Rule 702.Scheduling, Status, or Pretrial Conference

Rule 702 is where a case gets a calendar.

The conference

A scheduling conference will be conducted as soon as practicable unless the court orders otherwise, and the court notifies all parties of a date that must not be modified except by leave of the court.

The outer limit: unless the court finds good cause, it must hold the scheduling conference within 8 weeks after the answer has been filed. Eight weeks, not sixty days — one of the few places these rules count in weeks.

The scheduling order

It must address five things: dates for trial and any pretrial conferences; deadlines for joining parties, amending pleadings, filing and hearing dispositive motions, completing discovery, and disclosing witnesses; alternative dispute resolution if appropriate; the need for a master if appropriate; and other matters aiding a speedy, fair and efficient resolution.

The witness-disclosure deadline set here is the one Rule 417(e)(1) enforces: information or a witness not disclosed as a scheduling or pretrial order requires may not be used on a motion, at a hearing, or at trial unless the failure was substantially justified or harmless.

Changing it

The order may be modified only for good cause shown and with the judge's consent. Both are required — the parties cannot stipulate their way past a scheduling order.

Making the court move

Section (d) is the party's lever. If the court fails to set a scheduling conference within 28 days of the Answer or Reply, a party may file a request for trial setting — and the court must then set a scheduling conference within 14 days. A case cannot sit unscheduled indefinitely.

That request also matters under Rules 602(d)(3) and 603(d)(3): if all parties indicate in the request or response that mediation would be beneficial, the court may order it.

Later conferences

A status or pretrial conference may be scheduled by the court at any time on its own initiative, and a party may request one after the initial scheduling conference and before the final pretrial conference. After any conference the court should issue an order reciting the action taken, and that order controls the course of the action unless modified.