Hon. Steven D. Grimberg

My Courtroom Deputy Clerk (CRD) is Danielle Brye, and she will be your principal point of contact with my Chambers, although one of my law clerks may also contact you from time to time. These communications will generally be oriented around scheduling or logistics. Please do not discuss the merits of the case through these informal communications unless authorized by this Standing Order or as otherwise directed. Please also note that we may file on the docket any written communication submitted to Chambers. Email is our much-favored form of communication. It avoids ex parte communications (because you should always copy co- and opposing counsel on your emails) and helps us internally route the communication to the right person(s). CRD Brye's email address is: Danielle_Brye@gand.uscourts.gov. Please always include the style of the case and case number in the subject line of your email, and if you are referring to a motion or other docket entry, please reference the title of that item and ECF number. Although disfavored, if necessary, you may contact Chambers by telephone (404-215-1470), or by mail or hand delivery to the following address: The Honorable Steven D. Grimberg ATTN: Courtroom Deputy Danielle Brye 1701 United States Courthouse 75 Ted Turner Drive, S.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30303

If you are seeking an enlargement of the page limit on a brief or objections to a Report and Recommendation, you must file a motion requesting same at least two business days in advance of the filing deadline explaining the circumstances necessitating additional pages. Your motion should indicate whether the opposing party consents to the request for additional pages, and if so, whether a corresponding request for additional pages is being made for subsequent response and/or reply briefs. Please follow the time-sensitive motion process in Section I.a. of this Standing Order if your brief or objections are due in less than two business days. If you file a motion to enlarge the page limit simultaneously with the enlarged brief or objections, or worse, never seek leave to do so at all, your brief or objections may be stricken without notice.

No formal requirement. AI use is acknowledged; counsel are responsible for the accuracy of all AI-assisted filings. Grimberg -- ai_disclosure_requirement ↗

Courtesy copies of filings should not be provided to the Court unless requested.

My practice is to enter many non-dispositive orders by docket entry only, with no "paper" order attached. The text of these docket entry orders will generally begin with: "ORDER (by docket entry only) . . . ." Please monitor the electronic docket of your case carefully so as not to miss an important deadline or instruction. For this reason, you generally need not prepare and file a proposed order unless we request one. One exception to this is motions seeking ex parte temporary restraining orders (as referenced above). If a proposed order is submitted, please do not include the word "Proposed" in the title or any other words that would necessarily need to be deleted before entry. All orders submitted by counsel are proposed until and unless we've entered them. In other words, please prepare the proposed order exactly as you would want it entered, save for my signature on it. Please style the signature line as follows: ________________________________ Steven D. Grimberg United States District Judge Please email Chambers a Word version of your proposed orders.

Absent extraordinary circumstances making prior consultation impractical or inappropriate, the party seeking to file documents containing confidential information should first consult with the party who designated the document as confidential to determine if some less restrictive measure than filing the document under seal may provide adequate protection. Any motion to file under seal should indicate whether it is by consent, unopposed, or opposed. In the absence of a protective order entered by the Court, to request to file material under seal, counsel should follow the procedures described in the Local Rules and consult the Court's Procedures for Electronic Filing Under Seal in Civil Cases, which can be found at: www.gand.uscourts.gov/cv-sealed-procedures. These procedures require filing an unredacted version of the document as provisionally under seal and publicly filing a redacted version of the document, in addition to the motion to file under seal. Counsel are encouraged to email the unredacted version of all sealed filings to Chambers simultaneously with their filing. When filing the unredacted, provisionally sealed document, counsel should use the CM/ECF event code "Notice of Filing." The Notice of Filing should be the lead document, and the brief and all supporting documents should be included as exhibits to the notice. For example, if the party is requesting that Exhibit A to a Motion for Summary Judgment and a portion of the memorandum of law in support of the motion be filed under seal, the Notice of Filing Sealed Document should attach as exhibits: the motion for summary judgment, the unredacted supporting memorandum of law, Exhibit A, and all other exhibits to the motion. If you are filing documents under seal pursuant to a protective order that has been entered by the Court, no motion to file under seal is necessary. The Notice of Filing should indicate the applicable provision of the protective order under which the documents are being sealed. You also need not file a motion to file under seal information that is required to be redacted by NDGa Standing Order Nos. 04-02 and 08-02, including Social Security numbers, names of minor children, dates of birth, street addresses, and financial account numbers. These instructions do not apply to parties appearing pro se. For pro se litigants, motions to seal must be filed with the Clerk of Court in person or by mail. In such instances, the material subject to the request to seal should be attached as an exhibit to the motion. The Clerk will enter the motion on the docket under a provisional seal, without public viewing access. The party filing the motion to file under seal should clearly indicate the type of material the party is seeking to seal and the justification for protecting that material from disclosure. Please note that sealing motions will not be granted as a matter of course, and I will only do so on a showing of good cause. Given the public's interest in disclosure, good cause will generally only be established where the materials contain trade secrets, personal identifying information, or sensitive commercial information.

We review all dispositive motions with an eye towards whether oral argument would be helpful in resolving the matter or clarifying the issues in dispute. That said, you are welcome to request oral argument by filing a standalone motion requesting same, ideally at the same time as the underlying motion or response thereto. In my experience, civil litigators do not get enough court appearances, especially early in their careers, and I want to do my part to correct that gap. If you represent in your motion for oral argument that an attorney with less than five years of experience will conduct the oral argument (or a substantial part thereof), I will most likely grant the motion for oral argument.

Notwithstanding Local Rule 16.1, parties by agreement may conduct their Rule 26(f) Conference by videoconference rather than in person. Parties by agreement may also extend the date by which the Rule 26(f) Conference is completed.

You must confer with the opposing party in good faith before bringing discovery disputes to my attention. The duty to confer is not satisfied by simply sending a written document (e.g., email or letter) to the opposing party, unless repeated attempts to confer by telephone, videoconference, or in person are unsuccessful. As noted previously, repeated instances of non-responsiveness are a valid ground to seek sanctions. The filing of discovery-related motions against a party to the litigation (except for unopposed, consent, or joint motions) is prohibited. This prohibition includes motions for discovery-related sanctions. Instead, please email Chambers a statement outlining your position and request a conference with the Court. All parties must be copied on such emails. Unless the issues are complex or numerous, the statement should not exceed 3 pages, as its purpose is simply to apprise me of the issue(s). It is not intended as a substitute for full briefing. You may attach to your email particularly pertinent exhibits if you wish (such as an excerpt of the discovery requests and the responses or objections in dispute), but please do not inundate us with voluminous exhibits. Again, the purpose of the written statement is simply to flag the issues and determine whether a conference or formal briefing is necessary. The opposing party may email a responding statement, subject to the same limitations, no later than 24 hours before a scheduled conference on the matter or as I otherwise direct. Following receipt of a discovery-dispute statement, we will either provide further instructions via email or docket entry, or we will schedule a conference (generally by Zoom). During the conference, I will try to resolve or rule on the dispute without the necessity of formal briefing, if practicable. The conference will be transcribed by a court reporter like any other hearing.