All local rules for D.N.J., integrated with this judge's published requirements.
(b) Applications for orders to show cause, and for consent and ex parte orders, shall be filed with the Clerk, who shall promptly deliver each application to the District Judge to whom the case has been assigned. D.N.J. L.Civ.R. 65.1(b) ↗
A. Faxes and E-Mails Chambers does not accept faxes or email, unless an emergency. B. Letters All communications with Chambers shall be by letter electronically filed via ECF. No hard copies or courtesy copies of letters shall be delivered to the Court. Pro se parties are exempt from this requirement.
(b) Any brief shall include a table of contents and a table of authorities and shall not exceed 40 ordinary typed or printed pages (15 pages for any reply brief submitted under L.Civ.R. 7.1(d)(3) and any brief in support of or in opposition to a motion for reconsideration submitted under L.Civ.R. 7.1(i)), excluding pages required for the table of contents and authorities. Briefs of greater length will only be accepted if special permission of the Judge is obtained prior to submission of the brief. D.N.J. L.Civ.R. 7.2(b) ↗
(b) Any brief shall include a table of contents and a table of authorities and shall not exceed 40 ordinary typed or printed pages (15 pages for any reply brief submitted under L.Civ.R. 7.1(d)(3) and any brief in support of or in opposition to a motion for reconsideration submitted under L.Civ.R. 7.1(i)), excluding pages required for the table of contents and authorities. Briefs of greater length will only be accepted if special permission of the Judge is obtained prior to submission of the brief. D.N.J. L.Civ.R. 7.2(b) ↗
(b) Any brief shall include a table of contents and a table of authorities and shall not exceed 40 ordinary typed or printed pages (15 pages for any reply brief submitted under L.Civ.R. 7.1(d)(3) and any brief in support of or in opposition to a motion for reconsideration submitted under L.Civ.R. 7.1(i)), excluding pages required for the table of contents and authorities. Briefs of greater length will only be accepted if special permission of the Judge is obtained prior to submission of the brief. D.N.J. L.Civ.R. 7.2(b) ↗
(c) All briefs shall be in black lettering on paper size 8.5 x 11 inches. All margins shall be not less than one inch on sides, top, and bottom. (d) Each page of a brief shall contain double-spaced text and/or single-spaced footnotes or inserts. Typeface shall be in 12-point non-proportional font (such as Courier New 12) or an equivalent 14-point proportional font (such as Times New Roman 14). If a 12-point proportional font is used instead, the page limits shall be reduced by 25 percent (e.g., the 40 page limit becomes 30 pages in this font and the 15 page limit becomes 11.25 pages). Footnotes shall be printed in the same size of type utilized in the text. D.N.J. L.Civ.R. 7.2(c)–(d) ↗
(1) No application will be heard unless the moving papers and a brief, prepared in accordance with L.Civ.R. 7.2, and proof or acknowledgment of service on all other parties, are filed with the Clerk at least 24 days prior to the noticed motion day. The brief shall be a separate document for submission to the Court, and shall note the motion day on the cover page. D.N.J. L.Civ.R. 7.1(d)(1) ↗
(a) Except during vacation periods of the Court, the regular motion days for all vicinages are the first and third Monday of each month. Whenever a regular motion day falls on a holiday, the motion day becomes the following non-holiday. The Clerk shall publish a list of all regular motion days for each calendar year, and corresponding filing deadlines, on the website of the Court and in appropriate legal publications. D.N.J. L.Civ.R. 78.1(a) ↗
Unless otherwise directed by the Court, the parties shall provide one (1) courtesy copy of any sealed filing, regardless of length. In all other cases, the parties shall provide one (1) courtesy copy of any filing that exceeds 75 pages. If a brief and its supporting exhibits total 75 pages or less, the document shall be filed electronically on ECF only. Courtesy copies should be copies of the e-filed version of the document, printed from ECF with the automatically generated CM/ECF header on the top of each page. Courtesy copies shall be clearly labeled, dated, tabbed, and indexed. Preferably, courtesy copies should be bound or bindered (no specific binding type is required) and double-sided.
