Hon. Arlene Bluth — Part 14 Rules

HON. ARLENE P. BLUTH - Part 14 Rules

NO HARD COPIES OF MOTION PAPERS ARE REQUIRED FOR E-FILED CASES

60 Centre Street, Room 432, New York, New York 10007

Principal Court Attorney

Gregory L. Schneider

Assistant Law Clerk

Jacob Hade

Courtroom Part Clerk

Gail Redd

For non e-filed cases

Parties are strongly encouraged to go to nycourts.gov or

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us.webcivil and click on e-Track to register so that you can

follow your case.

Oral Argument on Motions

Motions will be decided on submission unless otherwise

directed. Any party can request oral argument by e-filing a letter. Such a request should

be made prior to the submission of the motion.

Conferences

At least two weeks prior to the conference, please review the docket for

court notices about the procedure for discovery conferences.

1. Communications with Part Clerk and Chambers – Including Adjournments

If the parties wish to contact the Court, please upload an e-filed letter. Please

note that the Court will NOT make a decision based on an ex-parte letter, as Court

decisions are made only after a motion is made. You may also send an email to both

SFC-Part14-Clerk@nycourts.gov and SFC-Part14@nycourts.gov in addition to

uploading the letter.

A. Requests for Adjournments/Scheduling Matters

1. Motions in Room 130: Follow Room 130's rules for adjournments.

2. Motions (Including OSCs) in the Courtroom and Conferences: Parties may seek

an adjournment by uploading a request, preferably signed by all parties, to NYSCEF (for

e-filed cases) that must be received 24 hours prior to the scheduled appearance. For

paper cases please send an email to both SFC-Part14-Clerk@nycourts.gov and SFC-

Part14@nycourts.gov.

2. Motion Practice/Page Limits

A. Attorneys appearing before Justice Bluth must be familiar with the case and

prepared to discuss settlement. Pre-arrange to have your client reachable by

telephone.

B. Please read these rules carefully. Your papers may be disregarded for

failure to follow these rules. The failure of the movant to follow these rules may result

in the denial of the motion with leave to bring it again upon proper papers, but absent

good cause no deadline will be extended.

C. General Motion Guidelines.

1. E-Filed papers: The Court does not require hard copies of motion papers

unless specifically requested. Please email the clerk if you have exhibits that

cannot be uploaded to NYSCEF (such as videos) to facilitate submission to the

part.

2. Motions with opposition, after being fully submitted in room 130, may be

scheduled for oral argument (in-person) at the Court’s discretion.

3. Motion Sequence Number (“MSQ”): Often several motions are submitted at

the same time. To keep papers organized, the first page of EVERY motion paper

must reflect the respective MSQ in the upper right corner.

4. Exhibits:

(I) Consult the E-Filing Protocol when uploading exhibits. The failure to

comply with the protocol may result in a denial of a motion.

(ii) Referring to exhibits: Each page in any exhibit must be numbered.

Reference to any exhibit must include pinpoint citations so the exact location

within the exhibit can be found easily. Likewise, any reference to deposition

testimony must cite to the exact page and line numbers relied upon rather than

merely attaching the entire transcript or “relevant portions”.

5. Unless advance permission is granted, the parties shall comply with Uniform

Civil Rule 202.8-b regarding word limits. Otherwise, the Court may (at its

discretion) disregard the papers.

.

D. OSC to be relieved as counsel

Provide enough information for Justice Bluth to

fashion a method of service likely to reach your client.

E. Motions/special proceedings submitted on default in Room 130 are not generally

scheduled for oral argument.

F. Summary Judgment Motions

1. Discovery is to continue during the pendency of a CPLR 3212 motion,

unless good cause is shown why discovery should be stayed. A stipulation

between parties will not suffice.

2. Timeliness: All summary judgment motions must be made no later than 120

days after filing of the note of issue - there are no exceptions without leave of

Court (leave will only be granted upon a motion).

3. Cross-motions which seek relief against a party other than the party making

the initial motion DO NOT relate back to the date the original motion was made

and must be filed within 120 days of the filing of the note of issue. Cross-motions

made against the initial movant DO generally relate back and will be considered.

3. Conferences (Preliminary, Compliance, Status, Pre-Trial)

A. The rules of this part require compliance with court-ordered deadlines. The

failure to adhere to deadlines and comply with orders may result in serious penalties.

Counsel participating in conferences are expected to be thoroughly familiar with the

case, have the authority to discuss and stipulate to resolve all discovery issues and be

prepared to discuss settlement.

B. If you have any motions pending in the Motion Submission Part, or which are

sub judice, please bring this to the attention of the law clerk handling the conference.

1. Counsel are assumed to have consulted with your clients regarding

their availability for depositions.

2. As indicated in nearly every discovery order, the parties are directed to

update the Court (via NYSCEF) about the status of discovery at least a week prior to the

scheduled conference. Typically, this involves uploading a discovery stipulation signed

by all parties or communications about pending discovery disputes. The failure to

update the Court may result in an adjournment of the conference or a directive to file

the note of issue.

C. Instructions Applicable to Conference Orders and Stipulations

1. Non-specific statements such as “all discovery not yet provided” or

“unless otherwise provided” or “to the extent not yet provided” will not preserve any

rights. Counsel must know what has and has not been exchanged and must be

prepared to resolve discovery issues.

2. Note of issue dates to be determined at the close of discovery. A note

of issue may not be filed until there is a conference order granting permission.

3. Trial authorizations must be provided 90 days before trial.