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Cal. Rules of Court, rule 3.540 · Article 4. Pretrial and Trial Rules for Complex Coordinated Actions

Order assigning coordination trial judge

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)

(a) Assignment by the Chair of the Judicial Council

When a petition for coordination is granted, the Chair of the Judicial Council must either assign a coordination trial judge to hear and determine the coordinated actions or authorize the presiding judge of a court to assign the matter to judicial officers of the court in the same manner as assignments are made in other civil cases, under Code of Civil Procedure section 404.3. The order assigning a coordination trial judge must designate an address for submission of papers to that judge.

(b) Powers of coordination trial judge

Immediately on assignment, the coordination trial judge may exercise all the powers over each coordinated action that are available to a judge of the court in which that action is pending.

(c) Filing and service of copies of assignment order

The petitioner must file the assignment order in each coordinated action and serve it on each party appearing in each action, and, if the assignment was made by the presiding judge, submit it to the Chair of the Judicial Council. Every paper filed in a coordinated action must be accompanied by proof of submission of a copy of the paper to the coordination trial judge at the designated address. A copy of the assignment order must be included in any subsequent service of process on any defendant in the action.

Notes and commentary — not rule text

History

(Subd (a) amended and lettered effective January 1, 2005; adopted as part of unlettered subd effective January 1, 1974.)

(Subd (b) amended effective January 1, 2007; adopted as part of unlettered subd effective January 1, 1974; previously amended and lettered effective January 1, 2005.)

(Subd (c) amended effective January 1, 2011; adopted as part of unlettered subd; previously amended and lettered effective January 1, 2005.)

Rule 3.540 amended effective January 1, 2011; adopted as rule 1540 effective January 1, 1974; previously amended effective January 1, 2005; previously amended and renumbered effective January 1, 2007.

Source of truth

Edition
As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
Official file
https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/three/rule3_540
Text hash
sha256 c07f3cd94db274ae2bd0573268d976c7f3169f3e4377aed7f55074120bb49e71
Composed by
compose_crc.py 2026-10-22: the Judicial Council's rule pages read paragraph by paragraph; verify_crc.py's second reading of the Council's per-title PDFs finds every paragraph

This rule cites

Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.