Case Management Conference, CA

[Rookie]

I received a Notice Hearing for a Civil Case Management Conference from the court. 

Date of the conference is 8/30, 

 

The only thing written on the Notice Hearing:

 

Counsel: Check service list. If you have brought a party into this case who is not included in the service list, San Diego Superior Court Local Rules, Division II requires you to serve the party with a copy of this notice. (OK, Plaintiff did that)

 

A case management statement must be completed by counsel for all parties or parties in pro per and timely filed with the court at least 15 days prior to the initial case management conference. (San Diego Local Rules, Division II, CRC Rule 3.725)

 

All counsel of record or parties in pro per shall appear at the Case Management Conference, be familiar with the case and be fully prepared to participate effectively in the hearing, including discussion of ADR options.

 

http://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/portal/page?_pageid=55,1740539&_dad=portal

 

http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/cm110.pdf (I believe this is the form I must use)

 

What do I need to do to prepare for this hearing? 

On the CM 110 it question 5 asks me to choose "Jury or Non-jury Trial". What am I supposed to choose?

 

I am getting so overwhelmed! I work full-time to make ends meet, have a family to run, was recently injured in a car accident AND I have this case looming over my head. Please help!!!!

[RyanEX]

Don't worry. The CMC is relatively easy - really it's just a check-in between yourself, plaintiff and the judge. It's not for arguing the case. My CMC is approaching...most people's experience is that the plaintiff sends a rent-a-lawyer to take notes for them, perhaps even offer you a settlement. Judge often sets the trial date and discovery cutoff.

 

There are a few threads here about filling out the CM-110, do a search. Come back and ask questions about items you're unsure about. I started here: http://www.saclaw.lib.ca.us/pages/case-management.aspx

 

I think most people check off "non-jury". You'll want to file it with your court house by that 15 day mark, so by Aug 15th. At the same time serve your CM-110 on the plaintiff: just have a 3rd party who is unrelated to the case fill out a proof of service (I used POS-030) and have them mail that with a copy of your CM-110 to the plaintiff via certified mail with return receipt.

[Rookie]

Thanks RyanEx! 

This helps a lot. 

 

This may be a dumb question, but...

When answering Paragraph 4 (Description of Case)and 4b (provide a brief statement of the case) do I check "complaint" and then include the complaints the Plaintiff the have listed in their suit?

I not filing a cross-complaint.

Paragraph 19 asks about a 'Meet & Confer". Do I have to schedule something with the Plaintiff or do they contact me? I phoned the JDB at one point (not for this) and they said everything must go through their attorney. 

[RyanEX]

No dumb questions here. All of this is foreign to most of us, I for one always feel like every move I make can have consequences. Ask away!

 

Here's a thread I studied to prep my CM-110 (starting page 3 for the CMC): http://www.creditinfocenter.com/community/topic/315816

 

On 4a I kept it simple, since 4b requests a more detailed explanation. Some 4a examples: "Complaint for account stated"  "Consumer collections complaint for breach of contract" or simply "Breach of contract"

 

4b I wrote up specific to my case, check out the thread linked above, I used it as a basis for mine. Plus Calawyer weighed in on it, always good to pay attention to recommendations from Calawyer.

 

Regarding #19, check out 3.724 of the California Rules of Court. I didn't attempt to contact the JDB, nor they me. I left 19 blank - now I have to wait to see if the judge will care. That you tried to phone the JDB may suffice, maybe others can weigh in on that...

[ASTMedic]

CMC is cake. Just be sure to go with your game face/dress on. This will be your first chance to show these butt holes you mean business.

[RyanEX]

CMC is cake. Just be sure to go with your game face/dress on. This will be your first chance to show these butt holes you mean business.

Definitely a good idea. I just had my CMC last week (and it was cake). I wore a nice suit, shirt and tie. Everyone I talked to - from the sheriffs manning the building entrance, to the bailiff, to the judge - asked me if I was a lawyer/ or commented that I looked like one. In particular, I think I made a good impression with the judge - I felt I made the impression with him that I intend on taking care of business.

[calawyer]

You should try to call plaintiff's lawyer to meet and confer about the CMC.  They will probably not return the call or they will have someone call you and want to talk about settlement.  If they do return the call to meet and confer just ask if they want a jury trial and how long they anticipate that the trial will take.  All business.

 

If they do not return the call, you can say in your CMC statement that you tried to call [twice/several times] to meet and confer as required but plaintiff did not return the call.

[unemployednomore]

You should try to call plaintiff's lawyer to meet and confer about the CMC.  They will probably not return the call or they will have someone call you and want to talk about settlement.  If they do return the call to meet and confer just ask if they want a jury trial and how long they anticipate that the trial will take.  All business.

 

If they do not return the call, you can say in your CMC statement that you tried to call [twice/several times] to meet and confer as required but plaintiff did not return the call.

 

Be prepared for them to lie about contact as well. If they ignore you prior to the CMC and you tell the judge you contacted them multiple times, they'll turn it around and try to say, "well we've been trying to contact the defendant and he/she's been ignoring us!" That's what happened at my CMC. Don't let it fluster you though.

[ASTMedic]

Yep stay calm and don't let anything get you worked up. This is purely a "are things going well" check up.

[Rookie]

Thanks Everyone!!

 

On another note: I just received the Plaintiff's response to my Demand for BoP. 

They sent me the same things they sent me when I requested validation of the debt:

 1. General BOS the does not reference my name or account number

 2. The last year of statements before the account was closed (this time they blacked out most of the acct. #)

 3. Very faded copy of some credit card agreement. No signature, no reference to me or my account. 

 

They've sent the same three things to me 3 times, now. 

[calawyer]

Thanks Everyone!!

