Local Rule LCvR 40.3: MANNER OF ASSIGNMENT

LCvR 40.3 MANNER OF ASSIGNMENT

(a) RANDOM ASSIGNMENT.

Except as otherwise provided by these Rules, civil, criminal and miscellaneous cases shall be assigned to judges of this Court selected at random in the following manner:

(1) The Clerk shall create a separate assignment deck in the automated system for each subclassification of civil and criminal cases established by the Court pursuant to LCvR 40.2 of these Rules and a separate deck for miscellaneous cases. The decks will be created by the Liaison to the Calendar and Case Management Committee or the Liaison's backup and access to this function shall be restricted to these individuals to protect the integrity and confidentiality of the random assignment of cases. The Calendar and Case Management Committee will, from time to time determine and indicate by order the frequency with which each judge's name shall appear in each designated deck, to effectuate an even distribution of cases among the active judges.

(2) At the time a civil complaint is filed or an indictment or information is returned in a criminal case, the case shall be assigned to the judge whose name appears on the screen when the appropriate deck is selected. The Clerk shall also stamp on the indictment, information, complaint or other initial pleading of each case, and on the file jacket, the number of the case and the name of the judge to whom it is assigned. The numbering and assignment of each case shall be completed before processing of the next case is begun. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a civil case, requiring an emergency hearing, which is filed after normal business hours, shall not be assigned to a judge until the next business day.

(b) THREE-JUDGE COURT CASES.

Civil, including miscellaneous, cases requested or required to be heard by a Three-Judge Court shall be randomly assigned to a District Court judge, excluding the Chief Judge.

(c) BANKRUPTCY MATTERS.

(1) The District Court Local Bankruptcy Rules govern assignment of a motion to withdraw the reference of a bankruptcy case or proceeding, and govern assignment of a withdrawn case or proceeding.

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (1) above and LCvR 40.8(b)(2), other bankruptcy matters requiring the attention of a District Judge, including:

(i) any appeal of a Bankruptcy Court order or judgment;

(ii) any proceeding under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9033 to consider proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law issued by the Bankruptcy Court; and

(iii) any motion relating to a bankruptcy case or proceeding (including, for example, any motion for a writ of mandamus or prohibition) (which motion shall be assigned a miscellaneous case number)

shall be randomly assigned.

(d) PRISONER PETITIONS.

Petitions for a writ of habeas corpus and complaints filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 filed by a petitioner incarcerated in the District of Columbia shall be randomly assigned, except that related petitions from the same petitioner may be assigned to the judge who received the initial petition after consultation with that judge. Motions filed under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 shall, if possible be assigned to the sentencing judge.

(e) ASSIGNMENT TO VISITING AND SENIOR JUDGES.

Cases may be assigned to visiting and senior judges in accordance with procedures adopted from time to time by the Calendar and Case Management Committee.

(f) PROCEEDINGS AFTER ASSIGNMENT.

All proceedings in a case after its assignment shall be conducted by the judge to whom the case is assigned, except as otherwise provided in these Rules. A judge who declares a mistrial shall retain the case for subsequent proceedings including, where appropriate, retrial.

COMMENT TO LCvR 40.3: To ensure an even distribution of cases filed on the miscellaneous docket these cases will now be randomly assigned to a judge of this Court at the time of filing. The assigned judge will maintain jurisdiction of the miscellaneous case for all purposes. The assignment of miscellaneous cases does not affect the duties of the Motions Judge as specified in LCvR 40.8