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Pathway case management for unlimited motor vehicle personal injury, property damage and wrongful death cases, piloted in the East District and Northwest District: notice and scheduling, sanctions for late proofs of service and case management statements, the case management conference, mediation, the joint post-mediation report and mandatory settlement conference, and deadlines that fall on a weekend or court holiday. Supersedes General Order 2024-GEN-013-00 (October 28, 2024).
California > Second Appellate District > Los Angeles County > Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles > Civil / Unlimited Civil; Civil / Unlimited Personal Injury
2025-GEN-019-00 FILED Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles JUNE 3, 2025 David W. Slayton, Executive Officer/Clerk of Court By: R. Mina, Deputy SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES IN RE PATHWAY CASE MANAGEMENT FOR PERSONAL INJURY CASES INVOLVING MOTOR VEHICLES FIRST AMENDED GENERAL ORDER (Effective June 3, 2025) Introduction and Statement of Purpose The Court has identified personal injury cases involving motor vehicles as a case type with characteristics that will benefit from a “pathway approach” to case management. Decades of research show that pathway case management affords litigants straightforward, fair, and prompt resolution of their disputes without unnecessary delay and cost. A pathway approach employs a system of case triage at the time of filing, a determination of the appropriate judicial and staff resources necessary to move the case toward resolution, and active management toward that resolution. The pathway approach furthers Standard 2.2(f)(1) of the Judicial Council Standards of Judicial Administration which provides that: “[t]he goal of each trial court should be to manage unlimited civil cases from filing so that: (A) 75 percent are disposed of within 12 months; (B) 85 percent are disposed of within 18 months; and (C) 100 percent are disposed of within 24 months.” Cases indicated as Unlimited Jurisdiction, Motor Vehicle – Personal Injury/Property Damage/Wrongful Death cases on the Civil Case Cover Sheet Addendum will be promptly assigned after filing to a “pathway” as described in more detail below. This pathway approach will be implemented on a pilot basis in the Court’s East District and Northwest District.1 //// 1 The Standing Orders for Procedures in the Personal Injury Hub Courts apply to any personal injury cases that are filed or pending in a Personal Injury Hub Court. Nothing in this General Order modifies those Standing Orders. 1. THE PATHWAY PROCESS 1.1 Notice. The plaintiff(s) will receive a Notice of Pathway Requirements and a copy of this First Amended General Order upon filing the complaint. The plaintiff must serve the First Amended General Order and the Notice of Pathway Requirements on all parties and attorneys of record with the Summons and Complaint. Any cross-complainant must likewise serve the First Amended General Order and the Notice of Pathway Requirements on all cross-defendants and attorneys of record. 1.2 Scheduling. The following pathway court events and dates will be scheduled upon the filing of complaints that are designated by the Civil Case Cover Sheet Addendum as Unlimited Jurisdiction, Motor Vehicle – Personal Injury/Property Damage/Wrongful Death cases: • Case Management Conference/Order to Show Cause Hearing: 120 calendar days after filing date; • Required Filing of Joint Post Mediation Report: 60 calendar days before trial date (see paragraph 4.2 below); • Final Status Conference: Approximately 10 court days before trial date; and • Trial: Approximately 14 months after filing date. 1.3 Continuances. Absent a showing of good cause, the scheduled deadlines, hearings, and trial date will not be continued. 2. SANCTIONS 2.1 Proof of Service. Failure to file the Proof of Service of the Summons, Complaint, First Amended General Order, and the Notice of Pathway Requirements within 60 calendar days after filing of the complaint as required by California Rules of Court, rule 3.110, will result in the imposition of at least $250 in sanctions payable to the Court pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure, section 177.5, unless the plaintiff provides at the Order to Show Cause Hearing a showing of good cause for the failure. 2.2 Case Management Statement. Failure to complete and file the Case Management Statement (Judicial Council Mandatory Form CM-110) required by California Rules of Court, rule 3.725, no later than 15 calendar days prior to the scheduled Case Management Conference will result in the imposition of at least $250 in sanctions payable to the Court pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure, section 177.5, unless the party provides at the Case Management Conference a showing of good cause for the failure. 3. CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 3.1 Case Management Conference. If the Court determines that all Pathway requirements and other appropriate conditions have been met, the Case Management Conference will convert to a non-appearance case review pursuant to California Rules of Court, rule 3.722. Unless the Court provides notice in advance of the Case Management Conference, appearance of a party or the attorney of record for the party is required at the Case Management Conference. 3.2 Order to Show Cause Re Sanctions Hearing. Failure to timely file the Proof of Service and/or Case Management Statement will result in the scheduled Case Management Conference converting to an Order to Show Cause Re Sanctions Hearing. The party or the attorney of record for the party that is the subject of the Order to Show Cause Re Sanctions is ordered to appear at the Order to Show Cause Hearing. 