All Civil Settlement and Pre-Trial Conferences will be IN PERSON.  WebEx will no longer be available.  Please refer to your notice for direction.

For IN PERSON attendance for Settlement Conferences in Benton County, please check-in at Court Administration, located at:

7122 W. Okanogan Place, Suite A130
Kennewick, WA 99336

For IN PERSON attendance for Settlement Conferences in Franklin County, please check-in at Court Administration, located on:     

Second floor of the Franklin County Courthouse:

1016 N. 4thAve
Pasco, WA 99301

Civil Settlement Conferences

Settlement Conferences are governed by Local Civil Rule 16.

Pre-Trial Procedure

  1. Private Mediation. Regardless of whether mediation is court-ordered, parties may seek an order allowing them to opt out of the settlement conference by filing a stipulation and order with Court Administration. The request must include a letter from a mediator and signed on behalf of all parties that the case has been mediated or that mediation has been scheduled to occur on or before the date of the settlement conference.
  2. Continuances. Continuances of settlement conferences may be authorized only by the Court on timely application.
  3. Pretrial Power of Court. If the case is not settled at a settlement conference, the Judge may nevertheless make such orders as are appropriate in a pretrial conference.
  4. Pretrial Conference Hearing/Trial Exhibits. In cases that are governed by a Case Schedule, the Court shall schedule a Pretrial Conference Hearing, which shall be attended by the lead trial attorney of each party who is represented by an attorney and by each party who is not represented by an attorney. The parties must jointly prepare a Trial Management Report.
  5. Trial Management Report. In cases governed by a Civil Case Schedule Order, the parties must jointly prepare a Trial Management Report. The plaintiff shall prepare an initial report and serve it upon all opposing parties no later than two weeks prior to the date it is due under the Civil Case Schedule Order. The Report shall be filed with the Court and uploaded to eMotion.
    • The Report shall contain:
      1. Nature and brief, non-argumentative summary of the case;
      2. List of issues that are not in dispute;
      3. List of issues that are disputed;
      4. Index of exhibits (excluding rebuttal or impeachment exhibits);
      5. List of plaintiff’s requests for Washington Pattern Jury Instructions;
      6. List of defendant’s requests for Washington Pattern Jury Instructions;
      7. List of names of all lay and expert witnesses, excluding rebuttal witnesses; and
      8. Suggestions by either party for shortening the trial.
  6. Parties to Confer in Completing Report. The attorneys for all parties in the case shall confer in completing the Trial Management Report. If any party fails to cooperate in completing the report, any other party may file and serve the report and note the refusal to cooperate.
  7. Form of Trial Management Report. A trial management report will be in generally the following form as prescribed by the court.  Click HERE for form.

[Updated September 1, 2024]