San Mateo moves to Direct Calendaring in Civil Effective January 1, 2021
San Mateo Superior Court has adopted a direct calendar model, where all civil cases are assigned to a single judge, for all purposes. The Civil Clerk's Office is in the process of sending Notices of Assignment for all current and newly filed cases.

Motions Filed in November and December
The Clerk's Office is calendaring motions filed in December in the order that they were received. You will receive your hearing date by January 11, 2021.

Calendar Availability for New Motions
To schedule a motion on the assigned judge's calendar, check available dates on the calendar availability page.

Ex Partes
The Civil Judges will not hear Ex Partes in January, 2021

Informal Discovery Conferences
Before filing a motion to compel discovery or any other discovery motion, parties must have had an Informal Discovery Conference with the Court. Counsel must have exhausted all meet and confer obligations before the Informal Discovery Conference. (Local Rule 3.700 (a)) The Civil Commissioner will hear Informal Discovery Conferences by conference call. To schedule an Informal Discovery Conference, email the Civil Commissioner's Department, IDC@sanmateocourt.org, after January 1, 2021.

Trials Scheduled for January - March, 2021
If you have a Trial calendared in January - March, 2021, you will receive a notice for a Case Management and Trial Date Setting Conference before the assigned judge.

Mandatory Settlement Conference Procedures
Parties will no longer submit a paper copy of their Mandatory Settlement Conference (MSC) Statements to Master Calendar. Instead, parties must timely lodge their MSC Statements by e-filing with the Court. Until Covid 19 Pandemic restrictions are lifted, Mandatory Settlement Conferences will be held remotely, using Zoom video conferencing. The assigned civil judge will calendar the MSC at the Case Management and Trial Date Setting Conference. The MSC will be conducted by a civil judge who is not the judge assigned to the case.