San Francisco Superior Court Seeks Public Comment on Rescission ...

NEWS RELEASE<strong>Superior</strong> <strong>Court</strong> of CaliforniaCOUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO400 McAllister Street, Room 205<strong>San</strong> <strong>Francisco</strong>, CA 94102-4512Phone: 415-551-5737FAX: 415-551-5701T. MICHAEL YUENCOURT EXECUTIVE OFFICERContact:Ann E. Donlan(415) 551-5957adonlan@sftc.orgFollow Us on Twitter:https://twitter.com/SF<strong>Superior</strong><strong>Court</strong>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 20, 2011SAN FRANCISCO SUPERIOR COURT SEEKS PUBLICCOMMENT ON RESCISSION OF ASBESTOS GENERAL ORDERS<strong>Court</strong> to Hold November 15 Hearing After Two Rounds of <strong>Public</strong> <strong>Comment</strong>sSAN FRANCISCO -- The <strong>Superior</strong> <strong>Court</strong> of California, County of <strong>San</strong> <strong>Francisco</strong> will accepttwo rounds of public comment on a draft order from Presiding Judge Katherine Feinstein thatwould eliminate most asbestos general orders for newly filed cases effective January 1, 2012.The first deadline for public comments via LexisNexis is 4 p.m. on October 21. Fivecourtesy copies of any comments should then be delivered to Department 503 by 4 p.m. onOctober 25. The comments should be submitted under the Complex Asbestos caption and casenumber (No. 828684). Written responses to any comments made in the first round may be madevia LexisNexis no later than 4 p.m. on October 28 with five courtesy copies delivered toDepartment 503 by 4 p.m. on November 1.Judge Harold E. Kahn, who until recently presided over the <strong>Court</strong>’s highly successfulAsbestos Department since its inception in January 2010, will hold a hearing on the draft order at2 p.m. on November 15, 2011 in Room 509, Civic Center <strong>Court</strong>house, 400 McAllister St.,-MORE-

Asbestos Hearing/SFSC2-2-2-2in <strong>San</strong> <strong>Francisco</strong>. The <strong>Court</strong> will provide a <strong>Court</strong> Reporter for the hearing.Effective January 1, 2012, the order would rescind “all asbestos general orders andportions thereof that have not previously been invalidated, deleted or rescinded … except asspecifically set forth herein.” Also effective on January 1, 2012, the <strong>Court</strong> would cease thepractice of “grouping” asbestos cases by plaintiffs’ firm, personal injury or wrongful death, anddisease.The order would exempt all portions of General Order 158, which requires electronic filingand service of “all pleadings, motions, memorandum of law, orders, or other documents filed inan asbestos case other than the first filing.” It also would exempt the first sentence of GeneralOrder 162, which provides for an asbestos case management department.For each asbestos case filed prior to January 1, 2012, all portions of General Orders 41,129 (except the annual update requirements), 156 and 160 shall remain in effect until December31, 2013.The order would not preclude the asbestos case management Judge, who currently isJudge Teri L. Jackson, from making an order in any particular case or cases to apply the generalorders or any portion of them.In addition, the order would allow the parties to enter into a stipulation in one or morecases that one or more general orders or portions of them will apply. The order also would allowthe parties to enter into a stipulation that any two or more cases will be treated as a “group” fordiscovery or other purpose.###