(e) Preparation of Order All filed motions shall have annexed thereto a proposed order. If the proposed order does not adequately reflect the Court’s ruling, the prevailing party, if directed by the Court, shall submit an order within seven days of the ruling on the motion on notice to all other parties. Unless the Court otherwise directs, if no specific objection to that order with reasons therefor is received within seven days of its receipt by the Court, the order may be signed. If such an objection is made, the matter may be listed for hearing at the discretion of the Court. D.N.J. L.Civ.R. 7.1(e) ↗
If any relief is being sought, the CM/ECF filing must be accompanied by a proposed order in text-searchable PDF format.
All parties, with the exception of pro se parties, shall file all documents, in both civil and criminal matters, electronically via ECF. All papers electronically submitted, including any supporting exhibits, shall, to the extent possible, be submitted in a text-searchable PDF format. As such, parties are strongly encouraged to convert briefs from Word to PDF format and to obtain PDF versions of deposition transcripts and emails (as examples), rather than scanning and filing a hardcopy of any brief or other paper.
Any documents filed under seal shall comply with Local Rule 5.1.
(b) All motions and other applications will be decided on the papers submitted unless: (1) a party requests oral argument and the request is granted by the Judge; or (2) the Court, sua sponte, directs that oral argument be held. Any request for oral argument shall be clearly marked on the first page of the notice of motion and/or the brief filed by the party making such request. If oral argument is to be heard, the Court will so notify the parties and designate the day and time of the argument. D.N.J. L.Civ.R. 78.1(b) ↗
After any motion is filed with the Court, the Clerk's Office dockets an automatically generated message stating, "Set Deadlines as to [Motion]. Motion set for [date]...." The only purpose of that "motion date" is to determine the briefing schedule for that motion, which may be viewed on the District's website at https://www.njd.uscourts.gov/motion-days-0. This briefing schedule applies unless the Court directs otherwise. The Court generally will not hear oral argument on the motion day, and no appearances are required on that date. Rather, if the Court decides to hear oral argument on any issue, it will advise counsel of the argument date via a separate communication on the docket.
Yes — motions decided on the papers without oral argument.
All requests for adjournments or extensions of time, other than those pursuant to Local Rule 7.1(d)(5), must comport with Local Rule 6.1 and include: (1) the date or dates sought to be extended; (2) the number of previous requests for extensions and the Court's rulings; (3) the reason for the current request; and (4) whether the adversary consents and, if not, the reasons given by the adversary for refusing to consent.
(a) Conference to Resolve Disputes (1) Counsel shall confer to resolve any discovery dispute. Any such dispute not resolved shall be presented by telephone conference call or letter to the Magistrate Judge. This presentation shall precede any formal motion. D.N.J. L.Civ.R. 37.1(a)(1) (discovery disputes presented to the Magistrate Judge before any formal motion) ↗
B. Pre-Summary Judgment Conference Before any summary judgment motions may be filed and before a summary judgment briefing schedule is set, the parties shall file a letter requesting a pre-motion conference with Judge Kirsch. The Court will generally hold a Status/Settlement Conference at this juncture. Unless the Court directs otherwise, this requirement does not apply in cases in which either side is pro se. Source ↗
A. Pre-Motion Conference 1. Letter Request for Pre-Motion Conference In an effort to resolve cases expeditiously, before bringing a motion to dismiss, motion for a more definite statement, motion to remand, motion for change of venue, motion to compel arbitration, or motion for a judgment on the pleadings, a party must submit a letter, not to exceed three (3) single-spaced pages, requesting a pre-motion conference. The letter must set forth the basis for the anticipated motion and include citations to relevant authority. Affidavits and exhibits are not permitted unless directed by the Court. A proffer by the attorney, however, of the content of any such affidavit(s) and/or exhibit(s) shall suffice. 