The parties must attend a pretrial conference in person, unless the court for a good reason allows a party to appear by telephone. The court may impose a penalty provided under Rule 127(d) against a party for a failure to appear at the pretrial conference or for other violations of this rule.
The court may rule on a pending motion before the pretrial conference, and the court will vacate the pretrial conference if the result of the court's ruling on the motion is either a judgment or a dismissal. Otherwise, a pending motion will not vacate a pretrial conference. [ARCP 16(a), (f)]
Just. Ct. R. Civ. proc. 131