Southern District of Florida | United States District Court



UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA

DISCOVERY PROCEDURES FOR

MAGISTRATE JUDGE LAUREN FLEISCHER LOUIS

The following discovery procedures apply to all civil cases assigned to United States District Judge Donald L. Graham.

Parties are directed to not file written discovery motions. Rather, they must follow these discovery procedures.

First, counsel must actually confer (in person or via telephone) and engage in reasonable compromise in a genuine effort to resolve their discovery disputes before seeking court intervention.

If, after conferring, parties are unable to resolve their discovery disputes without Court intervention, the party seeking to enforce a discovery obligation or obtain protection from such an obligation (the “movant”) may request a hearing by sending an email to United States Magistrate Judge Lauren Fleischer Louis at louis@flsd.. The subject line of the email shall be “Request for Discovery Hearing”. The email shall provide the Court with two proposed dates within the following fourteen business days where all parties are available. The email shall state the amount of time that the parties anticipate needing for the hearing. The email shall be copied to all counsel and shall certify that the moving party has conferred with opposing counsel and confirmed opposing counsel’s availability on the proposed dates.

On the same day that the Court confirms an available time on the discovery calendar, the movant shall file a Notice of Hearing (and calendaring a “Discovery Hearing” on the ECF system when prompted). The Notice of Hearing shall specify the substance of the discovery matter to be heard. For example, “The Parties dispute the appropriate time frame for Plaintiff’s Interrogatory Nos. 1, 5, 6-9,” or “The Parties dispute the number of depositions permitted.” The Notice shall also include a certificate of good faith that complies with Local Rule 7.1(a)(3).

The parties shall provide to Judge Louis a copy of all source materials relevant to the discovery dispute via scanned PDF document that is emailed to the CM/ECF mailbox (louis@flsd.), no later than noon two business days preceding the discovery calendar. (For example, if the dispute concerns interrogatories, the interrogatories at issue and the response thereto shall be provided to the undersigned’s Chambers.) With respect to issues involving privilege disputes, the party with the burden of persuasion on a privilege claim has the obligation to present to the Court, no later than the time of the hearing, sworn evidence if necessary to satisfy that burden. The failure to present that sworn evidence by the scheduled hearing may be deemed by the Court a waiver of the privilege absent a showing of good cause.

These procedures do not relieve parties from the requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or Local Rules of this Court except as noted above.

The parties shall immediately notify chambers, at (305) 523-5710, in advance of the hearing, if they resolve some or all of the issues in dispute.

THE COURT WILL NOT CONSIDER ANY DISCOVERY DISPUTE THAT DOES NOT COMPLY WITH THESE PROCEDURES.

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