Case Management Conference Defined
A case management conference, as announced within the Notice of Case Management Conference, is roughly what it sounds like; a conference in court, held by phone, that is meant to get everybody on the same page regarding case issues.
It’s basically a "meet and greet" with a Judge or Court-appointed official, held at the beginning of a family law case. The goal of the conference is to make sure that everyone involved has an understanding of the nature and character of the case , so that moving forward, they can present their opinions clearly and without ambiguity.
If you’ve got pertinent information about the case, it’s generally a good idea to either be present at this meeting – if face to face is required by the Judge – or on the phone, because it’s an opportunity for you and your attorney to discuss the case with the Judge. If you have questions about case management conferences, an attorney can help you sort them out.
Purposes of a Case Management Conference
The primary objectives of a case management conference ("CMC") are to try and streamline the court procedure as much as possible and to manage a case as efficiently as possible. In a CMC, the judge will review the status of the case through conferencing with all parties present. This includes reviewing the filed documents, understanding the positions of each party, and getting the pertinent information from each party and their representatives. If attorneys are involved, they will be present at the conference and will speak on behalf of their clients. The conference will also look at the goals of the case and where it needs to go. The CMC process may be used in contested cases, divorce actions, custody actions, support actions, paternity actions, and other matters as deemed appropriate. The judge generally has input to help resolve a case at this conference.
If parties do not go to the CMC, there are serious consequences. By not attending a CMC, the person is losing certain benefits that can help in the case and will likely not receive valuable input from the judge to help resolve the case. If a person misses the "Status Conference" in Philadelphia, their case will be dismissed, so it is important to attend.
At a CMC, a judge may make an order (called a "directive") to: Once at the CMC, the parties will determine the length of time that they will need for discovery and how long they will need for a settlement conference. If parties are in agreement, discovery can be opened for 2 or 3 months, with a settlement conference date set for 1 month after discovery ends. If the parties cannot agree, then the judge will set the deadlines.
At this conference, it is important to have all of your paperwork together—including a list of experts and more. The parties will be required to submit documentation including: At the CMC, the judge is available to give guidance to the parties on a resolution to the case. If a judge believes a settlement is possible, then the parties will be sent to mediation to work out a settlement, or to have a settlement conference if mediation does not work. During the CMC, if a judge hears a special circumstance with a case, then they will request a pretrial or settlement conference.
When Is a Case Management Conference Held?
There are essentially two instances in which a case management conference can be scheduled in a court case. The first instance is where the case management conference is requested by the parties. If the parties to the litigation (in a divorce or other family case, usually the spouses) believe that the case is situated such as to benefit from the intervention of a judge, a case management conference can be requested. The rules provide what grounds need to be used in making that request.
The second type of case management conference is what is found in most cases: the court orders the parties to a case to appear for conference. For example, a court may order a case management conference in any matter where a temporary hearing is pending. A judge has discretion to have a case management conference when a case is complex or when there are numerous issues requiring adjudication.
A basic distinction is that case management conferences after the filing of a divorce or family case is often less formal than what is seen in civil litigation. Although the same procedures are used in family cases as will be found in complex civil litigation, they tend not to be used in most divorce or child custody cases.
Typically, a case management conference is held early on in the process, usually within 60 days of the filing of a divorce case. Following its conclusion, the court may issue orders requiring further action by the parties. For example, the court may order discovery, a temporary hearing and/or order that certain deadlines be adhered to.
Common Actions Taken During a Case Management Conference
At the case management conference, the parties will discuss matters such as evidence exchange, resolution of preliminary issues, the possibility of early or alternative dispute resolution, setting a timetable for completion of discovery and the trial preparation process, what kind of guarantees are needed, and the exchange of expert opinions. Only after these preliminary matters are resolved will the parties be allowed to prepare their cases for trial.
During the case management conference, the parties and the judge will attempt to resolve the preliminary issues themselves. The judge will hold a case management conference to address the merits of the case or make orders respecting disclosure, examination for discovery, and to set out to the parties a timetable for getting their cases ready for trial, and the timetable for the trial itself. The case management conference must occur no later than 90 days from the date the matter was placed on the court record.
One of the key purposes of the case management conference is to set out a timetable for the completion of discovery and trial preparation, including, but not limited to, the following concerns:
Advantages of Participating in a Case Management Conference
While many defendants do not see the need to attend the case management conference, it is still very important to attend for several reasons. For the plaintiff, attending the case management allows them to obtain discovery dates and set clear timelines. There will be a pretrial and trial date and once the court orders these days, they will remain on the scheduling list. The attorney for the plaintiff gets a chance to tell the court what the case is about and it gives them an opportunity to make a letter of intent on the record. The defendant is able to do the same , as well as start discussing the settlement of the case or request a dismissal. Defendants should attend because even though they are not interested in dealing with the case right now, there may be a moment during negotiations where they will have to discuss the case. Most defense attorneys will be busy in other counties during that time so they will typically send an associate to handle the case management conference. Moreover, if the defendant is pro se, then they need to appear in order to try to get information about discovery and get a trial date set. Among many litigators, you will find that case management conferences are the preferred method for settlement and the chance for the parties to resolve any issues.
