Federal Courts Update

For more federal courts content, please see the Quarterly Federal Courts Committee Newsletter. This quarter’s newsletter includes an interview with the Hon. Michael R. Wilner, a Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of California and an interview with Mack Jenkins, Chief of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

If you are interested in applying to join the Federal Courts Committee, please apply at https://calawyers.org/section/litigation/standing-committees/committee-on-federal-courts/.

Proposed Changes to Federal Rules

On June 7, 2022, the Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure approved publication of proposed amendments to the following Federal Rules:

• Civil Rule 12 (time to serve a responsive pleading)
• Evidence Rules 611 (illustrative aids), 613 (impeachment by prior inconsistent statement), 801 (hearsay exception for statement of a party opponent), 804 (hearsay exception for declarations against interest), and 1006 (summaries)
• Appellate Rules 32 (form of papers), 35 (en-banc determination), 40 (petition for panel rehearing), and Appendix on Length Limits
• Bankruptcy Rules 1007 (Lists, Schedules, Statements, and Other Documents; Time Limits), 4004 (Grant or Denial of Discharge), 5009 (Closing Chapter 7, 12, 13, and 15 Cases), 7001, 9006 (computing and extending  time), and proposed new Rule 8023.1 (substitution of parties)

Public comments are due on February 16, 2023.  (Notice.)

Southern District of California

Criminal Justice Act Committees: The Court appointed eleven attorneys to the Criminal Justice Act Advisory Committee (Notice) and seven attorneys to the Criminal Justice Act Committee (Notice).

Central District of California

Local Rules Changes: Beginning December 1, 2022, the following new and amended local rules will go into effect.

• L.R. 7-3 (conference of counsel before filing motions)
• L.R. 11-6 (page limits), New L.R. 11-6.1 (7,000 word limit), New L.R. 11-6.2 (certificate of compliance)
• L.R. 79-4 (contraband and valuable exhibits)

A redline of the rules can be found here.

Judicial Reappointments: The Court is accepting public comments regarding the potential reappointment of Magistrate Judge Gail Standish for an additional eight-year term. (Notice)

Northern District of California

Perry v. Schwarzeneger: Video recordings of the bench trial before Judge Vaughn R. Walker in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 3:09-CV-02292 (Challenge to Prop 8) are now available to view online at https://www.youtube.com/usdccand and the source files are available to download at https://files.cand.uscourts.gov/.