Chambers Procedures for the Honorable Mary F. Walrath

(Effective March 9, 2011)

GENERAL CHAMBERS PROCEDURES

Except as set forth herein, the General Chambers Procedures on the Court’s website shall govern all procedural aspects of cases before the Court.

General Provisions

• Chambers approval is not necessary for telephonic participation through Courtcall.  Requests will be accepted up to the time of the scheduled hearing.

• To request an expedited hearing, counsel is required to file the motion and a motion to shorten time and deliver hard copies to Chambers for review.  Hearing dates are not given in advance over the phone.

• Unless it is an emergency, please allow 24 hours for Chambers to respond to telephonic or email requests.  Do not leave multiple messages for Chambers’ staff.  

• All pleadings, including Motions to Appear Pro Hac Vice, should have the docket number and date filed in bottom right corner when delivered to Chambers.

• Hearings will not be cancelled automatically when all matters are submitted under CNO or Certification of Counsel until after the Judge has received the binder and reviewed the pleadings.  Therefore, an agenda must still be filed and delivered to Chambers.  If, after review, the Judge signs all orders, Chambers will notify counsel to file a Notice of Amended Agenda cancelling the hearing.  Do not call Chambers to cancel the hearing.

• Prior to requesting a continuance of any matter, counsel should contact all interested parties and advise Chambers if all parties agree or oppose the request.

• Please do not provide courtesy copies of documents unless requested by Chambers, or required by Chambers Procedures or Local Rules. 

• Please submit only one copy of a first day binder to Judge Walrath.

• Please submit only one set of exhibit binders to Judge Walrath.

Chapter 7 Cases

• The “Chapter 7 Calendar” is available on Judge Walrath’s Chambers web page, which can be found under the “Chambers” drop-down menu on the Court’s home page.

• The dates on the “Chapter 7 Calendar” are for scheduling matters in ALL Chapter 7 consumer and business cases.  No other dates will be given.  Matters must be scheduled in accordance with the local rules regarding noticing procedures. The dates on the Chapter 7 Calendar are subject to change at any time, so please check the calendar before filing pleadings.

Fee Applications

• When submitting final fee applications, all previously approved fee applications need not be provided, unless there is a dispute regarding a prior interim award.

Adversary Proceedings

• Please include only a proposed Scheduling Order in the hearing binder when a pretrial conference is scheduled to go forward.

• Initial scheduling conferences in adversary proceedings cannot be continued.  A preliminary hearing will be held and a Scheduling Order shall be presented. 

• Once briefing is completed on a motion filed in an adversary, the movant shall file a Notice of Completion of Briefing, which shall include a list of all relevant pleadings to the motion and related docket numbers, OR, a Certificate of No Objection, whichever is more appropriate under the circumstances. (Please note, if a Certificate of No Objection has been filed, a Notice of Completion of Briefing does not have to be filed.) Counsel shall then deliver all of the relevant pleadings to Chambers.

• All motions submitted under a Notice of Completion of Briefing should be unstapled and in a binder. Motions submitted under a Certificate of No Objection do not require a binder; however, if the pleadings being submitted are substantial please submit them unstapled in a binder.4

• If there is no objection to a motion, a Certificate of No Objection may then be filed at the conclusion of the objection period.  A copy of the motion, the proposed order and the Certificate of No Objection should be forwarded to Chambers. If it is not sent to Chambers, it will not be considered until the

scheduled hearing.  Please do not send a copy of the motion to Chambers until the motion is ready to be ruled upon.