4. SETTLEMENT/ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION 4.1 Mediation. Cases in the Pathway will be routed within five (5) court days of the filing of the Case Management Statement or other referral from a judicial officer to the Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Office for assignment to a mediator affiliated with the Court’s Mediation Volunteer Panel or other appropriate court-affiliated mediation program. ADR staff will send a Notice of Referral to Mediation to all parties or their attorney of record. The plaintiff must submit the MVP Response Form (found at https://www.lacourt.org/adr/mvp.html) to the Notice of Referral to Mediation within 15 calendar days of receiving the Notice. If the parties elect instead to participate in a private mediation, the response must so state and that the private mediation will be completed at least 60 calendar days prior to the trial date. 4.2 Joint Post Mediation Report. The parties must file a Joint Post Mediation Report not to exceed three (3) pages in length no later than 60 calendar days prior to the trial date to provide the Court with an update on the parties’ completion of mediation, the outcome of the mediation efforts, and the settlement status of the case. Should the parties reach a settlement, and file a Notice of Settlement or Request for Dismissal of the entire action, before the deadline to file the Joint Post Mediation Report and notify the Court pursuant to paragraph 4.4, the Joint Post Mediation Report need not be filed. Otherwise, if the parties fail to file the Joint Post Mediation Report, the matter will be calendared for an Order to Show Cause Re Failure to File a Joint Post Mediation Report on the same date as the Final Status Conference. The failure to file a Joint Post Mediation Report will result in the imposition of at least $250 in sanctions payable to the Court pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure, section 177.5, unless the parties provide a showing of good cause for the failure. 4.3 Mandatory Settlement Conference. If the Joint Post Mediation Report indicates that mediation did not occur or that the outcome did not result in settlement of the entire case, the parties are ordered to participate in a virtual Resolve Law LA mandatory settlement conference before the date of the Final Status Conference. To schedule a mandatory settlement conference, visit the Resolve Law LA website at (www.resolvelawla.com). 4.4 Settlement. If the case settles, the plaintiff(s)/attorney of record for the plaintiff(s) must file a Notice of Settlement of Entire Case (Judicial Council Mandatory Form CM-200) immediately as required by California Rules of Court, rule 3.1385(a)(1) unless the parties first file a Request for Dismissal (Judicial Council Mandatory Form CIV-110) of the entire action. Upon filing of the Notice of Settlement of Entire Case, an Order to Show Cause Re Dismissal will be scheduled 60 calendar days thereafter. Any opposition to the OSC must be filed no later than 10 calendar days before the OSC hearing. If no Request for Dismissal of the entire action (Judicial Council Mandatory Form CIV- 110) is filed within 45 calendar days of the filing of the Notice of Settlement, the Court will deem the Notice of Settlement to be “conditional.” Thereafter, absent good cause shown at or before the OSC hearing, the Court on its own motion shall dismiss the action without prejudice and retain jurisdiction to enforce the settlement pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure, section 664.6. 5. DEADLINES FALLING ON A WEEKEND OR COURT HOLIDAY. 5.1 Deadlines or hearing dates calculated under this Order that fall on a weekend or Court holiday will be moved to the next court day. This General Order supersedes General Order 2024-GEN-013-00 dated October 28, 2024, and is effective June 3, 2025, and is to remain in effect until otherwise ordered by the Presiding Judge. IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: June 3, 2025 SERGIO C. TAPIA II Presiding Judge FIRST AMENDED GENERAL ORDER RE PATHWAY – PERSONAL INJURY CASES INVOLVING MOTOR VEHICLES
2025-GEN-019-00 FILED Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles JUNE 3, 2025 David W. Slayton, Executive Officer/Clerk of Court By: R. Mina, Deputy SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES IN RE PATHWAY CASE MANAGEMENT FOR PERSONAL INJURY CASES INVOLVING MOTOR VEHICLES FIRST AMENDED GENERAL ORDER (Effective June 3, 2025) Introduction and Statement of Purpose
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-29 (California T3 Los Angeles build 2026-09-29) from BenchPath custody ca/t3/ca-los-angeles/general-orders/LIBOPSCivil-221-2025-GEN-019-00_FirstAmendedGeneralOrderrePathwayCaseManagementPIInvolvingMotorVehicles_06032025.pdf (612990 bytes, sha256 e63a768fa9dc155811c019d1296d53476e8fecda512819ff9db404404ec3c37a; 5 pages) with the shared verbatim composer (v2 reflow), reading the glyphs drawn on the page: page numbers, pleading line numbers, the order number and running footer titles removed as chrome; the two-column pleading caption set left cell, then right cell (the “)” column and the box's rule left out); lines reflowed into the order's paragraphs; proof 1 (whitespace-only), proof 2 (same character multiset as the text layer minus chrome) and proof 3 (same characters as the glyphs drawn on the page) all pass.
9 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-10.
6 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-13.