Santa Barbara County Superior Court — Santa Maria Department SM… — CA · BenchPath

Santa Barbara County Superior Court — Santa Maria Department SM 2 (Judge James F. Rigali) Policies and Procedures (revised 04/08/2025)

High confidence· verified October 7, 2026Judge PreferencesSanta Maria Department SM 2 (Judge James F. Rigali) Policies and Procedures (revised 04/08/2025), Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara; posted on the court's Judicial Assignments page (https://www.santabarbara.courts.ca.gov/general-information/judicial-assignments) at https://www.santabarbara.courts.ca.gov/system/files/local-rules/department-sm-2-policies-and-procedures.pdf, fetched 2026-10-07.

Summary

Department SM2's calendar (Monday case management conferences, Tuesday civil law and motion and probate with Zoom authorized, Wednesday family law and motion, Thursday adoptions and Friday unlawful detainers with personal appearances, and evidentiary hearings and trials); a Zoom request on local Form SC-2073 at least 10 calendar days before; ex parte matters; tentative rulings posted by 5:00 p.m. the day before; case management and mandatory settlement conferences; trial filings five (5) court days before with courtesy copies to SM2Continue@sbcourts.org; exhibits, witnesses and court reporters.

Applies to

California > Second Appellate District > Santa Barbara County > Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara > Cook Division, Department 2

Source of truth

DEPARTMENT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Dept. SM2 The Honorable James F. Rigali Judge of the Superior Court COURTROOM CLERK: Rotating DEPT. TELEPHONE: 805-614-6500 JUDICIAL SECRETARY: Alison Villarruel DEPT. E-MAIL: SM2Continue@sbcourts.org Welcome to Department SM2. The court assumes counsel have read and familiarized themselves with the California Rules of Court and the Santa Barbara County Local Cou

Official source: Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara — court website
Source health: Healthy · checked September 28, 2026
Effective date: April 8, 2025
Last verified: October 7, 2026benchpath-ca-t4-santa-barbara-2026-10-07

Reviewer note: Composed 2026-10-07 (California T4 Santa Barbara build 2026-10-07) from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-santa-barbara/docs/local-rules/department-sm-2-policies-and-procedures.pdf (453369 bytes, sha256 f014ab9337240505d8276c4f46b2dd3a6b23facf3742c0a30605f29efd078d64; 8 pages) with the shared verbatim composer (v2 reflow): page marks and running headers or footers removed as chrome (a running header or footer kept once where it names or dates the document); lines reflowed into the document's paragraphs; proof 1 (whitespace-only) and proof 2 (same character multiset as the text layer minus chrome) pass. Documented settings (whitespace-only or same-character changes; the proofs hold): the staff and contact grid set one cell a line, row by row (a whitespace fix). Attached to Judge James F. Rigali: the document is for Dept. 2 of the Cook Division, where the court's Judicial Assignments page seats Judge James F. Rigali and its Superior Court Organization & Locations page lists the officer in that division. Review note: Tentative rulings by 5:00 p.m. the day before (Local Rule 1301: 3:00 p.m.).