions use P01 and D301. The missing opening quotation mark before Exhibit B is in the original.

For Evidentiary Hearings, Settlement Conferences, Bench or Court Trials, Jury Trials, and hearings on Orders to Show Cause, parties must appear in person, unless the party or attorney requests and receives express written authorization to appear remotely by the judicial officer.

ANCHOR CAUTION, corrected from the draft, which anchored this to the trial date alone. The 10 court day clock runs from whichever proceeding on the list you want to attend remotely, not from trial. For the mandatory settlement conference the clock runs from the MSC date, which in San Joaquin sits 15 to 30 days before trial, so a request keyed to the trial date will be computed against the wrong event. Subdivision (D)(a) carries the deadline verbatim: "A party may request to appear remotely by filing and serving a Notice of Remote Appearance Form RA-010 with the Court no later than10 court days before the Evidentiary Hearing, Settlement Conference, Bench or Court Trial, Jury Trial, or Order to Show Cause." The missing space in "than10" is in the original. Subdivision (D)(b) sets opposition on form RA-015 "no later than 2 court days from date of service of a party's notice of remote appearance," and (D)(c) requires a courtesy copy of any notice or opposition to the department. SECOND CONFLICT: the Civil Department page states the same 10 court day deadline but adds that the party also submits Order Regarding Remote Appearance form RA-020, and gives the opposition deadline as "no later than 5 court days before the proceeding" rather than 2 court days from service. I confirmed both readings verbatim in their own sources.

Any party seeking a change of hearing date set under this section must file a written application containing a showing of good cause together with a proposed order five (5) court days in advance of the hearing.

"This section" is Rule 3-102, ADMINISTRATION OF GENERAL CIVIL LITIGATION, which is where the case management conference (subd. F), the trial setting conference (subd. I) and the mandatory settlement conference (subd. I(2)) are all set. Reading the MSC into it is an inference from the rule's own structure rather than an express statement, but it is the natural reading and no other continuance rule covers the MSC. Rule 3-102(B)(4): "All stipulations for request to continue any proceeding shall be signed by all attorneys involved in the case."