2. Meet and Confer Within seven (7) days of the filing of this letter, the movant and all adversaries must meet and confer regarding the issues and substance of the movant’s letter in an attempt to resolve some or all of the issues therein. The parties’ meet and confer efforts must include substantive verbal communications, whether by phone or in person. Exchange of letters or emails is not sufficient. A party’s failure to meaningfully and in good faith participate in meet and confer efforts, or in this pre-motion process, could result in denial of the relief sought or other sanctions by the Court. If the parties require additional time to meet and confer, there will be a one-time automatic extension of five (5) days upon request by any party. 3. Joint Letter Advising of Resolution, or Movant Certification and Non-Movant Response In the event the parties then resolve some or all of the outstanding issues, the parties must file a joint letter within seven (7) days of the meet and confer advising the Court of such resolution. If the matter remains unresolved following the parties’ meet and confer, the movant must file, within seven (7) days of the meet and confer, a letter certifying that the parties met and conferred regarding the issues and substance of the movant’s letter, consistent with the above. It is not sufficient to report that either party was unavailable or that the parties made “reasonable efforts.” In addition, if the matter remains unresolved, all non-movant adversaries must file, within seven (7) days of the meet and confer, a response letter, not to exceed three (3) single-spaced pages, that sets forth the non-movant’s objections to the movant’s original letter, proposes a course of action to resolve the deficiencies identified by the movant, or states that the non-movant does not intend to file a letter responding to the movant’s original letter. Affidavits and exhibits are not permitted unless directed by the Court. A proffer by the attorney, however, of the content of any such affidavit(s) and/or exhibit(s) shall suffice. In the event an adversary does not file a letter within seven (7) days, they will be precluded from filing a letter that the Court will consider at the pre-motion conference. Reply letters, if any, must be filed within five (5) days of the non-movant’s response letter. If the parties have complied with the foregoing and the matter remains unresolved, the parties should await further direction from the Court as to next steps. No motion should be filed in the interim. Generally, the Court will schedule a pre-motion conference in due course, see infra Section (I)(A)(4), or in some cases may authorize the filing of the proposed motion without such a conference. 4. Pre-Motion Conference The Court will attempt to resolve the dispute(s) at a pre-motion conference (in person or via telephone/videoconference), to the extent possible. Unless otherwise directed by the Court, all parties, including any parties or co-parties who did not file a pre-motion letter or response letter, shall appear and participate in any such pre-motion conference. If the dispute cannot be resolved at the pre-motion conference (or if the Court determines that a conference would not be helpful, and advises the parties of same), the moving party may proceed with filing its motion. In all cases, the Court will advise the movant if the proposed motion may be filed. 5. Effect and Application of Pre-Motion Procedure To be clear, this procedure does not preclude a party from filing any of the above motions pursuant to Local Civil Rule 12.1. Rather, the Court hopes to use this procedure to advance the case efficiently and minimize the costs of litigation to the parties. In addition, compliance with this procedure shall not be deemed a waiver of any parties’ defenses as to lack of personal jurisdiction, improper venue, insufficient process, or insufficient service of process. Any party wishing to file or join a motion listed in Section (I)(A)(1) must file or join a pre-motion letter and participate in meet and confer efforts as outlined above. Any pre-motion letter must be filed by the movant’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(a) deadline, unless additional time is stipulated or the Court so orders. A party’s submission of a pre-motion letter will toll that party’s time to file its motion (or answer) through (i) the date of the pre-motion conference or (ii) the Court’s decision not to conduct such a conference. If the Court determines that a pre-motion conference would not be helpful and instructs a party to proceed with filing its proposed motion without a conference, that party shall have an additional seven (7) days to file after its Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(a) deadline, unless additional time is stipulated or the Court so orders. This letter exchange procedure does not apply in cases in which either side is pro se or in bankruptcy or social security appeals. Source ↗