Law and motion·fatal if missed
In San Diego, a reserved motion date now lasts three court days unless the papers are filed
From December 14, 2026, counsel in a San Diego Superior Court civil case assigned to an independent calendar department must reserve every demurrer and noticed motion through the court's online Motion Appearance Reservation System (MARS), and the notice, the motion and the memorandum must be filed within three court days after the date is reserved, or the date is vacated (General Order of the Presiding Department No. 102626-38, secs. A and B). A motion counsel files without a MARS reservation "will not be heard." The three court days run from the reservation, not from service, so no service extension under CCP 1010.6 or 1013 adds to them. Reserve only when the papers are final.
- Who must use MARS
- Every party represented by counsel, for every demurrer and noticed motion Gen. Order 102626-38, sec. A. Civil cases assigned to an independent calendar department, from December 14, 2026. Self-represented parties may still call the clerk
- Motion filed with no MARS reservation
- Will not be heard Gen. Order 102626-38, sec. A, unless the court orders otherwise
- Filing window
- Three court days after the hearing date is reserved Gen. Order 102626-38, secs. A and B. Runs from the reservation, so neither CCP 1010.6 nor 1013 extends it. Missed, and the date is vacated
- What holds the date
- Notice of motion, the motion, and the memorandum of points and authorities Gen. Order 102626-38, secs. A and B. No memorandum needed only where a statute or CRC 3.1114 says so
- Exempt from the three court days
- Summary judgment, anti-SLAPP, sanctions under CCP 128.5 and 128.7, unlawful detainer, small claims, class certification, new trial Gen. Order 102626-38, sec. B. The list is not exhaustive. Still reserved through MARS, and filed by the statutory deadline
- Reservation limits
- One active reservation per motion; two discovery motions per date per case Gen. Order 102626-38, sec. A. More than that goes through the independent calendar clerk
- Ex parte applications
- Not in MARS; papers filed by noon the court day before Gen. Order 102626-38, secs. A and B; San Diego Local Rule 2.1.19. Set with the independent calendar clerk
- How long the order runs
- December 14 to December 31, 2026, unless the court orders otherwise Gen. Order 102626-38, last paragraph. Look for an extension or a replacement order before relying on it in 2027
On this page
What the order requires
Reserve through MARS, then file the notice, motion and memorandum within three court days.
Presiding Judge Michael S. Groch signed General Order of the Presiding Department No. 102626-38, In re Civil Motion Hearing Reservation and Filing Procedures, on October 26, 2026. It recites its authority as California Rules of Court, rule 10.603, and San Diego Local Rules, rule 2.1.19. The court's Notice to the Public announcing it is dated October 28, 2026.
Section A makes the online system mandatory for represented parties: "Parties represented by counsel seeking to schedule a demurrer or noticed motion for hearing in a civil case assigned to an Independent Calendar Department must reserve a hearing date through MARS, unless the court orders otherwise. If a party represented by counsel files a motion without first reserving a hearing date through MARS, the motion will not be heard." Self-represented litigants "are encouraged, but are not required," to use MARS and may still call the independent calendar clerk.
Section A then sets the filing window: "All moving papers must be filed within three (3) court days after the hearing date is reserved through MARS, unless the motion is exempt from the three-court-day filing requirements or the court orders otherwise. If the moving papers are not filed within this time, the reserved hearing date will be vacated."
Section B extends the window to dates reserved by phone. Moving papers for "demurrers and other noticed motions scheduled in civil cases must be filed within three (3) court days after the hearing date is reserved, whether the reservation is made through MARS or by contacting the assigned department." Section B is not limited by its terms to represented parties, so a self-represented party who reserves through the clerk appears to be held to the same three court days.
Filing part of the motion does not hold the date. "The papers required to maintain a reserved hearing date are a notice of motion, the motion itself, and memorandum of points and authorities, except where a memorandum is not required by statute or by California Rules of Court, rule 3.1114. Filing a notice of motion or motion without a required supporting memorandum will result in the reserved hearing date being vacated." Rule 3.1114(a) lists the Judicial Council form motions that need no memorandum, among them a motion to be relieved as counsel. Declarations and the proposed order are not on the order's list.
Last, the order changes no deadline: "Nothing in this General Order alters or extends any applicable deadlines, including deadlines for filing documents, serving papers, or providing notice."
