SITEMAP
King County’s General Jurisdiction Trial Court
Court Information Court Records Departments |
Rules to review before calling: Local Rule 7(b); Local Rule 40 (e); Local Rule 56, Civil Rule 56 Prior to Appearing in Judge Roberts' Court for Hearings or Trial: If you anticipate the need to use videos, power point, ELMO, or even easels, you should visit the courtroom before your hearing or trial to plan your set-up in a manner that will be most efficient and effective. Please discuss your needs with the bailiff and do not assume that the court will have any particular equipment available for your use. Motions Practice in Judge Roberts' Court If you want the court to look favorably on your motion, begin by following the rules. The most common mistakes are: (1) failure to provide a stamped, addressed envelope for each and every party requiring notice, (2) failure to provide an original, signed, proposed order, and (3) failure to note the time and date for consideration of the motion in the upper right hand corner of all documents pertaining to the motion. The bailiff calendars and sorts the documents related to each motion by the date for consideration and the title of the motion. If there is more than one motion pending in a case, separate responses and replies should be made for each motion; combined responses may be missed. Finally, the bailiff cannot tell litigants when the judge will rule on any particular motion. However, if you are concerned that time has passed without a ruling, you are encouraged to call the bailiff to be sure that the paperwork was indeed received by the court, and to request that you be contacted when a ruling has been made. Motions to Shorten Time When a party wishes to request that the court consider a motion on shortened time, the underlying motion must be noted in the regular course, and a separate motion to shorten time submitted as well. Until and unless the court grants the motion to shorten time, all responses and replies should be submitted as though the motion is to be considered in the normal course. Requesting/Setting Oral Argument for Motions: If you are setting a dispositive motion for which any party desires oral argument, you must contact the bailiff to schedule the hearing on Judge Roberts' calendar. Dispositive motions are generally set on Friday mornings at 9:00, 10:00, anbd 11:00. Judge Roberts' Friday motions calendar is routinely booked two months in advance, so you must generally reserve the time for hearing well in advance of any motion filing deadlines. So, for example, if you wait until 28 days prior to the summary judgment hearing deadline to request a hearing date, you are unlikely to secure a hearing time. Judge Roberts will also routinely schedule oral argument for motions for restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, revisions, and class certification hearings. Contact the bailiff to schedule such hearings. Most other motions do not require oral argument under the Civil Rules or Local Rules (see links above), and Judge Roberts rarely grants oral argument for such motions. If a party would like to request oral argument, the motion should be noted pursuant to the applicable court rules, and the party requesting oral argument should submit a letter to the court setting forth the reasons oral argument would be helpful. After Judge Roberts has considered all briefing (moving papers, responses, and replies) and after the consideration date, if the court determines oral argument is appropriate, the bailiff will contact the parties and set a mutually acceptable time for oral argument to be presented to the court. Deliveries Directly to the Courtroom: Deliveries should generally be made to the judges' mailroom. However, Judge Roberts allows deliveries to the courtroom, too. The bailiff may not always be present to receive and stamp such deliveries. Pretrial Requirements: Pursuant to KCLR 40(d)(2), all trial memoranda, proposed jury instructions, proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, and other trial submissions are due not later than five court days prior to trial. In addition, you should make arrangements with the court clerk to mark exhibits prior to trial. For any case expected to last more than 4 days, Judge Roberts requires all parties and counsel to work together to complete the Witness Examination Time Form, and that form must be submitted together with other pretrial submissions five court days prior to trial. Hearing/Trial Information: The general trial schedule is Monday through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Judge Roberts requests all parties to plan accordingly so that trial may actually begin at 9:00 a.m. Should any party require time to set up or prepare prior to beginning at 9:00 a.m., the court room is open not later than 8:30 a.m. every morning to accommodate preparation/set-up time requirements. However, please contact the bailiff the day before to determine accessibility to accommodate preparation/set-up time requirements. Judge Roberts frequently hears motions at 8:30 a.m. on trial days. Friday mornings are generally devoted to summary judgment and RALJ hearings. Friday afternoons are generally devoted to sentencing calendars and settlement conferences. Settlement Conferences: Judge Roberts is available for settlement conferences. Please contact the bailiff to schedule the conference. |
||||||||||||||||||||
The Judge's Background: Judge Roberts was appointed to the bench by Governor Gary Locke in 2003, and has since been elected to the position. Immediately prior to her appointment, she was a partner in a 7-attorney law firm that emphasized labor and employment litigation on behalf of employees and unions. Prior to that, Judge Roberts spent several years in the Civil Division of the King County Prosecutors Office, where she practiced management-side labor and employment law. Judge Roberts started her legal career with one-year stints as a superior court law clerk/bailiff, and as a public defender. She received her JD from the University of Washington School of Law in 1984, and her BS in Mathematics from the University of Puget Sound in 1981.