 

On another note: I just received the Plaintiff's response to my Demand for BoP. 

They sent me the same things they sent me when I requested validation of the debt:

 1. General BOS the does not reference my name or account number

 2. The last year of statements before the account was closed (this time they blacked out most of the acct. #)

 3. Very faded copy of some credit card agreement. No signature, no reference to me or my account. 

 

They've sent the same three things to me 3 times, now. 

 

 

Excellent.  SO when they send YOU discovery asking questions about the account, you won't know what they are talking about.  See 1111girl's thread for some nice objections.

[xavi72]

Maybe calawyer can comment on this but I was told by an L.A. county clerk that CMC's were no longer going to be scheduled.  I just filed my answer and was told that the next time I get a notice will be to inform me about my Trial date which are now being scheduled about a year from the date you filed your Answer.

[calawyer]

Several Courts are talking about cancelling CMCs to save money.  Check your local rules.

[cjb3]

 the plaintiff sends a rent-a-lawyer to take notes for them, perhaps even offer you a settlement.

 

Be sure to take a DV letter with the name left blank.  If it is a rent-a-lawyer, get his name/law firm name before the meeting, fill in his and the firm's name and give it to him as you are walking into the meeting.

 

If he continues without validating, sue him and his firm.

 

LOL, just a thought.

[xavi72]

Several Courts are talking about cancelling CMCs to save money.  Check your local rules.

 

Thanks Calawyer...I just found this according to L.A. County local rules:

 

 

3.23 EXEMPTION FROM CASE MANAGEMENT RULES

Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 3.720(, all limited civil cases and all Personal

Injury Actions (as defined in Rule 2.3(a)(1)(A)) filed before January 1, 2016 are exempted from the

case management rules of Title 3, Division 7, Chapter 3 of the California Rules of Court. The court

will set trial dates and make other case management orders, including orders concerning compliance

with Code of Civil Procedure sections 1141.10 et seq. and 1775 et seq. (concerning mandatory

judicial arbitration and mediation in unlimited civil cases in which the amount in contr

[Rookie]

I'm sending my response to their Form Interrogatories and have a question about one the Instructions to the Answering Party:

 

 -Your answers to these interrogatories must be verified, dated and signed. You may wish to use the following form at the end of your answers:

"I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing answers are true and correct. "

 

I have a couple of questions about this:

1.By adding this to the response and filing a copy with the court does this make this response 'verified".?

2. Is there anything else I should know about this statement that they allege is mandatory?

[Rookie]

Had to chuckle.

I called Plaintiff's attorney's office to set up a "meet & confer" and their person right away tried to get me to set up a payment plan. 

I told her I wasn't interested in paying the alleged debt and I was in fact disputing it. 

I then told her that I was trying to discover whether or not the Plaintiff wanted a jury trial or not. Also, asked how long they expected the trial to last. 

I was then told that I needed to consult my own attorney to answer my questions and that they could not answer the questions because they were representing the Plaintiff. 

Well, I did my duty

Thanks @calawyer!!

[Rookie]

I received a 2nd response to my Demand for BoP. It is a bad copy of the original response and it now includes a "Verification" from the JDB's staff attorney. 

Should I even give this signed form a second thought? Is this an affidavit?

It reads as follows:

 

I declare that:

My Name is XXXXXX 

I am a Staff Attorney for Calvary Portfolio Services, LLC, servicing agent for the Plaintiff in this action; as such, I am authorized to make this Verification on behalf of that party. 

 

I have the the attached document.

 

The matters stated therein are true of my own knowledge based on my review of the Cavalry files, except for those matters which are stated on my information or belief, and as to those matter, I believe them to be true. The documents attached are directly related to the said Account. 

 

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the forgoing is true and correct. 

 

Executed on (date), at Valhalla, New York.

 

Did they just kill a tree for no reason to reprint everything and to include this additional "Verification" or do I need to worry?

 

I also have to send in my CM-110 this week.

Is now an appropriate time to send them RFAs? I was hoping to get those back before the CMC. 

Should I send a request for Documents? Or did my BOP take care of that?

[Rookie]

bump

[unemployednomore]

I did a BOP and a request for production of documents when I was sued. You're never hurt by sending them as many discovery requests as you feel fit. Just remember the guidelines for total inquiries (35) and don't go over it. (well, I believe you can go over it, technically, but it might involve the court or a declaration by you as to why there needs to be more than 35).

 

It's interesting that the verification by the lawyer would include verbiage as far as "this is true to the best of my knowledge." In my experience a lawyer's verification page is simply, "these documents are actually from [JDB] to the best of my knowledge. The lawyer doesn't actually know if the information in them is accurate. Kind of weird, imo, for the lawyer to suggest they know anything about the accuracy of their client's documents. It could actually be a good thing for you down the road if they've got their lawyer authenticating company documents. But I wouldn't worry too much about it just yet.

 

ETA: Don't stress about filling the CMC form correctly. It's just a fill in the blank thing. Really easy.

[Rookie]

The plaintiff's attorney filed their Case Management Conference statement late. Mine was on time (15 days prior to CMC). Can I use this against the Plaintiff? If so, how?

My CMC is tomorrow

[RyanEX]

A late filing might annoy the judge, but outside of that I don't think there is any consequence. My judge didn't even bring up the statement at the CMC, and both parties had filed it late.

 

The statement is just a precursor for the conference - IMO it doesn't have much bearing on the case itself.

[calawyer]

The plaintiff's attorney filed their Case Management Conference statement late. Mine was on time (15 days prior to CMC). Can I use this against the Plaintiff? If so, how?

My CMC is tomorrow

 

Some Judges care and some do not.  If your Judge cares, she will notice without your saying anything.