How to Get Ready for a Case Management Conference
In general, you must prepare adequately before a case management conference to make it worthwhile. You may be sanctioned if you do not. This means that you will have to:
This is best accomplished by conferring with one another before the case management conference. You should consider making the date of the case management conference the last day by which you can meet and confer.
There are many advantages to meeting and conferring before the case management conference. First, you will give yourself the opportunity to resolve some or all of the open issues before the case management conference. You may also give yourselves an opportunity to resolve some of the other issues in the case so that you only need to focus on the few that remain. If there are many issues, then you will be able to resolve them more efficiently by meeting and conferring rather than talking through them during the case management conference. The case management conference will take up less time and there are fewer issues to work through.
Setting out a proposed plan for how the case should move forward will save everyone time and make the case management conference more efficient. You may also avoid wasted time when the parties come to court without knowing whether they are complying with the pre-c conference orders. The court will not have to spend time reviewing what order was entered and what order should be followed. If pre-trial orders and rules are followed and communicated, the parties will not be going into the case management conference with different understandings of how the issues in the case should be resolved. When you write out a proposed plan, it is likely that it will be very similar to what the court would order, anyway. This makes it easy for an opposing party and the other parties to agree on an order. If the parties do have different thoughts about how they wish to proceed, it is good to have those conversations before the case management conference to avoid wasting time.
Having a realistic proposed plan in place will make it easier for opposing parties to agree and for the court to approve the order. If the matter goes to trial and the parties do not "do what they were supposed to do," the court will have the authority to sanction parties for not doing what was ordered of them. If the case does not resolve, be sure to come to the case management conference with documents and a breakdown of the status of your discovery (such as, interrogatories, requests for documents, requests for admissions, etc.). This will help the court determine the timing for necessary discovery. Also, if a certain witness will not be available to provide testimony at trial, you should provide a declaration explaining why that particular witness will be unavailable.
If an opposing party serves discovery on the party bringing the claim, and the party bringing the claim is served with the opposing party’s discovery, there will need to be reciprocal compliance. In other words, if one party serves interrogatories to the other party, the other party must also serve interrogatories back. This concept applies to all discovery matters.
Case Management Conference FAQs
Do I have to appear for a conference in court?
Yes, as a rule, where a case is set in the court calendar, an attorney must appear unless the local rules say otherwise or you receive a special dispensation. If you actually appear and are ready to discuss your case, your attorney might appear instead of you.
Will a trial date be set at the first conference?
Probably not. The initial conferences in the family law context are designed to help the attorneys come to an agreement about preliminary ground rules for the litigation process. The second conference, usually 4-8 weeks later, is meant to cover the same topics again, in an effort to see if any progress has been made as a result of documents being exchanged and questions being answered. The third conference is for the parties to present their reasons why an expedited discovery process is needed and sometimes after the judge listens to the arguments about what discovery is needed, a trial date may be set. However, in some cases, the judge also will wait until he or she is assigned the case to trial to determine whether a trial date can be set. Some judges are happy to have a short trial date, others want to delay the trial date for a few months so that they can have a sufficient amount of time to reach an equitable result.
What happens at the first conference?
The first conference is supposed to be an opportunity for the attorneys to advise the judge of the issues in the litigation, including questions regarding custody of the children, support, equitable distribution, custody of the pets and any other pertinent issues regarding equitable possession of real property, issues of ownership of real property, bills that need to be paid and issues that don’t come up very often. The judge is supposed to utilize this conference as an opportunity to get a better sense of the entire picture and how best the case should proceed. The judge has to have regard for the fact that sometimes there are hidden issues , but the attorneys are not supposed to make that happen. The judge cannot force the attorneys to agree to anything but is supposed to engage them in meaningful discussion.
How many conferences do I have to attend before a trial is scheduled?
That depends on how far apart the parties are on the issues and how quickly the attorneys can resolve the issues. In some cases, the conferences only take a month or two to get to a trial date, but in other cases it takes a few years.
Will the judge decide who gets custody of the children?
No, the judge does not decide anything. The job of the judge at a case management conference is to hear arguments and to engage the attorneys in conversation to determine the best way that the case should proceed to reach a resolution. Sometimes the parties reach an agreement on their own instead of having the judge decide.
Who decides what items are in the discovery demands?
The attorney prepares the demand and chooses those items that he or she feels are necessary for the particular situation. These are the items that the attorney thinks are important to determine the financial status of the parties and to gather sufficient information to address the issues involved. However, there are times when the attorney might not know there is a problem until the other side responds to the demand and other problems arise. When these new items arise, the attorney can send an additional discovery demand.
Can the judge compel discovery if the other side does not comply?
Yes, the judge can order the other side to comply. In most circumstances, the judge will agree that if discovery is not complied with, the judge will draw an inference that the missing information is not good for the party that did not provide it. Additionally, if a party does not comply with all items on the demand and a trial occurs, the judge can decide what weight to give to the testimony of the person that failed to provide the discovery.