Legal Definitions - calendar motion

A calendar motion is a formal request made by a party in a lawsuit to a judge or court concerning the scheduling of a case or a specific event within that case. These motions are used to ask the court to set, reset, advance, postpone, or remove a matter from its official schedule or "calendar." Essentially, it's a request to change when something is going to happen in court.

Here are some examples:

• Example 1: Requesting a Postponement

  A plaintiff's attorney in a personal injury lawsuit files a motion asking the court to postpone the upcoming trial date by several weeks. The attorney explains that a critical medical expert witness for their client recently became unavailable due to an unforeseen international conference that conflicts directly with the scheduled trial. The attorney needs more time to secure an alternative expert or adjust the existing expert's schedule.

  Explanation: This is a calendar motion because it directly requests a change to the court's established schedule for the trial, seeking to move the date further into the future due to an unexpected conflict.

• Example 2: Seeking to Advance a Hearing

  In a dispute over a commercial lease, the landlord files a motion requesting that the court advance the date for a scheduled hearing on a motion to compel discovery. The landlord argues that the tenant's continued refusal to provide requested financial documents is causing significant and ongoing financial harm, making it urgent for the court to address the discovery issue sooner than originally planned.

  Explanation: This illustrates a calendar motion because it seeks to alter the court's existing schedule by moving a hearing date *earlier* than originally planned, based on a perceived urgency and potential for ongoing harm.

• Example 3: Removing a Case from the Trial Calendar

  After extensive negotiations, the parties in a complex intellectual property dispute reach a preliminary settlement agreement just weeks before the scheduled trial. They jointly file a motion asking the court to remove the case from the upcoming trial calendar, or at least grant a substantial continuance, to allow them sufficient time to finalize the detailed terms of the settlement and prepare the necessary dismissal documents.

  Explanation: This is a calendar motion as it requests the court to either take the case off the trial schedule entirely or delay the trial significantly, directly impacting the court's calendar to facilitate an out-of-court resolution.