All local rules for S.D.N.Y., integrated with this judge's published requirements.
(d) No ex parte order, or order to show cause to bring on a motion, will be granted, except upon a clear and specific showing by affidavit that contains good and sufficient reasons why a procedure other than by notice of motion is necessary and states whether a previous application for similar relief has been made. Local Civil Rule 6.1(d) ↗
3. Communications with Chambers A. Letters and Letter Motions. Except as provided herein or as otherwise ordered by the Court, communications with Chambers shall be by letter filed on
(c) Length of Memoranda of Law. If filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer, briefs in support of and in response to a motion (except for motions for reconsideration) may not exceed 8,750 words, and reply briefs may not exceed 3,500 words. Local Civil Rule 7.1(c) ↗
(c) Length of Memoranda of Law. If filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer, briefs in support of and in response to a motion (except for motions for reconsideration) may not exceed 8,750 words, and reply briefs may not exceed 3,500 words. Local Civil Rule 7.1(c) ↗
(c) Length of Memoranda of Law. If filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer, briefs in support of and in response to a motion (except for motions for reconsideration) may not exceed 8,750 words, and reply briefs may not exceed 3,500 words. Local Civil Rule 7.1(c) ↗
Except for letter-motions as permitted by Local Civil Rule 7.1(d), and unless provided otherwise by statute or rule, or by the court in a judge’s individual practices or in a direction in a particular case, motion papers must be served and filed as follows: (a) On all motions and applications under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 through 37 and 45(d)(3), (1) all motion papers must be served by the moving party on all other parties that have appeared in the action, (2) any opposing or response papers must be served within seven days after service of the moving papers, and (3) any reply papers must be served within two days after service of the answering papers. In computing periods of days, refer to Fed. R. Civ. P. 6. (b) On all civil motions, petitions, and applications, other than those described in Rule 6.1(a), and other than petitions for writs of habeas corpus, (1) the moving papers must be served by the moving party on all other parties that have appeared in the action, (2) any opposing or response papers must be served within 14 days after service of the moving papers, and (3) any reply papers must be served within seven days after service of the answering papers. Local Civil Rule 6.1 (introductory clause) and 6.1(a)-(b) ↗
Silent on fixed motion hearing days. Local Civil Rules 6.1, 7.1 (silent) ↗
Local Civil Rule 77.1. Submission of Orders, Judgments and Decrees Proposed orders, judgments, and decrees must be presented as directed by the ECF rules published on the website of each respective court. Local Civil Rule 77.1 ↗
home addresses [use only the City and State]). B. Redactions Not Requiring Court Approval. Without Court approval, parties may redact the five categories of “sensitive information” and the six categories of information requiring caution (i.e., personal identifying number, medical records, treatment and diagnosis, employment history, individual financial information, proprietary or trade secret information and information regarding an individual’s cooperation with the government), as described in the Privacy Policy.
Silent on oral argument default. Local Civil Rules 6.1, 7.1 (silent) ↗
B. Discovery Disputes. Prior to bringing a motion pursuant to Rules 26 through 37 or Rule 45 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a party must follow the procedures set forth below. i. Meet and Confer. Any party wishing to raise a discovery dispute with the Court must first confer in good faith at least once with the opposing party—in person, by videoconference, or by telephone—to resolve the dispute. E-mail communication alone will not satisfy the meet-and-confer requirement. Where a party raises a discovery dispute with the opposing party, the opposing party must make itself available to confer in good faith to resolve the dispute within three business days of a request for a conference. ii. Letter-Motions. If the meet-and-confer process does not resolve the dispute, the party seeking discovery must promptly submit a letter-motion to the Court via ECF, no longer than four pages (single spaced, with standard font and margins, inclusive of the signature block), explaining the nature of the dispute and why the party is entitled to relief. The initial letter-motion must state: (1) the date(s), time(s), and duration of each meet-and- confer conference; (2) the names of the attorneys who participated; and (3) that the moving party informed the adversary during the last conference that the moving party believed the parties to be at an impasse and that the moving party would be requesting relief from the Court. If the opposing party wishes to respond, it must do so in a letter not to exceed four pages (single spaced, with standard font and margins, inclusive of the signature block) within two business days, unless otherwise ordered by the Court. Reply letters are not permitted. 10 iii. Timeliness. Counsel should seek relief in accordance with these procedures in a timely fashion. If a party waits until near the close of discovery to raise an issue that could have been raised earlier, the party is unlikely to be granted the relief that it seeks or more time for discovery.
