Judge Valerie B. Fairbank -- United States District Court, Central District of California

Not specified.

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Key Traps — Where Counsel Gets Caught

1. DO NOT notice a hearing date on civil motions — file the motion without a date; the court decides whether oral argument is needed after full briefing
2. Proposed orders must be emailed to vbf_chambers@cacd.uscourts.gov in Word/WordPerfect AND with the underlying application in PDF — both formats
3. Chambers email is for proposed orders ONLY — do not use it to communicate with the court or clerk; do not send under-seal filings to it
4. In magistrate-referred cases, do NOT deliver courtesy paper copies to Fairbank — deliver only to the Magistrate Judge's chambers
5. Ex parte opposition deadline: 24 hours after service, OR 48 hours if the opposing party has not previously appeared — the 48-hour extension is judge-specific

Quick Reference

Topic	Rule
Motion Days	Law and Motion Schedule (Civil): 'A party filing a motion in a civil case should not notice a hearing date. Once a motion has been fully briefed, the Court will determine whether oral argument is necessary.' [fairbank-valerie \| motion_hearing_days]
Chambers Copies	Conditional Mandatory Chambers Copies: 'All chambers copies must be delivered to the courtesy copy bins adjacent to the United States District Court... [fairbank-valerie \| chambers_copies_details]
Discovery	Silent on discovery referral. [fairbank-valerie \| discovery_referral]

Procedural Briefing by Motion Type

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Before You File

Motion Days & Times

Law and Motion Schedule (Civil): 'A party filing a motion in a civil case should not notice a hearing date. Once a motion has been fully briefed, the Court will determine whether oral argument is necessary.' [fairbank-valerie | motion_hearing_days]

Notice Period

Silent on motion notice days. [fairbank-valerie | motion_notice_days]

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At Filing

Chambers Copies

Conditional Mandatory Chambers Copies: 'All chambers copies must be delivered to the courtesy copy bins adjacent to the United States District Court Customer Service window, located on the fourth floor, Room 4300, of the U.S. Courthouse, 350 West First Street, Los Angeles, California 90012.' Important Notice: In cases referred to a Magistrate Judge, do not provide courtesy paper copies to Judge Fairbank; provide them only to the Magistrate Judge's chambers. [fairbank-valerie | chambers_copies_details]

Proposed Orders

Electronic Filing: 'All proposed signature items, including applications and stipulations to extend time, shall be accompanied by a proposed order. After the application/stipulation and proposed order have been filed electronically, counsel shall email the PDF version of the application/stipulation and a WordPerfect or Microsoft Word version of the proposed order to chambers at vbf_chambers@cacd.uscourts.gov.' [fairbank-valerie | proposed_orders]

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Before the Hearing

Oral Argument

Law and Motion Schedule (Civil): 'Once a motion has been fully briefed, the Court will determine whether oral argument is necessary.' Ex parte applications 'are normally considered on the papers and are rarely set for hearing. If a hearing is necessary, the parties will be notified.' [fairbank-valerie | oral_argument_default]

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Background Rules

Chambers Contact

Electronic Filing: 'DO NOT use this email address [vbf_chambers@cacd.uscourts.gov] for communication with the Court or the clerk.' The chambers email is limited to submitting proposed orders (Word/WordPerfect versions accompanying e-filed applications/stipulations). Under seal filings must not be sent to the chambers email. [fairbank-valerie | chambers_contact_restrictions]

Discovery Referral

Silent on discovery referral. [fairbank-valerie | discovery_referral]

Discovery Motion Process

Silent on discovery motion process. [fairbank-valerie | discovery_motion_process]

Ex Parte Applications

General Information: 'Ex parte applications are for extraordinary relief. See Mission Power Engineering Co. v. Continental Casualty Co., 883 F. Supp. 488 (C.D. Cal. 1995).' Applications are normally considered on the papers and are rarely set for hearing. Applications that fail to conform to L.R. 7-19 and L.R. 7-19.1 will not be considered except on a specific showing of good cause. Moving party shall notify the opposition that opposing papers must be filed no later than 24 hours following service, except in cases where the opposing party has not previously appeared — in which case 48 hours. Parties need not deliver paper courtesy copies of filings related to ex parte applications. [fairbank-valerie | ex_parte_notice]

Under Seal Filings

Law and Motion Schedule (Civil): 'The party seeking to seal documents must file a proper application with the Court, in which the applicant must demonstrate for each document or category of documents sufficient grounds to warrant placing the documents under seal. See L.R. 79-5... For sealing dispositive motions, see Kamakana v. City & County of Honolulu, 447 F.3d 1172 (9th Cir. 2006) (compelling reasons standard).' Electronic Filing: 'For UNDER SEAL FILINGS, process documents the traditional way, but attach a Notice of Manual Filing... DO NOT send these documents to the chamber's email.' [fairbank-valerie | under_seal_requirements]

Sources & Currency

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