N.D. Tex. LR 16.1 — Exemptions from Pretrial Scheduling and Management: the court's own rule, verbatim from LOCAL CIVIL RULES OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS (Effective September 1, 2026), official PDF, sha-custodied. Court-level requirement: applies in every case before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas alongside the federal rules and any judge-specific procedures.
The following categories of cases are exempt from the scheduling and planning requirements of Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b): (a) actions for social security benefits, including appeals from decisions of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and black lung cases subject to LR 9.1; (b) prisoner civil rights complaints filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1981 et seq.; (c) forfeiture actions; (d) cases filed by the United States Attorney for collection of promissory notes payable to the United States or any government agency; (e) bankruptcy appeals; (f) cases involving pro se plaintiffs; (g) habeas corpus complaints filed pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254 or § 2255; (h) petitions for enforcement of an Internal Revenue Service summons; (i) actions for review of the administrative action of any federal agency; and (j) all cases not reported by the clerk for statistical purposes as filed cases.
The following categories of cases are exempt from the scheduling and planning requirements of Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b): (a) actions for social security benefits, including appeals from decisions of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and black lung cases subject to LR 9.1; (