Hon. Victoria M. Calvert

Velma Shanks, our Courtroom Deputy Clerk, is your principal point of contact on matters related to this case. Where possible, communications with Ms. Shanks should be via email (Velma_Shanks@gand.uscourts.gov). Her telephone number is 404-215-1394. Please note that Ms. Shanks is often in the courtroom, so telephone messages may not be returned for 24 hours. Any mail, couriered, or hand-delivered communications should be addressed as follows: Velma Shanks Courtroom Deputy Clerk 2125 United States Courthouse 75 Ted Turner Drive, SW Atlanta, GA 30303-3309 If necessary, counsel or parties may also contact Chambers by telephone (404-215-1390). Neither the parties nor their counsel should discuss the merits of the case with Ms. Shanks or any of the Court's law clerks.

Parties seeking an extension of the page limit must file such a motion at least three (3) days in advance of the filing deadline and must explain the circumstances necessitating additional pages. Parties should indicate whether the opposing party consents to the request for additional pages. A proposed order should be filed along with the motion via CM/ECF. If a party files a motion to extend the page limit at the same time its brief is due, the extension request will be denied absent a compelling and unanticipated reason.

Surreplies may not be filed without leave of court, and should only be filed in the event matters are raised for the first time in the reply brief. A surreply may not exceed 5 pages in length without leave of court. A motion for leave to file a surreply must be filed within seven days of the filing of the reply brief and must be no more than 5 pages. A copy of the proposed surreply must be attached to the motion as an ECF attachment. A response to the motion for leave to file the surreply is strongly discouraged and may not exceed 3 pages. No reply in support of a motion for leave to file surreply is permitted.

Notwithstanding Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 8013(a)(3)(A) & (B), the fourteen-day response and reply periods of Local Rule 7.1(B) and (C), NDGa, apply to responses and replies to motions filed in a bankruptcy appeal. [Note: For general civil motions, SO is silent on timing departures from LR 7.1, NDGa.]

In accordance with Local Rule 7.1(E), motions are usually decided without oral argument, but the Court will consider any request for hearing. If oral argument is requested, the party or parties should specify the particular reasons argument may be helpful to the Court and what issues will be the focus of the proposed argument.

Parties frequently forward copies of motions or other filings directly to chambers for the Court's convenience. Courtesy copies are not required but are encouraged for motions for summary judgment or motions with voluminous (i.e., more than 100 pages) exhibits. Courtesy paper copies of motions for summary judgments, including all exhibits, or motions with voluminous exhibits, may be either hand-delivered to chambers in Room 2125 or submitted via regular mail to attention of the Ms. Shanks at the address provided above. Courtesy copies of motions and exhibits should be printed double-sided directly from the docket on the CM/ECF system with the docket header across the top of the document so that the case number, docket number, and page numbers appear on each page. Courtesy copies should be assembled in a tabbed, indexed three-ring binder.

A proposed order should be filed along with the motion via CM/ECF. If such a motion is filed less than three days prior to the deadline the parties seek to extend, the parties should promptly alert Chambers to the filing via email to Ms. Shanks.

The Court eschews the excess use of consent protective confidentiality orders that allow counsel to designate documents, tangible things, and information as "Confidential" and/or "Confidential--For Attorney's Eyes Only." While the Court recognizes the legitimacy of such orders in some cases, the Court's experience is that such orders are used--and abused--more often than truly necessary. The Court is aware that the parties will at times agree to designate documents as "confidential." However, the Court will not approve consent protective orders that conflict with the Court's view on the sealing of materials. As a guide to counsel, the Court notes that documents, tangible things, and information ordinarily are not truly confidential unless they constitute either (1) a "trade secret," as defined by Section 1(4) of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, or for cases applying Georgia law, O.C.G.A. § 10-1-761(4); (2) personal identifying information, such as a Social Security number; or (3) personal health information protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. "It is the general policy of this Court not to allow the filing of documents under seal without a Court order, even if all parties consent to the filing under seal." LR App H, Section II(J), NDGa. To request to file material under seal, in addition to the following procedures, the Parties should follow the mechanism described in Section II(J) of Appendix H to the Court's Local Civil Rules. If a document contains some discrete material that is deemed confidential and subject to protection from public disclosure under Rule 26(c), the Parties will be entitled to redact only those portions of the document deemed confidential. Parties shall publicly file redacted copies of the documents as a separate filing contemporaneously with the motion to seal without awaiting the Court's ruling on the motion to seal. Motions to seal which simply reference a confidentiality agreement or protective order but do not attempt to satisfy the Rule 26(c) good cause standard (or purport to do so in a conclusory way) will be denied.

In accordance with Local Rule 7.1(E), motions are usually decided without oral argument, but the Court will consider any request for hearing. If oral argument is requested, the party or parties should specify the particular reasons argument may be helpful to the Court and what issues will be the focus of the proposed argument. The Court will strongly consider granting oral argument in any case where a lawyer with less than seven (7) years of experience will be chiefly responsible for oral argument, or for a discrete issue of oral argument.

Judge Calvert typically holds scheduling and discovery conferences by telephone and all other hearings and oral arguments in person. Requests to appear by video must be made in advance of the hearing or argument and are not routinely granted.

Parties are required to confer in good faith before bringing discovery disputes to the attention of the Court. The duty to confer is not satisfied by sending a written document (e.g., email or letter) to the opposing party, unless repeated attempts to confer by telephone, video, or in person are unsuccessful. The filing of discovery-related motions (except for unopposed, consent, or joint motions to extend the discovery period) is prohibited unless permission is given by the Court after following the procedure outlined below. This prohibition includes motions for discovery-related sanctions. Instead, the party seeking Court intervention must email Ms. Shanks and attach a statement outlining its position and requesting a conference with the Court. All parties must be copied on such emails. The statement shall not exceed 500 words regardless of the number of issues presented. The party initiating the request for a discovery conference should attach, as an exhibit to its statement, an excerpt of the relevant discovery request and any responses and objections that are the subject of the dispute. The opposing party or parties may provide a responding statement to the Court that does not exceed 500 words; Ms. Shanks will typically email a deadline for a response that is usually 2-3 business days out. In the discretion of the Court, statements submitted by the parties may be filed on the docket. If the matter is time-sensitive, the movant should make that clear in the email to Ms. Shanks. After receipt of the parties' submissions, Chambers will either schedule a conference call or issue an order resolving the dispute. The conference will be recorded by a court reporter.