Honorable Rozella A. Oliver

1. ​Civil Motions: Civil Motions are heard on Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. It is not necessary to clear a civil motion date with the Courtroom Deputy Clerk (CRD) prior to filing the motion. The Court may take any motion under submission without oral argument.
2. Informal Discovery Dispute Resolution: Judge Oliver STRONGLY recommends that parties pursue informal discovery dispute resolution prior to filing any discovery motion. Whether a party attempted a good faith resolution of a discovery dispute, including the use of these informal resolution procedures, is one factor that Judge Oliver may consider in any future request for discovery-related sanctions.
   
   1. Prior to contacting the Court, the parties must meet and confer in good faith to attempt to resolve or narrow their disputes, including at least one discussion by telephone, video, or in person. The parties may then jointly contact Judge Oliver's courtroom deputy by email to [email protected].
      The email should contain:
      (1) confirmation of a meet and confer;
      (2) confirmation that all parties involved are in agreement in pursuing informal discovery dispute resolution; and
      (3) a very brief joint description of the current disovery issue(s). ​
      A​lternatively, the parties may jointly email a completed Request for Informal Telephonic Discovery Conference (available below), which may expedite the scheduling of an IDC.
   2. The Court will attempt to assist the parties in an efficient resolution of the discovery issue. Based on the joint email, the Court may schedule an informal discovery conference ("IDC") or ask the parties to first letter brief their dispute. IDCs are held telephonically. If letter briefing is necessary, the Court often asks the parties to propose a letter briefing schedule. Parties shall not request or expect the Court to order any substantive discovery relief based only on an email or any other communication that is not part of the record. The Court will only issue substantive discovery rulings after a hearing or letter briefing.
   3. The fact that the Court attempts to handle discovery issues informally does not constitute a guarantee that discovery disputes brought to the Court's attention towards the end of the discovery cutoff will be considered through the informal procedures. The parties are directed to carefully review the scheduling order issued by the District Judge assigned to their case for the provisions related to the fact and expert discovery cutoffs. The District Judge's order sets forth the Magistrate Judge's jurisdiction over discovery disputes. Where a District Judge requires any discovery ordered by the Magistrate Judge to be completed by the cut-off, parties generally should email the Court with their dispute no later than 4-6 weeks prior to the cut-off, depending on the discovery at issue. Requests for informal resolution without sufficient time for decision within the strictures of the District Judge's scheduling order will be denied.
   4. The Court expects strict compliance with any orders issued as part of the informal discovery dispute resolution process. This includes orders regarding page limits and deadlines for letter briefing, in addition to substantive discovery orders. Parties are cautioned that the Court will maintain the power to issue monetary and other sanctions, including for failures to meet and confer in good faith or abuses of the discovery process, including abuse of the informal resolution procedures. Implementation of these informal procedures should not be construed as permission to raise any minor discovery disagreement that may arise.

​