All local rules for N.D. Ill., integrated with this judge's published requirements.
Important Information The Court expects counsel to read and comply with all of its case management procedures.
Neither a motion nor brief in support of or in opposition to any motion nor objections to a report and recommendation or order of a magistrate judge or special master, shall exceed 15 pages without prior approval of the court. Local Rule 7.1 ↗
Neither a motion nor brief in support of or in opposition to any motion nor objections to a report and recommendation or order of a magistrate judge or special master, shall exceed 15 pages without prior approval of the court. Local Rule 7.1 ↗
Neither a motion nor brief in support of or in opposition to any motion nor objections to a report and recommendation or order of a magistrate judge or special master, shall exceed 15 pages without prior approval of the court. Local Rule 7.1 ↗
(b) A judge may require a motion or an objection to a magistrate judge’s order to be accompanied by a notice of presentment specifying the date and time on which, and judge before whom, the motion or objection is to be presented. The date of presentment shall be not more than 14 days following the date on which the motion or objection is delivered to the court pursuant to LR 78.1. Local Rule 5.3(b) ↗
Except where a judge fixes a different time in accordance with this rule, the original of any motion shall be filed by 4:30 p.m. of the second business day preceding the date of presentment. A judge may fix a time for delivery longer than that provided by this rule, or elect to hear motions less frequently than daily, or both. Local Rule 78.1 ↗
The court may set a briefing schedule. Oral argument may be allowed in the court’s discretion. Local Rule 78.3 ↗
Any judge wishing to refer a matter in a civil case pending on that judge’s calendar to a magistrate judge may do so following procedures approved by the Executive Committee. Local Rule 72.1 ↗
Discovery Motions The Court believes that parties can and should work out most discovery disputes. The Court expects the parties to make a genuine, good-faith effort to resolve disagreements before filing a discovery motion. The Court will not hear or consider any discovery motion or non-dispositive dispute unless the movant has complied with the “meet and confer” requirement of Local Rule 37.2. The motion must state with specificity when and how the movant compiled with Local Rule 37.2. Compliance with the Local Rules requires a good faith effort to resolve discovery disputes, including communications that take place in person or by phone. The exchange of emails or letters will not normally be sufficient to comply with the Local Rules. Motions that do not comply with the Local Rules may be stricken. If a party requests a meet and confer, the other party must respond promptly and participate in a meet and confer in a reasonable time. There is no pocket veto when it comes to having a meet and confer. If an impasse arises about the recovery of electronically stored information, no discovery motion may be filed unless the parties first meet and confer to determine whether the requested material can be retrieved and, if so, the most effective way of doing so. Such a conference must take place in person or by phone, and must be attended by an IT representative of the party (or, for a putative class, an IT representative of plaintiffs’ counsel) that served the request and an IT representative of the party that received the request. All parties should be fully prepared to argue any discovery motion on the date that it is presented. The Court may rule on discovery motions after hearing argument at the motion call and without briefing. If the non-moving party believes that it is important to file a written response to the motion, the non-moving party should request that opportunity at the outset of the hearing. If, after hearing argument, the Court believes that the motion requires briefing, the Court will set an expedited briefing schedule so that the matter can be resolved quickly. Parties must immediately notify the Court if they are withdrawing any previously filed discovery motions. Motions to Dismiss The pendency of a motion, such as a motion to dismiss, does not operate as a stay of discovery. Sequence of Discovery Parties are reminded that there is no “order” in which discovery must occur. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(d)(3). One party’s failure or inability to respond to discovery will not excuse any other party’s non-compliance. Boilerplate Instructions and Definitions Boilerplate “instructions” and “definitions” shall not be used in interrogatories, document requests, and requests to admit. For example, absent special circumstances, there is no need to define the term “document.” Such instructions and definitions rarely accomplish anything useful, and they merely add unnecessarily to the cost of litigation. Boilerplate instructions and definitions need not be considered in responding to discovery. A requesting party can define terms of art or other phraseology that has special meaning based on the unique facts of the case. Otherwise, the parties should use plain English, and should assume that requests mean what the words mean in common usage and in light of the context of the case. If there is genuine uncertainty, the parties should clarify the meaning during a meet and confer. Boilerplate Objections Objections to written discovery must state with specificity the grounds for objecting. See, e.g., Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(b)(4) (“The grounds for objecting to an interrogatory must be stated with specificity.”); Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(b)(2)(B) (“For each item or category, the response must . . . state with specificity the grounds for objecting to the request, including the reasons.”). That is, the objecting party must offer a particularized reason, tailored to each request. Boilerplate objections are inadequate, and count for nothing. For example, a generic assertion that a discovery request is “overbroad” or “unduly burdensome” – without an accompanying explanation – is the same as not objecting at all. Evasive Discovery Responses The Court expects parties to respond to discovery requests in a straightforward manner, without evasiveness. The Court reminds the parties that, under the Federal Rules, an “evasive or incomplete disclosure, answer, or response must be treated as a failure to disclose, answer, or respond.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(4). Civility The Court will take note if a party is repeatedly inflexible or uncourteous when it comes to extensions, return dates, scheduling matters, and so on. For example, be reasonable when the due date is near the holidays. Show respect to opposing counsel and to the other party.
