ORDER REGARDING CONSENT TO UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE JURISDICTION

ORDER DIRECTING OFFICE OF THE CLERK TO SEND CONSENT FORM TO DEFENDANT

ANTHONY W. ISHII, Senior District Judge.

Plaintiff Alton King is appearing pro se and in forma pauperis in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

On November 30, 2017, the undersigned adopted the Findings and Recommendations and granted in part and denied in part Defendant's motion for summary judgment. This case is now ready to be set for trial on Plaintiff's retaliation claim against Defendant Calistro.

On June 3, 2015, Plaintiff consented to United States Magistrate Judge jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c). (ECF No. 6.) Defendant has not consented or declined to United States Magistrate Judge jurisdiction.

Now that the case is ready to be set for trial, the parties are advised of the following important information about scheduling and trailing cases before the undersigned:1

District court judges of the Fresno division of the Eastern District of California have one of the heaviest caseload in the nation. As a result, each District Judge schedules multiple trials to begin on each available trial date. The law requires that the court give any criminal trials priority over civil trials or any other matter. A civil trial set to begin while a criminal trial is proceeding will "trail", i.e. await the completion of, the criminal trial. Since continuance to a date certain will simply postpone, but not solve, the problem, continuances of any civil trial under these circumstances will no longer be entertained, absent a specific and stated finding of good cause.

The Court cannot give advance notice of which cases will trail or for how long because the court does not know which cases actually will go to trial or precisely how long each will last. Once your trial date arrives, counsel, parties and witnesses must remain on 24-hour-stand-by until a court opens. The Court will use its best efforts to mitigate the effect of the foregoing and to resolve all cases in a timely manner.

One alternative is for the parties to consent to a United States Magistrate Judge conducting all proceedings, including trial and entry of final judgment, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 28 U.S.C. 636(c), Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 73, and Local Rule 305. The Eastern District Magistrate Judges, all experienced former trial lawyers, use the same jury pool and same court facilities as United States district court judges. Judgment entered by a United States Magistrate Judge is appealable directly to the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit. Since Magistrate Judges do not conduct felony trials, they have greater flexibility and schedule firm trial dates.

As another response to its large caseload, the Fresno division of the Eastern District of California is assigning cases, whenever possible, to Article III District Court Judges from around the nation as visiting judges. Pursuant to the local rules, appendix A, such reassignments will be random, and the parties will receive no advance notice before their case is reassigned to an Article III District Court Judge from outside of the Eastern District of California. The parties are free to consent at any time and Magistrate Judge will initiate a trial scheduling conference.

Accordingly, it is HEREBY ORDERED that:

IT IS SO ORDERED.