7.1      Motions in general

1. Briefs - All motions, except those made orally during a hearing or trial, shall be accompanied by a supporting brief. Any party opposing a written motion shall do so by filing and serving a brief conforming to these rules. All briefs filed in support of or in opposition to any motion shall contain a concise statement of the reasons in support of the party's position and shall cite all applicable federal rules of procedure, all applicable local rules, and the other authorities upon which the party relies. References to the record shall comply with LCivR 10.9. Briefs shall not be submitted in the form of a letter to the judge.
2. Supporting documents - When allegations of facts not appearing of record are relied upon in support of or in opposition to any motion, all affidavits or other documents relied upon to establish such facts shall accompany the motion. All discovery motions shall set forth verbatim, or have attached, the relevant discovery request and answer or objection. Exhibits and attachments in support of or in opposition to a motion shall comply with LCivR 5.3 and LCivR 5.7(d)(vii)(B). Absent leave of court, the number of pages of exhibits and attachments that may be filed in support of a motion is limited to either 1) two hundred (200) pages per party, or alternatively, 2) five hundred (500) pages, provided the parties meet and confer and jointly file the agreed upon exhibits and attachments. If leave of court is granted to exceed the page limits established for attachments, the parties will be permitted to file the record they deem appropriate with a joint appendix. The joint appendix shall identify the documents attached and identify the specific documents or portion thereof, that the parties believe the court should review.
3. Modification of limits - In its discretion, the court may in a particular case shorten or enlarge any time, word count, or page limit established by these rules, with or without prior notice or motion.
4. Attempt to obtain concurrence - With respect to all motions, the moving party shall ascertain whether the motion will be opposed. In addition, in the case of all nondispositive motions, counsel or pro se parties involved in the dispute shall confer in a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute. All nondispositive motions shall be accompanied by a separately filed certificate setting forth in detail the efforts of the moving party to comply with the obligation created by this rule.
5. Motion for expedited consideration - Where the relief requested by a motion may be rendered moot before the motion is briefed in accordance with the schedules set forth herein, the party shall so indicate by inserting the phrase “EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION REQUESTED," in boldface type, below the case caption, and shall identify in the motion the reason expedited consideration is necessary.
6. Unavailability of district judge - If it appears that any matter requires immediate attention, and the district judge to whom the case has been assigned, or in the usual course would be assigned, is not available, the matter shall be referred to the assigned magistrate judge, who shall decide the matter if it is within the magistrate judge's jurisdiction. If the matter can only be decided by a district judge, the magistrate judge shall determine whether the matter can be set for a hearing at a time when the assigned district judge is available. If the matter is determined by a magistrate judge to require an immediate hearing before a district judge, the case will be referred to the Chief Judge, or in the Chief Judge’s absence, the next available district judge by seniority for decision or reassignment to an available district judge. After disposition of this emergency matter, the case will be returned to the originally assigned district judge. If the parties have consented to proceed before the magistrate judge under LCivR 73, and that magistrate judge is not available to attend to the emergency matter, it will be referred to the duty magistrate judge for determination.