Kimel v. Groupon, Inc. et al

Filing 3

Initial Standing Order. Judge Sara Lioi on 3/10/2011. (P,J)

(Rev. 11-08-10)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
EASTERN DIVISION

HEATHER KIMEL,

PLAINTIFF,
vs.

GROUPON, INC., et al,

DEFENDANTS.

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CASE NO. 5:11cv488

JUDGE SARA LIOI

INITIAL STANDING ORDER

I. ELECTRONIC FILING
All attorneys are required to file electronically. The electronic filing
policy/procedure is available on the court’s web site (www.ohnd.uscourts.gov) along with
registration forms, training materials and tutorials.
II. DOCUMENT FORMATTING
All documents filed in this action, whether electronically or by other means,
shall be presented in the following form: all margins shall be at least one inch; the main
text of all documents shall be at least 12-point, double-spaced non-condensed type (“noncondensed type” referring either to Times New Roman type or to another type that has no
more than 80 characters to a line of text); footnotes and block quotations may be single-1-

spaced; and footnotes may be in a different-size font, no smaller than a 10-point singlespaced type font. Compliance with the foregoing requirements will be judged in
comparison with the Court’s own WordPerfect and Microsoft Word generated documents.
Both paper documents and electronically-filed documents when printed out will be held to
this standard. Nonconforming documents may be stricken, in the Court’s discretion.
III. FILING OF DISCOVERY MATERIALS
Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, discovery materials shall not
generally be filed in this matter. Deposition excerpts or relevant portions of other discovery
materials offered in support of or in opposition to a motion are to be filed with the party’s
memorandum of law and attached as properly identified exhibits thereto. Where deposition
excerpts have been attached in support of or in opposition to a dispositive motion (e.g., a
motion to dismiss or for summary judgment), the entire deposition transcript must also be
separately, and simultaneously, filed. Such deposition transcript(s) must be filed
electronically and must be in text-searchable PDF format.
IV. MOTIONS TO DISMISS FILED BEFORE THE CASE MANAGEMENT
CONFERENCE
The Court will hold a defendant who files a motion under Rule 12 of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to the requirements of Rule 12, including in particular the
timing requirements of Rule 12(a)(4).
Any motion to dismiss filed prior to the Case Management Conference may
not exceed twenty (20) pages. Responses to any such motion to dismiss must be filed
within thirty (30) days of the filing of the motion and may not exceed twenty (20) pages.
Replies must be filed within fourteen (14) days of the filing of the response and may not
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exceed ten (10) pages.

V. MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT FILED BEFORE DISCOVERY
CUTOFF
The Court typically permits only one summary judgment motion per party,
although it reserves the right to make exceptions. A party must seek leave of Court if he or
she wishes to file any additional or supplemental motions for summary judgment.
As a general rule, the Court anticipates summary judgment motions
according to the schedule set forth in the Case Management Plan and, in any event, only
after completion of discovery. If a party chooses to file a motion for summary judgment at
any time prior to the discovery cut-off, unless the Court orders otherwise in a particular
case, there will be no requirement that the opposition brief be filed earlier than the date set
by the Case Management Plan. If a motion for summary judgment is filed even before the
Case Management Plan has issued (i.e., before the Case Management Conference is
conducted), Local Rule 7.1(d) and (e) will govern the deadlines for filing the response and
reply briefs, unless the Court orders otherwise.
A motion with supporting brief, a brief in opposition, and a reply brief, all
complying with the lengths permitted by Local Rules, are the only documents that will be
accepted absent prior leave of Court. A courtesy copy of each of these documents –
including all exhibits and appendices thereto – shall be delivered to chambers no later than
one (1) business day after the original is filed. Except for the case of sealed documents, the
courtesy copy must be an exact copy of the filed document, including the
electronically-applied header on every page.
All facts presented to the Court in any brief or memorandum setting forth a
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party’s position with respect to a motion must be supported by pinpoint citations to the case
record. For example, it is not sufficient to say: “See Green Affidavit” or “See Williams
Deposition.” Instead, each citation must be to a particular paragraph of the Affidavit or to a
particular page or pages of the Deposition.
Where deposition excerpts have been attached in support of or in opposition
to a dispositive motion, the entire deposition transcript must also be separately, and
simultaneously, filed. Such deposition transcript must be filed electronically in textsearchable PDF format.
VI. EXHIBITS ACCOMPANYING PLEADINGS OR MOTIONS
Unless otherwise permitted according to the electronic policies and
procedures of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, all exhibits
accompanying pleadings and motions must be filed electronically in text-searchable PDF
format; they may not be scanned.
When electronically filing exhibits in support of pleadings or motions, each
exhibit must be identified with a description, not merely a number. For example, if the first
exhibit consists of the affidavit of John Doe, the document should be filed as “Exhibit 1 Affidavit of John Doe.” Filers shall consult with the Office of the Clerk if uncertain how to
properly file exhibits.
VII. FILING UNDER SEAL
Absent a statute or an order of this Court, documents may not be filed under
seal. See, L.R. 5.2.
Should a sealing order be in effect (e.g., a protective order that permits
sealing of confidential documents), the Court will expect the filing parties to be mindful
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that this is a public forum. No protective order or other sealing order is blanket authority to
file entire documents under seal. Only relevant portions of relevant documents are subject
to sealing under the terms of an approved order. For example, an entire memorandum in
support of a motion for summary judgment would not be placed under seal merely because
it makes mention of a document which is under seal. Nor would an entire deposition
transcript be placed under seal because confidential information was inquired into during
the course of the deposition.
Therefore, in most cases, protected or confidential information subject to a
sealing order or statute should be filed separately under seal and be merely made reference
to in the public pleading or document. If, however, the nature of a particular case presents
the rare instance where the confidential information must be intertwined within the text of
the pleading or document, a party may timely move the Court for leave to file both a
redacted version for the public docket and an unredacted version for sealing.
Further, where documents are legitimately filed under seal, attorneys will be
required to use the following procedure. Any and all filings made under seal shall be
submitted electronically whenever possible and linked to the relevant authorizing order,
pursuant to Local Rule 5.2. If both redacted and unredacted versions are being submitted
for filing, each version shall be clearly named so there is no confusion as to why there are
two entries on the docket for the same filing.
If a sealed filing cannot be submitted electronically, it shall be placed in a
sealed envelope marked “CONFIDENTIAL - SUBJECT TO PROTECTIVE ORDER.”
The sealed envelope shall display the case name and number, a designation as to what the
document is, the name of the party on whose behalf it is submitted, and the name of the
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attorney who has filed the sealed document. A copy of the relevant authorizing order shall
be in the sealed envelope.
Finally, the Court wants to make perfectly clear that, if and when a case
where sealing is authorized comes to trial, the courtroom will not be sealed. Any and all
documents and information which may have been subject to sealing during discovery will
no longer enjoy a protected or confidential designation. The trial will be public in all
respects.
VIII. HEARINGS OTHER THAN TRIALS
Whenever the Court conducts a hearing on a motion, it may require prehearing briefs, if the motion has not already been fully briefed. Parties will be informed by
separate order if such briefs will be required.
Depending on the nature of the case and the type of hearing, the Court may
also limit the amount of time that each side will be permitted to present live testimony
and/or argument at the hearing. If such limitations will be imposed, the parties will be
informed of that fact when the Court schedules the hearing.
All exhibits for use at any hearing must bear the official case number and
shall be marked before the hearing with official exhibit stickers (available from the clerk
upon request). The plaintiff must mark exhibits with numbers and the defendant with
letters. If there are multiple defendants, letters shall be used followed by the party’s last
name. If the defendant has more than 26 exhibits, double letters shall be used. Every page
of any multi-page exhibit must be bates-numbered.
Each party shall come to any hearing with their original marked exhibits
plus enough marked copies of every exhibit for the following persons: the Court; the
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Court’s law clerk; the witness; and counsel for each party (one copy per party, not one copy
for each counsel).
Each party shall also, on the day of the hearing, provide to the Court Room
Deputy Clerk and to opposing counsel a list of witnesses who may testify, along with a
brief description of each witness’s testimony (using the format in Appendix A) and an
index of exhibits which may be used at the hearing, including a brief description of such
exhibits (using the format in Appendix B).
IX. EARLY RESOLUTION OF THE CASE
If this case is resolved at any time prior to a scheduled proceeding, the
parties shall submit a stipulation of settlement and dismissal, or otherwise notify the Court
that such a stipulation is in process by contacting the Court’s Courtroom Deputy Clerk at
330-252-6060.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: March 10, 2011
HONORABLE SARA LIOI
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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APPENDIX A

__________________________________

CASE NO. ______________

PLAINTIFF(S),
vs.

JUDGE SARA LIOI

DEFENDANT(S).
PLAINTIFF/DEFENDANT WITNESSES
NAME

SYNOPSIS OF TESTIMONY

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APPENDIX B

__________________________________
PLAINTIFF(S),

CASE NO. __________

vs.

JUDGE SARA LIOI

__________________________________
DEFENDANT(S).
PLAINTIFF/DEFENDANT/JOINT/THIRD-PARTY EXHIBITS
DESCRIPTION OF EXHIBIT

I.D.

EXHIBIT

OFFERED

OBJ.

ADMITTED

NOT
ADMITTED

I.D.

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