Rule 3.201 - Civil Case Management The following rules apply to all Chapter 60 civil actions except by order of the Court upon motion. The Court upon motion may order that these rules may be supplemented by adding discovery in complex civil cases, cases involving a large number of legal issues or parties, cases in which geographic considerations may delay the discovery process or any other case which the Court finds in its discretion would not be susceptible to proper management under these rules.
1. Counsel for all parties shall confer within thirty (30) days of the date of service of the answer or the last answer if the case has multiple defendants to prepare an agreed case management order [F 3.201(1)]. The order shall schedule all discovery for completion within four months. If more time is requested the reason therefore shall be stated in the proposed order. Counsel shall schedule a conference call with the administrative assistant of the division in which the case is pending to obtain dates for final pretrial and trial. Whether the pretrial and jury trial are scheduled in the case management order is discretionary with the Court. The order shall then be filed within fourteen (14) days of the conference call and approved by the Court in the format prescribed by the Court. Counsel shall exercise reasonable efforts in attempting to agree upon a scheduling order. Failure to confer may result in sanctions being imposed by the Court under the provisions of DCR 3.204. In the event counsel are unable to agree upon an order despite reasonable efforts the Court will set the case for a case management conference to resolve the dispute and will enter a scheduling order. 2. Except by order of the Court, a party shall, without the receipt of formal discovery requests, provide to the other parties answers to standard interrogatories [F 3.201(2) A, B] and responses to standard requests for production of documents [F 3.201 (2) C, D] properly requested by the other parties. The responding party shall print copies of the interrogatory questions and requests for production with the respective answers and responses and serve the questions, answers, requests and responses on all parties of record. The Court has pre-approved in these rules standard interrogatory questions and standard requests for production of documents for use in all civil cases. A party seeking to obtain information contained within these standard requests shall send a letter to the party from whom such information is sought designating the number or numbers of the interrogatory questions and requests for production being sought. A photocopy of this letter shall be simultaneously sent to the Court. Although for indexing purposes the interrogatory questions and requests for production have been designated "Plaintiff to Defendant" and "Defendant to Plaintiff," where relevant any party may submit any interrogatory question or request for production to any other party regardless of the indexing designation. No more than thirty (30) questions and thirty (30) requests for production may be requested without leave of Court. The responding party shall have thirty (30) days from the date the letter is served in which to provide the information requested. If any party desires case specific interrogatory questions or requests for production that party will be allowed to serve such written discovery requests provided the specific discovery requests are appended to and allowed by the court in the case management order. No additional interrogatories or requests for production of documents other than those contained in this rule may be served without leave of court. 3. With respect to the information that falls within the scope of the preceding section, the Court will strictly enforce these written requests for information and will not entertain objections to the production of non-privileged information sought unless it falls within the scope of K.S.A. 60-226(c). Extensions of time in which to provide this information will be granted only in extreme cases where substantial hardship exists. Failure to timely provide the information required may result in the imposition of sanctions without the necessity of a motion to compel pursuant to the provisions of DCR 3.204. 4. Except as otherwise ordered, the Court will not entertain any motion under K.S.A. 60-237 unless counsel for the moving party has conferred with or has made a good faith effort to confer with opposing counsel concerning the matter in dispute prior to the filing of the motion. Counsel for the moving party shall submit a certificate of compliance with this rule with any motion filed under K.S.A. 60-237. All motions filed under K.S.A. 60-237 shall be filed and served within thirty (30) days of the default or the service of the response, answer, or objection which is the subject of the motion, unless the time for the filing of such motion is extended for good cause shown, or the objection to the default, response, answer or objection shall be waived. 5. The Court has pre-approved standard medical authorizations, employment authorizations, income tax record authorizations and insurance record authorizations which shall be signed by the plaintiff and provided to the defendant if requested. [F3.201 (2) F] If the plaintiff is not making a claim for personal injury then medical authorizations need not be furnished except upon order of the Court. If the plaintiff is not making a claim for loss of earnings or loss of earning capacity then employment and income tax authorizations need not be furnished except upon order of the Court. 6. Except to the extent otherwise stipulated or directed by order of the Court, the parties are limited to the taking of four (4) depositions per party. Except to the extent otherwise stipulated or directed by order of the Court, the deposition of a non-party witness shall not exceed two (2) hours in length, and the deposition of a party or an expert witness shall not exceed four (4) hours in length. In addition to conforming to the requirements of K.S.A. 60-230, K.S.A. 60-231 and K.S.A. 60-232, the parties shall conform their deposition practice to the requirements contained in DCR 3.203. 7. The depositions of all parties, if desired to be taken by any other party, shall be obtained within ninety (90) days of the entry of the scheduling order in the case unless this time is extended by the Court for good cause shown. 8. A pretrial questionnaire from each party in the form pre-approved by the Court [F 3.201 (8)] shall be exchanged among all other parties and furnished to the Court at least five (5) working days prior to the pretrial conference. Failure to timely exchange pretrial questionnaires and submit them to the Court may result in the imposition of sanctions under the provisions of DCR 3.204. 9. All exhibits intended to be used at trial shall be marked by the court reporter in the presence of all counsel seven (7) days prior to trial. It is the duty of counsel to make themselves available to meet with the court reporter to mark exhibits. 10. With respect to comparative negligence actions, if any party is claiming the fault of another individual or entity to be compared, then, if requested, an identification of such person or entity shall be made no less than thirty (30) days before the close of discovery. If no such identification is timely made, the fault of such persons or entities will not be allowed except upon motion and order of the court finding good cause as to why the identification could not have been timely. In the event this identification designates persons or entities not already investigated through discovery the court shall allow any other parties additional time in which to complete necessary discovery with respect to such individuals or entities. Nothing in this provision shall prevent any party from seeking leave of court for an earlier identification if the interests of justice so require. Revised: 6/14/2000; 2/15/2012