Legal Question in Administrative Law in California
Case Management Statement
I filed a lawsuit in the superior court against three defendants for inflicting extensive damage on my property and not accepting responsibility to fix it.
My Case Management Conference is on September 28, 07. Here are my questions.
1) Is it too late for me to file my Case Management Statement with the court now?
2) Do I need to file a separate CMS with the court for each defendant, or I can file one case management conference for all the three defendants?
3) Is it mandatory on my part to do discoveries, depositions, and interrogatories with all those whom I list in my CMS or, I have the option of not proceeding with everyone listed if I decide not to?
Thank you for clarification.
Frank
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Case Management Statement
1. its not too late.
2. one statement is fine
3. no it is not mandatory.
Re: Case Management Statement
Taking your questions in order:
(1) The Rules of Court say the Case Management Statement must be filed and served not later than 15 calendar days before the Case Management Conference. So, you're not late yet; you have a few more days.
(2) No, you don't need a separate CMS for each defendant. That would be excessive paperwork and some judges would get irritated.
(3) It's entirely up to you whether you do full discovery on each party defendant, none at all, or somewhere in between. You should be guided by your strategic and tactical needs to obtain discoverable information. Think about the evidence you need to establish each and every element of your causes of action.