Judge Cassling General Information

Judge Donald R. Cassling - General Information

Courtroom 619
Chambers: (312) 435-6056
Courtroom Deputy: (312) 435-7576

Chambers:

Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse
219 South Dearborn Street
656
Chicago, IL 60604

Staff:

Shenitha Burton
Courtroom Deputy

Nicole Rahimzadeh
Law Clerk

Susan M. Pistorius
Law Clerk

Procedures for Cases Assigned to Judge Cassling

Chicago Hearings on Motions

PLEASE SEE ORIGINAL MOTION/ADVERSARY SCHEDULE FOR DATES JUDGE NOT SITTING

Motions in Chapter 7, 9, and 11 Cases:

	Original (New) Motions:	Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m.
	Set Matters/Status Hearings:	Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m.

If an original motion is to be noticed for a day on which other matters in the same case are to be heard, the original motion should be noticed for the time already set. It should not be noticed for the original motion time.

Responses to motions filed in cases under any chapter shall include the hearing date in the caption. See Local Bankruptcy Rule 5005-3(C)(4).

DuPage Hearings on Motions

See DuPage Motion/Adversary Schedule.

Motions in cases where the debtor resides in DuPage county are heard in DuPage county and must be noticed for an appropriate date and time in DuPage county, not in Chicago.

Emergency Motions

Effective October 1, 2012, refer to GENERAL ORDER No. 12-01 regarding procedures for emergency motions.

Withdrawal of Motions or Set Matters

Parties may withdraw a motion and not appear, but moving counsel must file an electronic notice of withdrawal and inform all appropriate parties that the motion is being withdrawn. Movant is to also contact the courtroom deputy at (312) 435- 7576. Thereafter, the matter will be posted as "withdrawn" on the court calendar.

Service of Motions

For all contested matters (as defined in Bankruptcy Rule 9014), the motion or request must be served in compliance with Bankruptcy Rule 7004. Corporations must be served as required under Rule 7004(b)(3) on an officer, managing or general agent, or on any agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process. Service of a corporation at a P.O. Box to which payments are sent is not sufficient under Rule 7004(b)(3).

Summary Judgment Motions

Strict compliance with Local Rules 7056-1 and 7056-2 is required in the briefing of all summary judgment motions.

Telephonic Participation in Hearings

All requests for telephonic participation must be made to chambers and approved at least two (2) business days before the hearing in which telephonic participation is sought. Telephonic participation will not be approved for longer, more involved matters, evidentiary hearings of any kind, or oral arguments. The court's technology is not able to accommodate multiple parties in a case unless those parties arrange to conference each other in before participation in the hearing. In absence of such arrangements, telephonic participation will be permitted to a single party in each case on a first-come, first-served basis. (NOTE: TELEPHONIC PARTICIPATION IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR DUPAGE HEARINGS.)

Motions Granted Without a Hearing

Routine motions (as defined in Local Rule 9013-9) and other motions to which no objection is expected may be listed as “Will Be Granted Without a Hearing” on the call sheet for the hearing date.

A. Effect of listing as “Will Be Granted Without a Hearing”:
	(1) If no party requests that the motion be called, it will be granted without hearing in open court.
	(2) If a party asks the courtroom deputy to call the motion, it will be called.
	(3) If the motion is called, the court will either grant the motion over the objection or continue it to give the movant an opportunity to be heard.
B. How to check whether a motion “Will Be Granted Without a Hearing”:
	If a motion “Will Be Granted Without a Hearing,” it will be marked as such in Court Calendar the day before the motion is to be presented. The court calendar for each judge is on the court’s web site.

Courtesy Copies of Motions (copies to be delivered to chambers)

Judge Cassling does NOT require courtesy copies of motions or pleadings with the following execeptions:
(1) Chapter 11 Fee Applications- Any party filing an application for compensation in a Chapter 11 case must provide a courtesy copy to Judge Cassling’s chambers at least fourteen (14) days before the hearing date. The courtesy copy must include any attachments, exhibits, itemizations, etc., and a proposed order.
(2) Any other motion specifically requested by chambers.

Motions for Relief from Automatic Stay

All motions for relief from the automatic stay must be accompanied by Required Statement to Accompany Motions for Relief From Stay as required by Local Bankruptcy Rule 4001-1(A).

Motions to Continue Stay in Effect

Motions to continue the automatic stay in effect pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3) or to impose the automatic stay under § 362(c)(4) should:

(1)	State the case number of previous cases dismissed within one year of the filing of the present case;
(2)	Include copies of Schedules I and J from previous cases dismissed within one year of the filing of the present case, and Schedules I and J from the current case;
(3)	State in detail the bases for continuing the stay in effect or imposing the stay; and
(4)	Append a detailed affidavit containing specific facts demonstrating all circumstances, including those relating to the substantial change in the debtor's financial or personal affairs, to rebut the presumption.

Motions to Reopen Case to File Debtor's Certification of Postpetition Financial Management Course

Motions pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 350(b) and Bankruptcy Rule 5010 to reopen a Chapter 7 case in order to file the debtor's certification required by Bankruptcy Rule 1007(b)(7) must simultaneously file Official Form B23 and set forth the following:
(1) the reason the certification was not filed before the case was closed; and
(2) who [attorney or debtor(s)] paid the fee to reopen the case.
The proposed order attached to the motion shall state that the case is reopened for the purpose of filing the certification and entering the discharge and that the clerk is to close the case thereafter.

Draft Orders to Follow

When a motion has been heard by the court and the party seeking relief is to present a draft order after the hearing, the motion may be denied if the order is not received in Judge Cassling’s chambers within fourteen (14) calendar days of the hearing on the motion.

Objections to Claims

Each claim objection must be presented in court in accordance with the rules for presenting motions and must identify the claimant and claim number. A copy of the claim must be attached to the objection. Notice to the claimant must be served on the person who signed the claim form at the address specified on the claim form.

Objections to Exemptions

An objection to an exemption claimed by a debtor must be presented in court in accordance with the rules for presenting motions, with a copy of the schedule that lists the claimed exemption attached to the objection.

Motions for Approval of Attorneys’ Fees

Cases filed under Chapters 7, 9, 11, and 12:

All attorneys or other professionals in cases filed under Chapters 7, 11, and 12 seeking approval of their fees must submit an itemization of their time in tenths of an hour and in the format required under Local Rule 5082-1.

Cases filed under Chapter 13:

See Local Rule 5082-2

Pretrial Procedures

Status Hearings and Discovery: After the parties are at issue, the Court will set a firm discovery deadline, with a pretrial hearing set one week thereafter.

Final Pretrial Order: The trial date will be set forth in a final pretrial order sent to the parties. The final pretrial order will also contain deadlines for the filing and exchanging of witness lists, exhibit lists, stipulations of fact, and trial briefs, a deadline for the exchange of the exhibits themselves, and a deadline for objections to exhibits. Strict compliance with the final pretrial order is required. Failure to comply with the final pretrial order will result in the imposition of sanctions. See, e.g., Michael v. Khan (In re Kahn), 321 B.R. 709, 711 (Bankr. N.D. Ill. 2005).

See Pretrial Form