Emergency Motions Emergency motions must be “of such a nature that the delay” in hearing them “would cause serious and irreparable harm to one or more parties.” Local Rule 77.2 (emphasis added). Requests to set a hearing on an emergency motion shall be made to the Courtroom Deputy, Jessica J Ramos, with as much advance notice as possible. Unless the motion seeks an ex parte temporary restraining order under Rule 65(b)(1), parties must make all reasonable efforts to give actual notice to opposing counsel. Source ↗
Courtesy Copies This Court does not require courtesy copies for run-of-the-mill filings. Save yourself the trouble and the expense. If this Court wants a courtesy copy, the Courtroom Deputy will reach out. Source ↗
Initial Status Conferences and Joint Initial Status Reports The Court will set all newly-filed cases for an initial status hearing approximately 75 days after the filing of the complaint. The initial status hearing will be the scheduling conference as required by Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b); see also Local Rule 16.1 (“the initial status hearing shall be the scheduling conference referred to in Fed. R. Civ. P. 16”). The parties must meet and conduct a planning conference as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(f). After conferring, the parties must submit two things to the Court. First , the parties must file a Joint Initial Status Report, not to exceed seven pages, at least seven days before the initial status hearing. The Joint Initial Status Report is the “discovery plan” required by Rule 26(f). The Joint Initial Status Report shall provide the information listed in the template below. Joint Initial Status Report Under Rule 26(f) If defense counsel has not yet filed an appearance, plaintiff’s counsel should prepare the status report. The parties must deliver a copy of the Initial Status Report to the Courtroom Deputy’s drop-box outside room 2316A no later than one week before the initial status hearing. Second , the parties must submit a Word version of a proposed scheduling order under Rule 16(b) to the Court’s proposed order mailbox, Proposed_Order_Seeger@ilnd.uscourts.gov . The template for the proposed scheduling order is here: Scheduling Order Under Rule 16(b) . At that point, the Court will adopt or modify the proposed plan, as necessary. Use the templates. The parties simply need to fill in the blanks. At the initial status hearing with the Court, the parties should be prepared to discuss the nature of the case, report on the possibility of settlement, and discuss the nature and length of discovery necessary to prepare the case for trial. The Court may set a discovery cut-off date at the initial conference. In some cases, the scheduled status conference may take place before a defendant has responded to the plaintiff’s complaint. The Court expects all defendants who have been served with process to participate in this conference even if they have not yet responded to the complaint. Injunctions When proposing an injunction, please pay special attention to the text of Rule 65(d). The Seventh Circuit requires an injunction to be on a separate document. See, e.g., MillerCoors LLC v. Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC , 940 F.3d 922, 922 (7th Cir. 2019); Auto Driveaway Franchise Systems, LLC v. Auto Driveaway Richmond, LLC , 928 F.3d 670, 676 (7th Cir. 2019) (“We interpret Rule 65(d)(1)(C) to require than an injunction must be embodied in a standalone separate document.”); City of Chicago v. Sessions , 2018 WL 4268814, at *2 (7th Cir. August 10, 2018). So, do not include an injunction in the body of a proposed order that covers anything else. Every injunction should stand on its own. Source ↗
Motions and Memoranda of Law Agreed Motions If a motion is joint, uncontested, or agreed, please so indicate in the title and body of the motion. A party seeking an extension of time must contact all other parties to determine if the motion is opposed. The party seeking the extension should indicate in the motion (1) the reason for the request; (2) the number of previous extensions; and (3) whether the motion is opposed, and if so, on what grounds. Rulings Counsel may email the Courtroom Deputy, Jessica J. Ramos, at jessica_j_ramos@ilnd.uscourts.gov to inquire on the status of a motion. Citations If counsel cites to an unpublished opinion, the Court strongly prefers citations to Westlaw. Please attach copies of any cited authorities that are not available on Westlaw. Searchable Text All electronically-filed documents should be made word searchable before being filed on ECF. The Court strongly encourages counsel to convert any word-processed document into a .pdf document by printing or publishing to .pdf, rather than manually scanning a paper copy into .pdf. The former method of conversion generates searchable optical character recognition (OCR) text; the latter does not. Source ↗
Notice of Filing vs. Notice of Motion A notice of filing isn’t a thing (in federal court, anyway). Please don’t file one. A notice of motion is a notice that sets a date and time for a hearing with the Court for a motion. That’s the old way of doing things in this district. A notion of motion is no longer necessary. The Northern District of Illinois suspended the practice of filing a notice of motion a few years ago. See General Order 21-0027, as amended. Under the current rules, parties should simply file the motion, without noticing the motion for a hearing on a specific date. All of this is a long way of saying a simple point. You don’t need to file a notice of filing, and you don’t need to file a notice of motion. Just file your motion. Source ↗