Judge Mary E. Roberts
Mailing Address:
King County Superior Court
Maleng Regional Justice Center
401 Fourth Avenue North, Room 2D
Kent, WA 98032
Mailstop: RJC-SC-0203 |
Courtroom Number: 4D
Phone: 206-296-9240 (due to the court's heavy trial schedule, you may get a quicker response if you email the bailiff directly)
Fax: Please contact the bailiff regarding fax transmissions. |
Judicial Assignment: Criminal |
Email: sherri.tye@kingcounty.gov |
Department Number: 4 |
Working Papers: You may either submit working copies electronically through the Clerk's Office e-filing application or deliver them to the Maleng Regional Justice Center, Room 2D |
Bailiff: Sherri Tye
sherri.tye@kingcounty.gov
206-296-9240 |
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Visit this webpage BEFORE CONTACTING THE COURT. |
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 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. |
| RULES TO REVIEW BEFORE CALLING
Local Rule 7; Local Rule 40; Civil Rule 56
PRIOR TO APPEARING IN JUDGE ROBERTS' COURT FOR HEARINGS OR TRIAL
If you anticipate the need to use videos, PowerPoint, ELMO, or even easels, please email the bailiff to arrange a time to visit the courtroom to plan the setup of your equipment before the hearing/trial. With at least five (5) days notice, the court can provide a TV/VCR/DVD player, screen, or overhead projector. Do not assume that the court will have any particular equipment available for your use. If additional equipment is required, it is the responsibility of the parties to obtain the items from a third party and arrange for delivery to the courtroom, setup, and payment. 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 pre-addressed, stamped envelopes for each and every party requiring notice, and
(2) Failure to provide a signed original proposed order, and
(3) Failure to note the date and time for consideration of the motion in the upper right hand corner of all documents.
The bailiff calendars and sorts the documents related to each motion by the date for consideration. 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. Some motions require a considerable amount of time to review, and depending on the court's trial schedule and number of motions pending, a particular motion may not be ruled on until a number of days after it is noted. However, if you are concerned that time has passed without receiving a copy of an order (and you submitted pre-addressed, stamped envelops with the motion documents), you may email the bailiff to make sure that the motion documents were received by the court. MOTIONS TO SHORTEN TIME
When a party wishes to request that the court consider a motion on shortened time pursuant to LR 7(b)(10), 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. SCHEDULED ORAL ARGUMENT FOR DISPOSITIVE MOTIONS
If you need to schedule a dispositive motion that requires oral argument per the local rules, please email the bailiff to obtain available dates on Judge Roberts' calendar. Dispositive motions are usually scheduled on Friday mornings at 9:00am, 10:00am, and 11:00am. Judge Roberts' Friday motions calendar is routinely booked two months in advance, so it is imperative that you contact the bailiff to reserve a timeslot well in advance of any motion filing deadlines. 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 routinely schedules oral argument for the following types of motions: restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, class certifications, and revisions. Please email the bailiff to obtain a hearing date and time. REQUESTS FOR ORAL ARGUMENT (on motions generally considered without argument) Most motions do not require oral argument under the Civil or Local Rules, and Judge Roberts rarely grants oral argument for such motions. However, if a party would like to request oral argument, the motion should be noted pursuant to the applicable court rules and initially set without argument. The party requesting oral argument should then indicate in red ink at the top of the judge's working copy “ORAL ARGUMENT REQUESTED.” On or after the date the motion is noted, Judge Roberts will consider all briefing (moving papers, responses, and replies) and enter an order, if appropriate. A copy of the order will then be mailed, if pre-addressed, stamped envelopes were submitted with the original motion documents. If after considering all briefing Judge Roberts determines that 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
Judge Roberts does not allow documents to be delivered directly to the courtroom. All documents should be delivered to the judges' mailroom, unless the 'electronic working paper' option is selected. (See information on 'Working Papers' above.) Please do not enter the courtroom and disturb the proceedings if your intent is to drop off documents. If you have a large number of trial boxes to deliver, please email the bailiff ahead of time to make arrangements for delivery when court is not in session.
PRETRIAL REQUIREMENTS
Pursuant to local rules, all trial memoranda, exhibit notebooks (two complete sets for the court, separated by numbered tabs), proposed jury instructions, proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, and other trial submissions are due not later than five (5) court days prior to trial. Please also make arrangements with Judge Roberts' courtroom clerk to mark exhibits prior to trial. For trials expected to take more than four (4) days, Judge Roberts requires all parties to complete the Witness Examination Time Form. This form must be submitted with other pretrial submissions five (5) court days prior to trial.
HEARING / TRIAL INFORMATION
Trials are scheduled Monday through Thursday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Parties and witnesses should arrrive promptly each day so that trial can begin on time. Should you need additional time to set up or prepare prior to the start of the trial day, please email the bailiff to arrange for access to the courtroom when the court is not in session.
Judge Roberts frequently schedules civil and/or criminal hearings at 8:30am on trial days. Summary judgment and other civil hearings are routinely scheduled on Friday mornings, and sentencing calendars are heard on Friday afternoons.
SETTLEMENT CONFERENCES
Judge Roberts does not conduct settlement conferences. Please review Superior Court's list of judges who conduct settlement conferences. WEDDINGS Judge Roberts does not perform weddings for the general public.
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