E. Requests for Adjournment or Extension of Time. All requests for adjournments or extensions of time must be made in writing and filed on ECF as letter-motions, not as ordinary letters. Parties should not submit proposed stipulations or proposed orders purporting to extend deadlines. The letter-motion must state: (1) the original date and the new date requested; (2) the number of previous requests for adjournment or extension; (3) whether these previous requests were granted or denied; (4) the reason for the extension or adjournment; (5) whether the adversary consents and, if not, the reasons given by the adversary for refusal to consent; and (6) the date of the parties’ next scheduled appearance before the Court. If the requested extension affects any dates set forth in the Civil Case Management Plan, a proposed Amended Civil Case Management Plan must be attached. Absent an emergency, any request for extension or adjournment shall be made as early as possible, and at least 48 hours prior to the deadline or scheduled appearance. Requests for extensions will ordinarily be denied if made after the expiration of the original deadline. A request to extend the deadline to complete all discovery is unlikely to be granted. But any such request shall include a statement as to what discovery requests have been propounded, who propounded each request, and on what date; what responses were made, who made each response, and on what date; and the volume of documents produced, who produced the documents, and on what date. Source ↗
D. Submission of Large Electronic Files. If a party needs to submit large files that cannot be uploaded to ECF due to size, the party should email the Court at VargasNYSDChambers@nysd.uscourts.gov. The email should copy all other counsel in the case and include the name and docket number of the case and the nature and size of the materials to be submitted electronically. Source ↗
8. Pre-Trial Procedures and Filings A. Initial Case Management Conference. Plaintiff’s counsel (or, in a matter removed from state court, defendant’s counsel) is responsible for distributing copies of the Notice of Initial Pretrial Conference to all parties. The Notice will direct the parties to submit to the Court, approximately one week prior to the conference date, a joint proposed Case Management Plan and Scheduling Order (a model of which can be found on the Court’s public webpage at https://www.nysd.uscourts.gov/hon-jeannette-vargas). Requests for adjournments of the initial pretrial conference must be made in accordance with Section 3(E), supra. Source ↗
5. Motions and Specific Types of Filings A. Memoranda of Law. Unless prior permission has been granted, memoranda of law in support of and in opposition to motions are limited to 8,750 words, and reply memoranda are limited to 3,500 words. The format of all memoranda of law shall comply with Local Rule 7.1, except that all font, including any footnotes, must be in 12- point font or larger. Memoranda of 10 pages or more shall contain a table of contents and a table of authorities, neither of which shall count against the word limit. Surreply memoranda are not allowed (unless specifically permitted in extraordinary situations for good cause). These limits do not include the caption, any index, table of contents, table of authorities, signature blocks, or any required certificates, but do include material contained in footnotes or endnotes. If a brief is filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer, it must include a certificate by the attorney, or party who is not represented by an attorney, that the document complies with the word-count limitations. The person preparing the certificate may rely on the word count of the word-processing program used to prepare the document. The certificate must state the number of words in the document. To the extent the court permits a party to submit briefs longer than these limits, and expresses those limits in pages, each additional page must not contain more than 350 additional words if the brief is filed by an attorney or prepared with a computer. Source ↗
H. Oral Argument on Motions. A party may request oral argument by indicating “ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED” on the cover page of its memorandum of law. If a party believes that the Court would benefit from oral argument for a particular reason not obvious from the parties’ briefing, the party may file a short letter—not a letter- motion—explaining the reason(s). In this letter, the party should advise the Court if oral argument would be handled by a less- experienced attorney because, as discussed in Section 4(B) above, that may make the Court more inclined to hold oral argument. If oral argument is requested, the Court will determine whether argument will be heard and, if so, advise counsel of the argument date. Source ↗
y disputes) should be filed as letter-motions. C. Pre-Motion Conferences in Civil Cases. Pre-motion conferences are not required, except for disputes concerning discovery, which are governed by Section 6 below. Source ↗