Jana McCrory, Courtroom Deputy
(817) 333-6036
The Northern District will permit counsel to utilize a self-calendaring procedure for the scheduling of matters requiring 30 minutes or less of court time. This procedure will allow counsel to self-select available dates and times on the appropriate judge's calendar and serve notice without contacting the courtroom deputy for a hearing setting. The court strongly encourages the use of this self-calendaring procedure when appropriate. Courtroom deputies are available, by email or telephone to schedule non-self calendared hearings as needed.
The self-calendaring procedure for Judge Morris is as follows:
After selecting an available date and time, counsel shall serve proper notice of the matter in accordance with applicable rules.
NOTE: If a motion for relief from stay is set by a party in accordance with the self-calendaring procedure more than 30 days after the date the motion is filed, the court deems that the party has waived the 30-day limitation established by 11.U.S.C. Sec. 362(e) and will enter an order to that effect if requested by debtor.
NOTE: Occasionally there may be instances where self-calendared matters are rescheduled possibly due to docket congestion or unforeseen schedule changes. In these instances, the courtroom deputy will contact counsel for the movant, as soon as possible, so that a notice of rescheduled hearing may be issued and served.
NOTE: Unless otherwise noted, all hearings should be noticed for Room 204, U.S. Courthouse, 501 W. Tenth Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76102.
Preliminary hearings on Motions for Relief from Stay (all chapters) will generally be heard on designated Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m.
Motions to Extend/Impose Stay will be heard at 9:30 a.m. on the dates listed below unless otherwise scheduled by the Court.
Preliminary Lift Stay Hearing Dates
Motions Filed Between
Preliminary Hearing Date
March 9, 2020 - March 22, 2020
April 8, 2020 at 9:30 am
March 23, 2020 – March 30, 2020
April 15, 2020 at 9:30 am
March 31, 2020 – April 5, 2020
April 20, 2020 at 9:30 am (Monday)
April 6, 2020 – April 12, 2020
April 29, 2020 at 9:30 am
April 13, 2020 – April 20, 2020
May 12, 2020 at 9:30 am (Tuesday)
April 21, 2020 – May 4, 2020
May 20, 2020 at 9:30 am
May 5, 2020 – May 11, 2020
May 27, 2020 at 9:30 am
May 12, 2020 – May 25, 2020
June 10, 2020 at 9:30 am
May 26, 2020 – June 1, 2020
June 17, 2020 at 9:30 am
June 2, 2020 – June 8, 2020
June 24, 2020 at 9:30 am
June 9, 2020 – June 19, 2020
July 8, 2020 at 9:30 am
June 20, 2020 – June 29, 2020
July 15, 2020 at 9:30 am
June 30, 2020 – July 6, 2020
July 22, 2020 at 9:30 am
July 7, 2020 – July 13, 2020
July 29, 2020 at 9:30 am
NOTE: For Tim Truman, all matters shall be noticed for a pre-hearing conference at 6851 N.E. Loop 820, Suite 300, North Richland Hills, TX 76180. For Pam Bassel, all matters shall be noticed for a pre-hearing conference at 7001 Blvd 26, Suite 150, North Richland Hills, TX 76180. Please obtain pre-hearing conference dates from the Chapter 13 Trustee's website at:
www.13network.com
5. General matters with a time estimate of 30 minutes or less (such as motions to sell property, motions to dismiss case, objections to claims, etc.) will be heard at 9:30 a.m. on the dates listed below, unless otherwise scheduled by Court.
March 23, 2020
April 27, 2020
May 18, 2020
June 22, 2020
July 20, 2020
August 24, 2020
September 28, 2020
October 19, 2020
November 23, 2020
December 14, 2020
June
Judge Morris' chambers are located at 501 W. Tenth Street, Room 206, Fort Worth, TX, 76102. His courtroom is located in Room 204 on the 2nd floor.
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Telephone inquiries to Judge Morris' chambers should be directed to the following:
Orders submitted for the court’s consideration should be uploaded in ECF and must be in compliance with the Proposed Order Specifications included in the ECF Manual. Orders requiring immediate attention should be uploaded in ECF and counsel should alert the courtroom deputy by email. It is not necessary to notify the courtroom deputy when submitting routine orders that are not time sensitive.
Disagreements over the form of orders should be submitted in writing by email directed to the courtroom deputy with copy to opposing counsel. Proposed versions of the order in pdf and Microsoft Word should be attached to the email.
Orders concerning motions that can be considered without a hearing or notice of opportunity for hearing (such as motions to extend time to file schedules and statements, motions to extend deadline to object to discharge, and motions to dismiss case by debtor in Chapter 13 cases) should be uploaded in ECF when the motion is filed.
Orders concerning motions that include negative notice language should be uploaded after the objection period expires, provided no objections have been filed.
Orders concerning motions that require a hearing should be uploaded after the court has conducted the hearing and issued a ruling.
Please allow 7-10 business days for the entry of routine orders. Inquiries regarding the status of an order should be directed to the courtroom deputy.
