Local Rule LCivR 3: Commencement of action; assignment to division and judge

Local Civil Rule 3. Commencement of action; assignment to division and judge 3.1 Fee payment - The fee provided by 28 U.S.C. § 1914 shall be paid to the Clerk. The Clerk may require that any payment be in cash or certified check.

3.2 Assignment of cases to divisions - This district is composed of a Northern Division and a Southern Division. The residence of corporations, partnerships, and unincorporated associations shall be the division where the principal place of business is maintained. The Southern Division comprises the counties of Allegan, Antrim, Barry, Benzie, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Charlevoix, Clinton, Eaton, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Hillsdale, Ingham, Ionia, Kalamazoo, Kalkaska, Kent, Lake, Leelanau, Manistee, Mason, Mecosta, Missaukee, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola, Ottawa, Saint Joseph, Van Buren, and Wexford. The Northern Division comprises the counties of Alger, Baraga, Chippewa, Delta, Dickinson, Gogebic, Houghton, Iron, Keweenaw, Luce, Mackinac, Marquette, Menominee, Ontonagon, and Schoolcraft. 28 U.S.C. § 102(b). All cases shall be assigned to a division by application of the following order of priorities:

(a) if an action is removed from state court, the division embracing the county in which the case was pending in state court;

(b) in bankruptcy appeals, the division in which the bankruptcy matter is pending;

(c) if the action is local in nature, the division in which the real property is located;

(d) in prisoner civil rights cases, the division in which the claim arose;

(e) the division in which all plaintiffs reside;

(f) the division in which all defendants reside;

(g) the division in which the claim arose;

(h) in a case in which a defendant is an officer or employee of the United States or any agency thereof acting in an official capacity, or under color of legal authority, or an agency of the United States, the division in which an office of a defendant is located; or

(i) the division in which the case is filed.

3.3.1 Assignment of cases to district judges

(a) Method - Each civil action (except social security cases) and each bankruptcy appeal, shall be assigned to a district judge, who shall continue in the case or matter until its final disposition, except as hereinafter provided. Each Social Security action shall be assigned at random to a magistrate judge at the time of filing. The parties will thereafter be given an opportunity to consent voluntarily to the dispositive jurisdiction of the assigned magistrate judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). If all parties do not timely consent, the case will be assigned to a district judge at random and will be referred to the originally assigned magistrate judge under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1).

(b) Sequence - At the commencement of each civil case, the Clerk shall assign the case a sequential case number and assign the case to a judge in accordance with the next subsection. The numbering and assignment of each case shall be completed before processing of the next case is commenced.

(c) Procedure - The Clerk shall use automated or manual means to assign new cases to judges at random in accordance with administrative orders issued by the Court from time to time. The Clerk shall mark the name of the assigned judge on the first document of the case and preserve a record of such assignments.

(d) Exceptions

(i) Refilings - If a case is dismissed or remanded to state court and later refiled, either in the same or similar form, upon refiling it shall be assigned or transferred to the judge to whom it was originally assigned.

(ii) Subsequent proceedings - Subsequent proceedings in cases shall be assigned to the judge assigned to the original case, if that judge is still hearing cases.

(iii) Related cases - Cases related to cases already assigned to a judge shall be assigned or transferred as set out below.

(A) Definition - Cases are deemed related when a filed case (1) relates to property involved in an earlier numbered pending suit, or (2) arises out of the same transaction or occurrence and involves one or more of the same parties as a pending suit, or (3) involves the validity or infringement of a patent already in suit in any pending earlier numbered case.

(B) Determination - When it appears to the Clerk that two or more cases may be related cases, they shall be referred to the magistrate judge assigned to the judge who has the earliest case to determine whether or not the cases are related. If related, the cases will be assigned to the same judge. If cases are found to be related cases after assignment to different judges, they may be reassigned by the Chief Judge to the judge having the related case earliest filed.

(e) Miscellaneous docket - The miscellaneous docket of the Court shall be assigned at random to a magistrate judge at the time of filing. If a miscellaneous docket matter is contested and requires proceedings conducted before a district judge, the case will be randomly reassigned to a district judge and a new civil action number will be assigned.

(f) Effect - This rule is intended to provide for an orderly division of the business of the Court and not to grant any right to any litigant.

(g) Duty of parties - All parties shall notify the Court in writing of all pending related cases and any dismissed or remanded prior cases.

3.3.2 Reassignment of cases

(a) Reassignment of cases on grounds of geographic convenience - Promptly after all parties have appeared in any civil action, the parties may file a stipulation and motion requesting transfer of the action to a judge located in a different city, on the basis of the convenience of counsel, the parties, or witnesses. Reassignment of the action shall be at the discretion of the Court and shall require the consent of all parties and of both the transferor and transferee judge.

(b) Reassignment to promote judicial economy - The Court may reassign cases from one district judge to another (i) to equalize and balance workloads among judges; (ii) to assign cases to senior or visiting judges or remove cases from their dockets as necessary; or (iii) for other reasons of judicial economy. Any case may be reassigned under this rule from one judge to another judge with the consent of both judges. Cases may also be reassigned by administrative order of the Chief Judge if approved by a majority of active district judges.

(c) Reassignment of cognate cases

(i) Definition - Cognate cases are pending civil actions involving the same or similar questions of fact or law such that their assignment to a single judge is likely to effect a substantial saving of judicial effort and to avoid wasteful and duplicative proceedings for the court and the parties.

(ii) Procedure for reassignment - When any judge determines that reassignment of cognate cases would serve the interests of justice and judicial economy, the judge will contact all other judges to whom cognate cases have been assigned. If all those judges agree to reassignment, the Chief Judge will enter an administrative order reassigning such cognate cases to the judge with the earliest numbered case. The administrative order may also provide for automatic assignment of future cognate cases to that judge, and for an adjustment in future case assignments to that judge to compensate for the increased workload.

3.4 In forma pauperis proceedings

(a) Motion and supporting documents - All persons applying to proceed in forma pauperis in this Court or on appeal shall file with their complaint or notice of appeal a motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis supported by the financial affidavit required under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1). In addition, any person incarcerated under a state or federal criminal conviction shall submit a certified copy of the prison trust fund account statement for the prisoner for the six-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint or notice of appeal, obtained from the appropriate official of each prison at which the prisoner is or was confined. The statement shall disclose (i) the amount then in the trust fund account; (ii) all deposits and withdrawals from the account during the six-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint or notice of appeal as required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2).

(b) Determination of pauper status - A petition for leave to proceed in forma pauperis shall be presented by the Clerk to any available magistrate judge. If the financial affidavit discloses that the person is unable to pay the full filing fee or fees for service of process, the magistrate judge shall grant the petition for pauper status. The magistrate judge shall nevertheless order that a prisoner pay, within a specified period, an initial partial filing fee and make monthly payments thereafter in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b). If the person fails to comply with the order for payment of all or any part of the filing fee, the complaint may be dismissed by a district judge or the appeal may be dismissed for want of prosecution by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.