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

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would rescind “all asbestos general orders andportions thereof that have not previously been invalidated, deleted or rescinded … except asspecifically set forth herein.”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.###