Pursuant to new Patent Local Rule 2-1, when actions concerning the same patent are filed within two years of each other by the same plaintiff, they will be deemed related and all later-filed cases will be assigned to the judge presiding under the lowest-numbered case. If the lowest-numbered case is assigned to a magistrate judge to whom the parties in that case have consented to proceed before, the magistrate shall retain any related higher-numbered cases regardless of the parties' consent. Thus, even suits against a different defendant are (assuming jurisdiction exists) affected by this rule.
The revisions to Civil Local Rules 7-13, 11 40-1, and 73-1, in contrast, are minor, housekeeping changes. Revised Civil Local Rule 7-13 now provides litigants a more gentle way to poke a judge who has delayed acting on a motion or other matter that has been under submission for more than 120 days. Now, a party need not file a notice directly with the Court, but may ask the Northern District of California Ombudsman to intercede on its behalf.
The changes to Civil Local Rule 11, while numerous, also are largely procedural. Now, to be admitted to practice before the District, an attorney must certify that he or she is familiar with the Guidelines for Professional Conduct in the Northern District of California. The way in which matters are referred to the Standing Committee on Professional Conduct and the way any findings of such body are published has also been tweaked. Most notably, an attorney who presents a case to the Standing Committee may no longer request her out-of-pocket expenses for presenting the case.
Pursuant to Revised Civil Local Rule 40-1, the failure of a party to proceed with trial on the scheduled trial date may now result in the assessment of jury costs as well as "appropriate" sanctions, including dismissal or the entry of default. Jury costs may now also be assessed for failure to provide the Court with timely notice of a settlement. Under the old rule, notice of a settlement had to be written and sanctions could be leveled against a party's attorney for failure to do so. Those provisions were dropped.
Under Revised Civil Local Rule 73-1, the deadline to request that a case initially assigned to a magistrate judge be reassigned to a district judge or to consent to proceeding before the magistrate may now be set not only by the magistrate herself, but by the Clerk of the Court.
Redlines of all of these Civil Local Rule changes are available at the District's website, here.
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