District Court – Civil
Court:   165th
Judge’s Name:    Josefina M. Rendon

Year Elected:  Elected, 2008

1.    Who should I contact if there is an emergency?  Contact the clerk at 713/368-6270
       or Deb Grun, Trial Coordinator, at 713/368-6282.

2.    Status of things:  You can now look up the status of a docket, or the rulings on
       submission dockets by clicking on the web page under the "Check Docket Setting"
       inquiry.

MOTIONS

3.     Motions:  ALWAYS SUBMIT A PROPOSED JUDGMENT or ORDER.

a.   Discovery motions:  Talk to each other and try to solve it before contacting the court for resolution.  Don’t resist discovery for the sake of resistance.  Discovery motions can be set for submission or oral hearing.  For an oral hearing, call the clerk to obtain a date and time.  You must then file your motion, proposed order and notice of oral hearing.  The court must receive the notice before motion is actually set on the docket.  To set a motion on the submission docket, you need not call the clerk.  Submission dates are Mondays, at 8:00 a.m.  If the Monday falls on a holiday, it is Tuesday at 8:00 a.m.  Again, file your motion, proposed order and notice of submission.   If the motion is time sensitive, call the clerk to obtain an emergency hearing date.  The 165th can receive filings by e-filing (preferred), by fax filing or by sending a hard copy by mail.  All motions must include a valid certificate of conference.

b.    Motions for summary judgment:  Summary Judgments can be done by submission or oral hearing.  21 days notice is required for both.  Submission dates are Mondays at 10:30.  Oral hearing dates are Mondays at 1:30. The notice for submission or oral hearing must be a stand alone document.  Do not include it in the back of the motion.  All summary judgments and responses should include a proposed judgment and/or order.  The Court will not grant a summary judgment if the affidavits are faulty.  There is no need to set out the boilerplate requirements for a summary judgment.  Because of the voluminous size of these motions, all summary judgments, responses, replies, etc. must be e-filed unless a requested exemption is granted by the court.

c.    Motions to dismiss/nonsuit:  Any agreed motion to dismiss/nonsuit should be submitted to the court with the proper order signed by all parties attached.  These do not require a hearing.  The court sets two kinds of Dismiss for Want of Prosecution (DWOP) dockets.  1) Failure to reasonably prosecute your case, if you are a plaintiff.  The Court decides this based on several factors, e.g. failing to show up on the day of trial, not responding to a notice sent to you regarding the danger of your case being DWOP’d., and 2) Failure to provide a judgment within a reasonable period of time after your case has settled, (usually 30 to 60 days, unless you advise the Court that you need more time).

d.    Other motions (special exceptions, sanctions, severance/consolidation, default judgment, etc.):  Follow the procedure outlined in 3(a).  The Court does not grant sanctions except in egregious cases.  Defaults do not always require a hearing, but they may depending on whether the Court has questions or concerns when reviewing the paperwork.  Caveat:  It is much more difficult to get a default here if the defendant was served through a Rule 106 motion.

4.     How do I get notice of a ruling?   You can now  retrieve this information on the web page under the "Check Docket Setting" inquiry. Post cards are sent out by the District Court’s office whenever an order is signed.  On occasion, parties are called with rulings, especially in the case of summary judgments.  Parties can always call the clerk to check on the status of any pending matter.

DOCKETS

5.      Submission vs.oral hearing:  Submission date for summary judgments is Mondays at 10:30 a.m.  Submission date for all other motions is Mondays at 8:00 a.m.  Oral hearings are on Mondays.  Oral hearings are generally limited to 15 minutes unless the court agrees to an extension.  Oral hearings can be requested on any motion.  If you need more than 15 minutes you must tell the clerk when you set the hearing the amount of time required for all sides to be heard.

6.      Dismissal docket and motions to retain:  Motions to retain can be filed with the proposed order and set for submission on the date set out by the dismissal order.  Second Motions to Retain may be set for oral hearing by the court.  Third motions are rarely granted.

7.      Telephone Conferences:  Telephone conferences are available and can be set up by calling the clerk.  See 3(a) above.

TRIAL

8.      Level 3 cases:   If the parties have not submitted an agreed Docket Control Order within 2 months of an answer being filed, the Court will set the case for trial within 12 to 18 months of the date petition was filed.  The Court will follow the time limitations set out in TRCP.  If the parties cannot agree on a scheduling order, they should call the court and set up a status conference with the judge or trial coordinator.

9.      Settings and re-settings:  Parties can always file a written request for a specific trial setting.  After a case is on file 4 months, and if an answer is on file, the court will set the case for trial.  Cases with no service or no answer are put on a D.W.O.P. docket at this time.  Cases not reached on a trial docket are automatically reset by the court to the next available docket.

10.  Preferential trial settings?  Hardly ever.

11. Pre-trial orders?  We rarely use pre-trial orders unless it is a lengthy complicated and/or multi-party case, or by agreement of the parties.

12.  Assignment to trial:  Parties are sent a Docket Control Order or Order Resetting Trial.  Docket positions are assigned via telephone conference with the trial coordinator, Deb Grun, one (1) to two (2) weeks prior to the trial date. 

13.  Jury voir dire: Tell the Court why you need more than an hour per side for voir dire.  After voir dire is concluded, the Court will visit with the attorneys to see if there are any jurors with which we need to speak.  DO NOT TELL THE PANEL THAT THEY CAN VISIT WITH THE JUDGE!

14.  When do you want proposed jury questions?  First day of trial.

15.  Equipment available:  All Harris County Civil Courts now have available in the courtroom overhead projectors, document cameras, cd player, vhs player and cassett player.  Parties can also hook-up their personal laptops at the counsel tables.  You are welcome to come in and become familiar with the equipment before your trial date.  Contact the Trial Coordinator to set up a date and time. 

16.  Continuances:  Requests for continuance should be filed as soon as it appears a continuance will be needed.  First time continuances are generally granted, but even agreed second and third continuances may require an oral hearing or telephone conference with the judge.  Unopposed or agreed continuances do not require an oral hearing or submission date but should be filed with the court with the appropriate order attached.  If the Court requires a hearing or telephone conference, the Court will contact all parties and set it up.  Opposed continuances should be set for submission with a proposed order attached.  Valid certificates of conference must be included in the motion.  

ALTERNATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

17.  ADR/Mediation:  All cases must have mediated prior to trial unless an objection has been properly filed and ruled on by the court.  If an objection is filed, an order must be attached for the Court to either sustain or deny the objection. Parties should agree on a mediator whenever possible .

GENERAL 

18.  What's New???: We are updating information.  How about including your e-mail address in your signature line.

19.  165th DONT'S:  Do not Interrupt the Court or opposing counsel/parties.  Hyper technical discovery supplementation objections are frowned on and should not be made unless you and all of your future clients are willing to have the same standards applied to you.  Don’t shade the truth.  Follow Rule 1 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.

20.. Play nice.