Rule 7A:14.Continuances.

Rule 7A:14 channels continuance requests through four different situations. As a baseline, continuances should not be granted except by a judge, in the judge’s discretion, for good cause shown, or as otherwise provided by law. A judge can delegate to the clerk the power to grant continuances that all parties consent to, but only within an order that spells out the circumstances, and that order needs to be reasonably disseminated and posted so the bar and the public know it exists.

When every party agrees to a continuance, Rule 7A:14(b) allows a single party to make the request orally, as long as that party certifies to the judge that everyone else knows about the request and concurs. That request should come as far ahead of the scheduled hearing as practical, and if the court grants it, the moving party is responsible for making sure every subpoenaed witness learns of the new date — either through an agreement that each side notifies its own witnesses, or some other arrangement reasonably calculated to reach everyone.

When the parties do not all agree, Rule 7A:14(c) requires the request to go to the court before the originally scheduled hearing or trial time, and if the court decides to hold a hearing on the request beforehand, the requesting party has to notify every party of that hearing. Rule 7A:14(d) covers the request made only once the hearing or trial has already begun, with other parties or witnesses present and ready — that late request should be granted only on a showing that proceeding with trial would not serve the interest of justice.

Rule 7A:14(e) defines “parties” for the rule: in a civil case, every plaintiff, defendant, and third-party defendant; in a criminal or traffic infraction case, the prosecution and the defendant. That definition determines whose agreement counts toward the all-parties-agree procedure in subdivision (b) and whose opposition triggers subdivision (c) instead.