Counting the three court days
Day one is the first court day after the reservation, and service gives you nothing extra.
The order does not say how to count. Under CCP 12, "[t]he time in which any act provided by law is to be done is computed by excluding the first day, and including the last." CCP 12a(b) applies the holiday rule to every period "expressed in this or any other code or statute, ordinance, rule, or regulation," and a court day excludes Saturdays, Sundays and the judicial holidays listed in CCP 135. Read that way, a date reserved on Monday, December 14, 2026 needs the papers on file by Thursday, December 17.
A MARS reservation made on a weekend or a court holiday is the case the order leaves open. Counting from the next court day is the natural reading, but no published decision addresses it. Filing the same day you reserve removes the question.
No service extension applies, and the reason is structural. CCP 1010.6(a)(3)(B) extends a period that runs "after the service of the document" by two court days, and CCP 1013 extends periods that run after mail service. A reservation is not service of anything, and the order says it extends nothing. The two court days for electronic service end for documents served on or after January 1, 2027 in any event (AB 540, Stats. 2026, ch. 263; see the electronic service guide).
The hearing date you reserve still has to satisfy CCP 1005(b): moving papers "served and filed at least 16 court days before the hearing," plus the additions for the method of service. That is a second clock, counted backward from the hearing under CCP 12c(a). The papers are due on whichever of the two dates comes first. A date reserved months out leaves the three court days in control. A date reserved close in can make section 1005(b) the earlier one, and the order's answer when MARS offers no compliant date is to contact the independent calendar clerk.
Exempt motions
Exempt from the three court days, not from MARS.
Motions "subject to statutory or rule-based notice, filing, or hearing requirements that are inconsistent with the three-court-day filing requirement, or that otherwise require expedited or special scheduling" are exempt. Section B gives a list that is expressly not exhaustive ("include but are not limited to"): motions under CCP 128.5 and 128.7; motions in unlawful detainer actions under CCP 1159 et seq.; motions in small claims cases; motions for summary judgment or summary adjudication; anti-SLAPP motions; motions to certify or decertify a class; and motions for new trial. Section A's list is the same without small claims.
An exempt motion is still reserved through MARS, and the order gives it its own deadline: "the moving papers must instead be filed within any applicable statutory or rule-based deadline governing the motion. Failure to timely file the moving papers may result in the hearing reservation being vacated and may give rise to an OSC re Sanctions under Code of Civil Procedure sections 177.5 and/or 575.2." Section 177.5 caps those sanctions at $1,500 and requires notice and an opportunity to be heard. Section 575.2(b) puts a penalty for counsel's failure on counsel rather than the party.
The list is illustrative. A noticed motion that is not on it, and has no statutory timing that conflicts with three court days, should be treated as covered.
Why summary judgment is on the exempt list
Riverside's Local Rule 3310 cancels a law and motion reservation if the moving papers are not filed within ten court days. In CFP BDA, LLC v. Superior Court (2025) 112 Cal.App.5th 1006, Riverside cancelled a summary judgment hearing under that rule even though the motion was filed and served 81 days before the hearing, as CCP 437c(a)(2) requires. The Court of Appeal issued a writ. It held that a trial court "cannot refuse to consider a motion for summary judgment that is timely filed," that "[l]ocal rules and practices may not be applied so as to prevent the filing and hearing of such a motion," and that "[i]f the trial court vacates the hearing date in this circumstance, it must permit another hearing date that complies with the statute."
The court added that its decision "should not be construed as a challenge to the validity of Local Rule 3310." The holding is about a timely summary judgment motion. San Diego's order sidesteps it by exempting summary judgment from the three court days.
One reservation, two discovery motions, no ex partes
Hold one date per motion, and call the clerk for anything the system will not do.
Parties "may have only one active hearing reservation through MARS at a time for any particular motion and may not make multiple simultaneous reservations through MARS for the same motion." To move a date, cancel it in MARS and reserve again. "To reschedule a hearing without canceling the existing reservation, the moving party must contact the independent calendar clerk for the assigned department." Cancelling and reserving again starts a new reservation, and the three court days run from it.
"No more than two (2) discovery motions may be reserved through MARS for the same date in the same case." A third motion on the same date goes through the independent calendar clerk. That matters when several motions to compel are on the 45-day clock at once.