Counsel are permitted to attend and participate in hearings by telephone without prior permission of the Court, subject to compliance with the following guidelines:
1. Counsel intending to telephonically participate in a hearing must provide written notice at least 24 hours in advance of the hearing to the courtroom deputy: Judge Morris – courtroom deputy at elm_settings@txnb.uscourts.gov The notice should include counsel’s name, the party on whose behalf counsel will be appearing, the case name and number, the date and time of the hearing, and the telephone number from which counsel will be calling. Persons who will not participate in the hearing and will, instead, be attending in a listen only mode are not required to provide such notice.
2. Witnesses may not be examined, nor evidence offered, by telephone except in extremely rare, emergency situations in which the Court determines that cause exists to waive the prohibition. Unless counsel is instructed otherwise by the Court in advance of a particular hearing, counsel may present argument telephonically; provided, however, that in doing so counsel acknowledges, individually and on behalf of counsel’s client, that counsel may not have access to materials that are presented in court and that the Court will not entertain a request for continuance based upon the lack of access to such materials.
3. The Court’s dial-in line is live. Therefore, counsel (a) should mute their lines at all times that they are not addressing the Court, (b) must not place their lines on hold at any time while connected to the call, and (c) must assure that no background noise is transmitted over the line, including music, typing, background conversations, etc. The Court reserves the right to disconnect or place on permanent mute any line of an attendee that causes any disruption to the proceedings before the Court.
4. The following instructions apply to telephonically joining and participating in hearings: a) Dial-In Instructions. The applicable dial-in numbers and conference codes are as follows:
Judge Morris – dial-in 817.918.4435 // conference code 118268
All telephonic attendees must dial in at least 5 minutes prior to the start of the hearing. Telephonic attendees are responsible for any applicable long-distance charges that they incur.
b) Muting of the Line. Once the conference code is entered, counsel will be connected live to the courtroom, at which time counsel will be able to hear persons speaking in the courtroom and other persons on the call addressing the Court. The Court will hear all sounds on the line. Therefore, it is important for counsel to mute their lines at all times that they are not addressing the Court.
c) Hand-Raise Feature. Where multiple counsel are on a call, the Court may elect to activate the “hand raise” feature, thereby placing all lines on mute. The system will make an initial announcement upon the Court’s activation of such feature. When the feature is active, counsel will not be able to address the Court until the Court receives notice of counsel’s request to speak and then activates counsel’s line. Where the hand-raise feature is active, to make a request to speak counsel must press 5*. Within approximately 5 seconds, the Court will then receive notice of the request. Once the Court grants the request and calls on counsel, counsel will hear a recorded message indicating that the line is live. Once counsel is done speaking, the Court will again mute the line.
5. The Court cannot and does not guarantee that telephonic service will not be interrupted during the course of a hearing. Counsel choosing to telephonically attend a hearing do so at their own risk of a technological failure.
Please see Clerk’s Notice 06-06 dated April 12, 2006, for requirements for motions to extend the automatic stay pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362 (c)(3)(B). Motions to continue or impose the automatic stay will ordinarily be set on a preliminary lift stay docket unless a special setting is needed to provide adequate notice. A list of extend stay dockets may be found at: https://www.txnb.uscourts.gov/content/judge-edward-l-morris-0.
Counsel should file a motion to shorten notice and upload a proposed order if allowing less than 24 days’ notice of the hearing.
Motions to reopen case for financial management course certificate or for filing the Debtor(s) Certification and Motion for Entry of Chapter 12/13 Discharge may be considered without a hearing or notice of opportunity for hearing. An order may be uploaded at the time of filing. Please use form BTXN196 located on our website. If the certificate or motion is not filed by the deadline, the case will be reclosed.
If all parties agree to continue a hearing, counsel shall notify the courtroom deputy by phone or email and request another setting. If approved, the Court's docket will be annotated to reflect the announcement and counsel will be excused from appearing at the hearing. The courtroom deputy will advise if an appearance at the originally scheduled setting is necessary. A motion for continuance is required if the hearing was set by court order. Notice of any new setting must promptly be provided.
For all hearings and trials, please provide the court with 2 copies of all exhibits (one for the judge and one for the law clerk) in addition to any copies to be provided to opposing counsel or for use by witnesses.
The Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas recognizes the importance of providing opportunities for junior lawyers to gain experience and training in courtroom skills. Accordingly, it is the policy of this Court that, where junior lawyers are familiar with the matter before the court, but are not experienced in arguing in court, they should be encouraged to attend and participate. In such circumstances, where it creates an opportunity for a junior lawyer to argue, this Court is amenable to permitting more than one lawyer to argue for a party.
Other opportunities for junior lawyers include attending and participating in first day matters in chapter 11cases and presenting some of the motions before the court, going over the agenda with the court for cases in which more than one hearing is scheduled, and attending to other uncontested matters. On the latter point, this Court does not consider it a waste of judicial time for a junior lawyer to handle in an efficient manner an uncontested matter.
