15th Judicial Circuit Guest

Divisional Instructions

  UNIFORM MOTION CALENDAR (UMC)

**Please refer to Local Rule Number 4  **
UMC is held Monday- Thursday @ 8:45 A.M. Ten minutes per case is allotted (five minutes per side). File your Notice of Hearing with the Clerk giving five (5) business days notice to the opposing party or parties (unless they agree to do a hearing on short notice). See Palm Beach County Bar Association Standards of Professional Courtesy. The UMC calendar is scheduled on a first come-first serve basis. You do not need to call the Judicial Assistant to schedule your hearing on the UMC at 8:45. The Judge does not keep a calendar for UMC hearings; therefore do not call to confirm that a hearing has made the calendar. A courtesy copy of the notice of hearing and motion should be sent, addressed to the judge’s chambers, for review prior to the hearing. Counsel should bring to the hearing a proposed order granting/denying the motion, sufficient copies, and stamped addressed envelopes.

SPECIALLY SET HEARINGS:

We do not offer online scheduling for our division. Once your Motion has been docketed in the Court file you may contact the JA with your docket number to obtain available hearing dates. All specially set hearings are set by court order and cannot be canceled except by further order of the court (please see our Sample Order Specially Setting Hearings). If more than 30 minutes is needed you must submit a Motion For Extended Hearing Time, once the Judge has reviewed the motion the Judicial Assistant will contact you via mail or telephone to advise of the Courts decision. If your Motion is granted you will be placed on a Non-Jury Trial Docket and issued a Non-Jury Trial Order. **Please see attached Standing Order on Specially Set Motions for division AD **
 
TELEPHONIC APPEARANCES
Requires making advance arrangements with the Judicial Assistant.

EMERGENCY HEARINGS
**Please refer to Administrative Order 3.206   **
For any true emergency matter, you must file a motion for emergency hearing pursuant to the above referenced Administrative Order. Submit the original motion directly to the clerk and send a CLERK STAMPED courtesy copy to the Judge’s office for review. The motion should indicate how much hearing time will be needed and include any supporting information which will help the Judge determine if the matter is an emergency. A proposed order with self-addressed stamped envelopes should be provided with each emergency motion. Please notify the Judicial Assistant immediately about your Emergency Motion before the motion has been filed and after it has been filed so the Court can be expecting the Motion and proper procedures can be reiterated to the moving parties for any questions about the Motion and the Emergency procedures.

MEMORANDA OF LAW
**Please see attached Standing Order on Specially Set Motions for division AD **
Should be filed directly with the Judge’s office at least five business days prior to the hearing indicating the date and time of the hearing. The Clerk will not file memoranda in the court file without permission of the Judge. The memoranda are limited to ten double spaced pages. Reply memoranda are limited to five double spaced pages. Please indicate in a cover letter when the hearing is set, and DO NOT submit prior to the hearing date being set.
 

NOTICE TO SET CAUSE FOR TRIAL
All original notices to set cause for trial should be submitted directly to the clerk. Please send a copy of your notice along with sufficient self addressed stamped envelopes directly to the judge and please include complete and current contact information, i.e.: address, phone number, etc., in the copies furnished area of your notice, upon receipt of your notice the Judicial Assistant will prepare the Order Setting Trial. Please do not call the Judicial Assistant and ask when trials are being set, our trial settings are generally set no sooner than 90 days and no later than a year.

Jury and Non-Jury dockets are usually eight (8) weeks long, no motions are to be heard during the calendar call. All parties must appear in person for docket call, no telephonic appearances will be permitted. If your case has settled that is scheduled for docket call, you must please contact the JA and send the judges office something in writing advising as such, The case must be ready for trial at the time the Notice for Trial is sent to the
clerk. All pretrial motions and objections shall be scheduled to be heard prior to docket call. Mediation shall have taken place prior to docket call. All Joint Pretrial Stipulations must be in the Court file prior to docket call. Proposed Jury Instructions shall be submitted to the trial Clerk on the first day of Trial. All exhibits must be pre-marked pursuant to the Clerk of the Court and Comptroller instructions.

 ALL CONTINUANCES OF TRIAL require a hearing on the Uniform MotionCalendar PRIOR to the Calendar Call.

SPECIAL MOTIONS that you submit directly to the Court for Review are:

Motions for Extended Hearing Time, Emergency Motions, Motions for Disqualification/Recusal, Motions for New Trial, Motions for Re-Hearing