Local Rule 16.1: EARLY ASSESSMENT OF CASES
D. Mass. — Civil rule
RULE 16.1 EARLY ASSESSMENT OF CASES
(a) Scheduling Conference in Civil Cases. In every civil action, except in categories of actions exempted by L.R. 16.2 as inappropriate for scheduling procedures, the judicial officer shall convene a scheduling conference as soon as practicable, but in any event within 60 days after the appearance of a defendant and within 90 days after the complaint has been served on a defendant. In cases removed to this court from a state court or transferred from any other federal court, the judicial officer shall convene a scheduling conference within 60 days after removal or transfer.
(b) Obligation of Counsel to Confer. Unless otherwise ordered by the judicial officer, counsel for the parties must, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f), confer at least 21 days before the date for the scheduling conference for the purpose of:
(1) preparing an agenda of matters to be discussed at the scheduling conference,
(2) preparing a proposed pretrial schedule for the case that includes a plan for discovery, and
(3) considering whether they will consent to trial by magistrate judge.
(c) Settlement Proposals. Unless otherwise ordered by the judicial officer, the plaintiff shall present written settlement proposals to all defendants no later than 14 days before the date for the scheduling conference. Defense counsel shall have conferred with their clients on the subject of settlement before the scheduling conference and be prepared to respond to the proposals at the scheduling conference.
(d) Joint Statement. Unless otherwise ordered by the judicial officer, the parties are required to file, no later than 7 days before the scheduling conference and after consideration of the topics contemplated by Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b), 16(c), and 26(f), a joint statement containing a proposed pretrial schedule, which shall include:
(1) a joint discovery plan scheduling the time and length for all discovery events, that shall
(a) conform to the obligation to limit discovery set forth in Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b), and
(b) take into account the desirability of conducting phased discovery in which the first phase is limited to developing information needed for a realistic assessment of the case and, if the case does not terminate, the second phase is directed at information needed to prepare for trial; and
(2) a proposed schedule for the filing of motions; and
(3) certifications signed by counsel and by an authorized representative of each party affirming that each party and that party's counsel have conferred:
(A) with a view to establishing a budget for the costs of conducting the full course and various alternative courses of the litigation; and
(B) to consider the resolution of the litigation through the use of alternative dispute resolution programs such as those outlined in L.R. 16.4.
To the extent that all parties are able to reach agreement on a proposed pretrial schedule, they shall so indicate. To the extent that the parties differ on what the pretrial schedule should be, they shall set forth separately the items on which they differ and indicate the nature of that difference. The purpose of the parties' proposed pretrial schedule or schedules shall be to advise the judicial officer of the parties' best estimates of the amounts of time they will need to accomplish specified pretrial steps. The parties' proposed agenda for the scheduling conference, and their proposed pretrial schedule or schedules, shall be considered by the judicial officer as advisory only.
(e) Conduct of Scheduling Conference. At or following the scheduling conference, the judicial officer shall make an early determination of whether the case is "complex" or otherwise appropriate for careful and deliberate monitoring in an individualized and case-specific manner. The judicial officer shall consider assigning any case so categorized to a case management conference or series of conferences under L.R. 16.3. The factors to be considered by the judicial officer in making this decision include:
(1) the complexity of the case (the number of parties, claims, and defenses raised, the legal difficulty of the issues presented, and the factual difficulty of the subject matter);
(2) the amount of time reasonably needed by the litigants and their attorneys to prepare the case for trial;
(3) the judicial and other resources required and available for the preparation and disposition of the case;
(4) whether the case belongs to those categories of cases that:
(A) involve little or no discovery,
(B) ordinarily require little or no additional judicial intervention, or
(C) generally fall into identifiable and easily managed patterns;
(5) the extent to which individualized and case-specific treatment will promote the goal of reducing cost and delay in civil litigation; and
(6) whether the public interest requires that the case receive intense judicial attention.
In other respects, the scheduling conference shall be conducted according to the provisions for a pretrial conference under Fed. R. Civ. P. 16 and for a case management conference under L.R. 16.3.
(f) Scheduling Orders. Following the conference, the judicial officer shall enter a scheduling order that will govern the pretrial phase of the case. Unless the judicial officer determines otherwise, the scheduling order shall include specific deadlines or general time frameworks for:
(1) amendments to the pleadings;
(2) service of, and compliance with, written discovery requests;
(3) the completion of depositions, including, if applicable, the terms for taking and using videotape depositions;
(4) the identification of trial experts;
(5) the sequence of disclosure of information regarding experts contemplated by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b);
(6) the filing of motions;
(7) a settlement conference, to be attended by trial counsel and, in the discretion of the judicial officer, their clients;
(8) one or more case management conferences and/or the final pretrial conference;
(9) a final pretrial conference, which shall occur within 18 months after the filing of the complaint;
(10) the joinder of any additional parties;
(11) any other procedural matter that the judicial officer determines is appropriate for the fair and efficient management of the litigation.
(g) Modification of Scheduling Order. The scheduling order shall specify that its provisions, including any deadlines, having been established with the participation of all parties, can be modified only by order of the judicial officer, and only upon a showing of good cause supported by affidavits, other evidentiary materials, or references to pertinent portions of the record.
Adopted effective October 1, 1992; amended effective January 2, 1995; December 10, 1996; December 4, 2000; January 2, 2001; December 1, 2009; June 7, 2016.