HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021CV30613 - JOSHUA HOLOWCZENKO v. LISA N. BUTLER, CITY OF FORT COLLINS, and LORI S. MARTIN - 014 - INITIAL CASE PROCEDURES RULE 16District Court, Larimer County, State of Colorado
201 LaPorte Avenue, Suite 100
Fort Collins, CO 80521-2761
(970) 494-3500
Plaintiff(s): JOSHUA HOLOWCZENKO,
v.
Defendant(s): CITY OF FORT COLLINS, et al.
Case No.: 2021CV30613
Courtroom: 5A
INITIAL CASE PROCEDURES ORDER, RULE 16 C.R.C.P.
Read this order carefully. The procedure followed in this Court may differ somewhat from that in
other courts and varies from some of the presumptive deadlines set forth in Colorado Rule of Civil
Procedure 16 (“C.R.C.P. 16”). The Court expects full compliance with this order.
The Court Orders that discovery may commence immediately.
I. At Issue Date
The file indicates that all parties have been served and either have appeared or defaulted. The
Court declares this case to be at issue pursuant to Rule 16(b)(1) as of September 17, 2021.
Consistent with Rule 16(b)(3), the parties shall:
☐ meet and confer within 14 days from the at issue date; and
☐ the responsible attorney will file a notice to set an initial case management conference to occur
not later than 49 days from the date that the case was declared to be at issue. Setting information
for Courtroom 5A is outlined below.
II. Initial Case Management Conference
☐ CMC: The Court will hold a WebEx case management conference consistent with the
procedures outlined in Rule 16(d) within 49 days from the date that the case was deemed to be at
issue. Setting procedures are in paragraph IV.
☐ CMO: At least 7 days before that initial case management conference, or at least 14 days before
that initial case management conference if counsel seek to appear by phone, and pursuant to Rule
DATE FILED: September 20, 2021 8:25 PM
CASE NUMBER: 2021CV30613
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16(b), the parties are directed to file, in editable format, a proposed case management order that
substantially complies with JDF 622 and with each of the requirements of this Order.
☐ Conditional option to waive CMC: If counsel/pro se parties have provided a proposed case
management order that meets all of the Court’s requirements and there are otherwise no
disagreements between the parties, the Court will consider dispensing with the initial case
management conference. To do so, each counsel must include a certification in capital letters at the
top of the proposed case management order indicating that the proposed order complies with the
Court’s requirements as set out in this order and that they request to waive the initial case
management conference. The Court will determine whether to allow the request prior to the
scheduled case management conference.
In addition to the information contained in the form proposed case management order (JDF 622),
counsel must include:
☐ Specific calendar dates for each deadline. Because the practice in Larimer County
District Court is not to set trial in most civil cases until after mediation/ADR, putting in
references to “X-number of days before trial” is not helpful. You must include specific
calendar dates for any deadline.
☐ A proposed deadline for a status conference to occur not later than 30 weeks after
the case is at issue. The responsible attorney will file a notice to set such status conference
at least 14 days before the 30 week deadline. The parties may request to waive the 30 week
status conference if there are no disputes and the parties are operating under the Court’s
CMO deadlines. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, the 30 week status conference will
be by WebEx;
☐ A specific plan and calendar date deadline for mediation/ADR, and a deadline for
a status report after mediation/ADR. The Court strongly encourages the parties to
participate in mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will generally
not set trial until this has been completed; and
☐ Please include information regarding any parties with limited English language
proficiency, including the party’s primary spoken language, and the origin of the language
(i.e., region of the world) in order to better identify its dialect so that advanced arrangements
can be made for interpretation.
Any requests for amendments to the proposed case management order and deadlines within the
order shall be made consistent with the procedures outlined in Rule 16(e).
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III. Discovery Motions
No written discovery motions will be accepted. If there is a discovery dispute, counsel must
confer in a meaningful way by telephone or in person to try to resolve it. An exchange of emails is
not sufficient.
If counsel cannot resolve the dispute, the Court will address all discovery disputes with a WebEx
discovery hearing instead of by written motion and responses. Each party shall submit a one- to
two-page summary of the discovery dispute at least 3 days before the Case Management
Conference. The parties are directed to contact the Court’s Judicial Assistant, Julie Foster, at
julie.foster@judicial.state.co.us or 970-494-3800 if they wish to set a discovery hearing.
With respect to written discovery, the Court frowns on “boilerplate” objections that fail to provide
clear and precise explanations of the legal and factual justifications for the objections as well as a
specific description of any information which may be available but is not be ing provided because of
the objection. If a responding party claims not to understand a discovery request or the meaning of
any term in a request, that party shall, within 14 days, seek clarification of the meaning from
counsel who served the discovery. Failure to do so results in waiver of any objection based on the
purported lack of understanding. Any response which does not provide the information or
requested material but promises to do so in the future will be treated the same as no response
unless the responding party provides a specific reason for not producing the information and a
specific date when it will produce it.
With respect to depositions, the Court will not intervene in an ongoing deposition via telephone to
resolve disputes; rather, counsel shall place their dispute on the record for later review. Counsel are
expected to adhere strictly to C.R.C.P. 30(d)(1) and (3) and shall refrain from “speaking
objections,” excessive objections designed to disrupt the flow of questioning, advising a witness to
answer “if you know” or “if you remember” or “not to speculate,” ask for clarification of a
question, or confer with a witness while questions are pending or documents are being reviewed
unless authorized under C.R.C.P. 30(d).
IV. Case Management Conferences and Setting Information
The Court will set additional, periodic WebEx case management conferences and status
conferences as appropriate to each individual case. At any time, the Court may order or upon
request of counsel will conduct additional case management conferences as needed by WebEx.
Settings are held on Mondays or Wednesdays at 1:15 p.m. A notice to set must be filed with the
Court at least 14 days prior to the setting. All parties are to participate in the setting. For trial
settings, counsel must participate in the setting. For all other settings, counsel or an assistant with
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setting authority are to be available. Parties that do not participate in the setting are advised that the
matter will be set in their absence.
Settings are held through WebEx. The phone number for the Court and counsel/pro se parties to
access the conference on the day of the setting is (415)-655-0001 or 720-650-7664 and the access
code is 929 583 996. If more than one setting is noticed on the same day, parties shall wait on the
line until their case number is called. The parties are directed to contact the Court’s Judicial
Assistant, Julie Foster, julie.foster@judicial.state.co.us or 970-494-3800 if they have any
questions.
Courtroom 5A can be accessed as follows:
WebEx conference line: 1-415-655-0001 or 1-720-650-7664
Access Code: 929 583 996 # and then # again
https://judicial.webex.com/meet/julie.field
Access Code: 929 583 996
SO ORDERED: September 20, 2021.
BY THE COURT:
_________________________
Julie Kunce Field
District Court Judge