S.D.N.Y. Division of Business Rule 18 — Assignment of Cases to White Plains or Manhattan
A published court requirement that applies in New York. Category: Local Rules. Effective February 12, 2026. Verified against the official source (S.D.N.Y. — Local Rules (U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York)) on November 2, 2026.
Summary
S.D.N.Y. Division of Business Rule 18 — Assignment of Cases to White Plains or Manhattan: the court's own rule, verbatim from Rules for the Division of Business Among District Judges, Southern District of New York (Effective February 12, 2026), official PDF, sha-custodied. Court-level requirement: governs the assignment and transfer of cases among the district judges of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; adopted for the internal management of the court's case load.
Requirement
(a) Civil (1) All social security cases and habeas corpus petitions brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 shall be assigned on a district-wide basis. (2) Habeas corpus petitions brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 shall be assigned as follows: (A) habeas corpus petitions arising out of convictions obtained in New York County or Bronx County will be assigned to Manhattan; and (B) habeas corpus petitions arising out of convictions obtained in the Counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, and Westchester (the “Northern Counties”) will be assigned to White Plains. (3) With respect to any other filed civil case, the plaintiff’s attorney shall, at the time of filing, designate on the Civil Cover Sheet whether the case should be assigned to White Plains or Manhattan in accordance with the following: (A) A civil case shall be designated for assignment to White Plains if: (i) the claim arose in whole or in major part in the Northern Counties and at least one of the parties resides in the Northern Counties; or (ii) the claim arose in whole or in major part in the Northern Counties and none of the parties resides in this district. (B) A civil case may be designated for assignment to White Plains if: (i) the claim arose outside this district and at least some of the parties reside in the Northern Counties; or (ii) at least half of the parties reside in the Northern Counties. (C) All civil cases other than those designated for assignment to White Plains in accordance with this Rule shall be designated for assignment to Manhattan. (b) Criminal The U.S. attorney designates on the Criminal Cover Sheet that the case is to be assigned to White Plains if the crime was allegedly committed in whole or predominant part in the Northern Counties. Defendants in any criminal case designated for White Plains may be arraigned at the White Plains Courthouse before a magistrate judge or a district judge. Bail applications in any case designated for White Plains may be heard before a magistrate judge at White Plains, or, if unavailable, before a district judge in White Plains or a magistrate judge in Manhattan.
Source of truth
(a) Civil (1) All social security cases and habeas corpus petitions brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 shall be assigned on a district-wide basis. (2) Habeas corpus petitions brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 shall be assigned as follows: (A) habeas corpus petitions arising out of conv
- Source health
- Healthy · checked November 14, 2026
- Effective date
- February 12, 2026
- Last verified
- November 2, 2026benchpath-nyfed-rules-2026-11-02
Change history
- November 13, 2026Monitor detected a source-content or hash-basis change. Review the archived bytes before republishing dependent material.
- November 6, 2026Monitor detected a source-content or hash-basis change. Review the archived bytes before republishing dependent material.
- November 5, 2026Monitor detected a source-content or hash-basis change. Review the archived bytes before republishing dependent material.
Related rules
2d Cir. Local Rule 25.2 — Submission of PDF Documents
2d Cir. Local Rule 25.2 — Submission of PDF Documents: the court's own rule, verbatim from the rule's own page on the court's site (read 2026-11-03; the page sha-custodied). Court-level requirement: applies in every appeal and proceeding before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, alongside the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Duval County Local Rules Implementing S.B. 7 (Texas Fair Defense Act) — Order Amending Local Rules of the District/County Court of Duval County, amended July 11, 2022
Duval County's indigent-defense and magistration rules under the Texas Fair Defense Act (S.B. 7): who may be booked into the county jail and on what paper; arrest-case numbering; presentment to a magistrate within 48 hours (art. 15.16); the magistrate's warnings, counsel inquiry, interpreter duty, indigence determination and appointment of counsel within 24 hours of a request; the alternative appointment plan under art. 26.04(g)-(h) with annual applications, seven attorney categories (capital, first and second degree, third degree/state jail/misdemeanor, competency, appeals, post-conviction, extradition), CLE and experience standards, random rotation within each category, written acceptance within 48 hours, first contact by the end of the next working day, replacement and suspension of counsel, fee applications within five days of completing services and the compensation attachment ($500 pleas; $175/$150 hourly; $1,400 per jury-trial day; appellate caps); bail schedules by offense class with a personal bond office (fee $20 or 3%), pre-trial supervision and revocation hearings within two working days; arraignment settings and notice; repeal of conflicting rules.
Starr County Local Rules for the Judicial District Courts (229th and 381st District Courts, applying in part to the County Court at Law; approved May 31, 2018; approved and recommended to the Supreme Court by the Fifth Region's Presiding Judge August 9, 2018)
The 23 local rules of the Starr County district courts: definitions and the election of the Local Administrative District Judge (last Friday in January of odd years; two-year term from February 1); random, equal assignment of district cases and the County Court at Law's share (family cases, civil cases pleading $100,000 or less, misdemeanors); the case-numbering format effective January 1, 2019 (year, CV/CR/CRS/FM/TAX, five digits; CRS for the 229th, CR for the 381st); notice of visiting-judge assignments; electronically transmitted pleadings (cover sheet, seven-day fee window, returns of service and bonds on paper, one-hour clerk handling of child-protection filings); transfer of related civil cases to the earlier court and SAPCR transfer to the divorce court; pre-trial settings through the Court Coordinator; District Clerk duties and I-Docket access; severance; temporary, emergency and ex parte orders; uncontested matters first; assignment of related prosecutions and superseding-indictment numbering (S1, S2); the protocol for trial priority (jury over non-jury, criminal over civil, jailed defendants first, oldest case first, special settings by written reasons, duties of counsel with conflicting settings); court staff; jury impaneling; the ad litem/guardian ad litem/amicus appointment rotation, duties, vouchers within thirty days and objections within thirty days; and courtroom decorum and attire.
Local Rules for the Jim Wells County Court at Law — effective January 1, 2023
The Jim Wells County Court at Law's rules: ad litem, guardian ad litem and amicus appointment lists, qualifications, duties, flat-fee ($275) and hourly ($75–$125) compensation, voucher deadlines and fee objections; rules of administration with the 79th District Court (family-code cases and civil cases between $500 and $250,000 assigned to the County Court at Law); remote non-jury proceedings by Zoom with e-mailed setting requests, Dropbox exhibits and YouTube broadcast; settings, proposed orders, exhibits and courtroom decorum.