"Ex parte hearings cannot be reserved through MARS." They are still set with the independent calendar clerk, and under Local Rule 2.1.19 the application and supporting papers must be filed, with a courtesy copy to the department if e-filed, "no later than noon the court day prior to the ex parte appearance." The order adds that "[t]he court may refuse to consider any late-filed papers."
Dates already reserved, and the end date
A date reserved before December 14, 2026 stands; the order itself ends December 31, 2026.
"Hearing dates reserved before the effective date of this General Order remain valid and do not need to be re-reserved through MARS. Any hearing date reserved on or after the effective date of this General Order for a motion subject to this Order must be obtained through MARS, unless the court orders otherwise."
The order closes: "This order shall become effective on December 14, 2026, and expire on December 31, 2026, unless otherwise ordered by this court." As signed it runs eighteen days. Check the court's general orders page for an extension or a replacement before counting on it, or on its exemptions, for a reservation made in 2027.
What Local Rule 2.1.19 already said
Rule 2.1.19(A), as revised January 1, 2026, already required a reservation "through the online reservation system at http://www.sdcourt.ca.gov or by contacting the calendar clerk for the judge assigned to the case," and provided that "[f]ailure to reserve a date for hearing will result in the demurrer, motion, ex parte application, or order to show cause hearing not being heard." It said the papers "should be ready to be filed when the reservation is obtained," with no fixed window and no consequence for filing late.
For represented parties, the general order makes the online system mandatory, fixes the window at three court days, and vacates the date on a late or incomplete filing.
The rule's summary judgment provision is unchanged. Failing to file a reserved summary judgment motion, or to call the clerk to take it off calendar no later than two days after the last day to serve under section 437c, "is deemed to be a waste of judicial resources and a violation of local rules." The court may set an order to show cause re sanctions under CCP 177.5 and/or 575.2.
Rule 3.20 and the open question
California Rules of Court, rule 3.20(a) provides that the Judicial Council "has preempted all local rules relating to pleadings, demurrers, ex parte applications, motions, discovery, provisional remedies, and the form and format of papers," and that such local rules "are null and void unless otherwise permitted or required by a statute or a rule in the California Rules of Court."
Rule 3.1300(d) provides that "[n]o paper may be rejected for filing on the ground that it was untimely submitted for filing."
The San Diego order rests on rule 10.603, the presiding judge's calendar authority, and on Local Rule 2.1.19. It vacates a date rather than rejecting a paper. No published decision was found deciding whether rule 3.20 reaches a presiding judge's general order of this kind, or applying CFP BDA to a demurrer or other noticed motion. Comply with the order.
What breaks
Four mistakes under the new order, and which of them can be fixed.
Losing the date on a motion that has its own time limit, such as the 45 days to move to compel further responses
The order "alters or extends" no deadline. A vacated date has to be reserved again and the motion noticed for the new date, and no published decision says whether a notice served for a vacated date preserves the 45 days in CCP 2031.310(c). A motion to compel further that is not noticed within that limit is waived (see the 45-day guide).
Reserving before the papers are ready and missing the three court days
The date is vacated. For a motion with no limit of its own, reserve again and file within three court days of the new reservation.
Filing the notice and motion without the memorandum
The order says this "will result in the reserved hearing date being vacated." File all three together.
Booking a second MARS date for the same motion, or a third discovery motion on one date
The system and the order allow one active reservation per motion and two discovery motions per date. Cancel first, or go through the independent calendar clerk.
For every San Diego demurrer and noticed motion
- Finish the notice, motion and memorandum before reserving.
- Reserve through MARS, not by phone, if the party has counsel and the case is in an independent calendar department.
- Check the date against CCP 1005(b) before accepting it, counting backward from the hearing.
- File all three papers the same day, and no later than the third court day after the reservation.
- Confirm the filing shows on the docket before the third court day ends.
- To move a date, cancel it first or call the independent calendar clerk; never hold two reservations.
- Set ex partes with the clerk and file by noon the court day before.
- Watch for an order extending General Order 102626-38 past December 31, 2026.
The local layer
San Diego is the county this guide covers. Riverside's ten-court-day cancellation rule is described under exempt motions above. San Bernardino and every other county are outside this guide: follow CCP 1005(b), the county's local rules and the assigned department's procedures. The statewide motion clock is in the 16-court-day motion guide.