§ 2024.040.040

Not every civil case fits comfortably into the 30-day and 15-day framework Section 2024.020 sets up, so this section removes three categories from that framework and points to the rules that govern them instead. A case ordered into judicial arbitration follows the timing set by Judicial Council rule instead, and if the case proceeds to trial after an arbitration award, the scope of any further discovery is limited by the statute governing that post-award phase.

Unlawful detainer proceedings, the fast-moving summary actions used to recover possession of real property, get a compressed cutoff of their own: discovery in these cases must be completed by the fifth day before the date set for trial, reflecting how little time these proceedings typically allow between filing and trial. That short cutoff is not absolute, however; it remains subject to the same extension and reopening tools, the motion procedure in Section 2024.050 and the stipulation procedure in Section 2024.060, that apply to discovery cutoffs generally.

Eminent domain proceedings receive no substitute rule at all in this chapter. Discovery timing there is left to the separate title of the code governing eminent domain, since the government's power to condemn property raises procedural questions distinct enough from an ordinary two-party civil action that this chapter steps aside entirely.