Law and motion
The filing clocks counted backward from the hearing, and what gets an application rejected at the window.
The sequence
- -16 court daysMoving papers served and filedCounted backward from the hearing. Section 1013 is excluded by name.
- -9 court daysOppositionThe trigger is the hearing date, not the date you were served.
- -5 court daysReplyNo new evidence, and the court can disregard what arrives late.
- -1 court dayEx parte notice by 10:00 a.m.Absent exceptional circumstances, and a local rule can be stricter.
- HearingTentative posts the day beforeCheck the department. Some require notice of intent to appear.
This sequence is the shape of the stage, not a calculator. Dates come from calcourtdeadlines.com.
Guides in this stage5
- The 16-court-day motion clockSixteen, nine and five, all counted backward from the hearing. Section 1013 is excluded by name, and the electronic extension is an open question.
- Ex parte applicationsMost applications that fail do not fail on the merits. They fail on the reservation, the notice, or the filing deadline.
- Summary judgment timing and the separate statementEighty-one days of notice since 2025, what the service extensions do to it, and why a ground missing from the separate statement is not in the motion.
- Replying to an opposition separate statementYou cannot file one, and since 1 January 2025 the statute says so by name. What goes in the ten-page reply instead, and the rule of court that still says otherwise.
- Peremptory challenges under CCP 170.6Fifteen days from notice of an all purpose assignment and no time at all off a true master calendar. One challenge per side, no discretion to refuse a timely one, and a denial reviewable only by writ within 10 days.