Plaintiffs Litigation: Changes in Local Rules of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

By: Chris Placitella @ Mar 08, 2012

Written by Matthew T. Stone, Esquire

For those that practice in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a pretty substantial change has just been made to the Local Rules. Rule 7.1, which governs motion practice, used to permit 14 days to respond to motions, with an exception for motions under Rule 12 (Motions to Dismiss) and Rule 56 (Motions for Summary Judgment) for which responses were due in 21 days.

The amendment does away with the exception: All motion responses are now due within 14 days of the filing of the motion. Of course, the 3 day mailing provision under Rule 6 is still in effect.

Less important, another amendment was made to 7.4 governing Stipulations. Parties must now seek court approval for every stipulation to extend time to answer, plead, or otherwise respond. This amendment does away with a provision that allowed the first of such stipulations to be approved by the clerk as a matter of course without judicial approval.

Practitioners should be aware of these rule changes.