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Procedures For Appearances By TelephoneUNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT The following procedures apply in the San Francisco Division for appearances by telephone by counsel or parties appearing in propria persona: NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION Procedures For Appearances By Telephone 1. Permitted Appearances. In general, telephone appearances are permitted except in situations where the party or counsel: Is counsel for a client who is present in court; or Is directed by the court to appear personally.
2. Court Conference Center Ex Parte or Short Notice Hearings. When the court conducts a telephone conference on short notice and uses Court Conference Center, it may designate one party to bear the entire cost of the conference call. 3. Court Initiated Telephone Appearances for Other Hearings A. A party desiring to appear by telephone must make the request to the proper courtroom deputy no less than 72 hours (exclusive of weekends and holidays) prior to the scheduled hearing. Exceptions will be made in cases of emergency or for hearings set on extremely short notice. B. When requests to appear by telephone are made, the requesting party must provide the telephone number where he or she will be at the time of the scheduled hearing. C. The court's own equipment permits it to initiate calls to one or two persons directly from chambers without the use of a conference operator. In those instances the court will contact the parties by dialing 1-800-COLLECT; parties who have made requests to appear by telephone must alert their receptionists or other persons who receive calls that an automated collect call from Judge Carlson or Judge Montali must be accepted when it is received. Normally calls to parties in San Francisco will be made without charge to the parties. D. The court will make every effort to place the call at the scheduled time of the hearing. Because of calendar matters, however, it is possible that a call will be delayed. Parties will be expected to remain available regardless of the hour, and parties who are located in other time zones should be prepared to adjust their schedules accordingly. E. Calls will be placed from the courtroom or from chambers. Occasionally the parties will be required to hold for a short time. If a call is refused, or not taken immediately, or fails to go through twice due to lack of answer or busy signals, the telephone appearance of the responsible party will be canceled and the matter will be deemed submitted without appearance by that party. F. Because the courtroom deputies are usually in court prior to the initiation of any particular call, last minute changes in Judge Montali's courtroom must be communicated directly to his judicial assistant. 5. Telephone Privilege. The court views these procedures as a privilege for the convenience of the parties. Abuses of these procedures will result in cancellation of these privileges of offending parties. 6. Courtroom Deputies/Judicial Assistant The names and telephone numbers of the San Francisco Courtroom Deputies and Judge Montali's Judicial Assistant are set forth below: Judge Carlson Mr. Gordon Hom, Courtroom Deputy, 415-268-2362 Ms. Dorothy Timo, Judicial Assistant, 415-268-2320 |
