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Chief
Judge Directive 20 1. The filing of a Case Information Sheet (CIS) is critical and indispensable to prioritizing cases on the docket. Although OAC Rule 20 provides that the CIS shall be filed no more than twenty days and no less than five days prior to the commencement of the hearing, Western Slope practitioners are strongly advised to file the CIS no less than ten days prior to the commencement of the hearing, in order that meaningful telephone status conferences may be held sufficiently in advance of hearing. Parties who fail to file a timely CIS lack standing to complain about their priority on the docket. This policy will be strictly enforced. 2. Continuation hearings are strongly discouraged. Once a hearing commences, it will proceed until the judge determines that it has been concluded, regardless of the hour, absent a showing of good cause for adjourning the hearing to complete at a later date. Travel arrangements of the parties or counsel do not constitute good cause. Consequently, parties and counsel must make flexible travel arrangements. This policy is not intended to preclude rebuttal or surrebuttal testimony by deposition when appropriate. 3. In the unusual event that a Western Slope hearing must be adjourned for completion at a later date, the judge may appear by telephone, with the parties appearing at the Grand Junction or Durango hearing site, to complete the hearing. Other options include completing the hearing by depositions or in Denver if all parties agree. 4. The Grand Junction Docket shall consist of six full days a month, on appropriate days and weeks, beginning in January 2007. 5. The Durango Docket shall consist of two full days, spread over three days, every six weeks, ordinarily running from 1:00 PM on the first day through 12:00 PM on the last day unless it is necessary to go later to complete the docket on the last day. 6. The Glenwood Springs docket will usually be held one day every other month, on an as needed basis.
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