Swenson

In this original proceeding, petitioners claim that the five-day extension of time provided by Code of Civil Procedure section 1013, subdivision (a), applies to notice by mail of a master calendar assignment of an all-purpose judge. Petitioners, the plaintiffs below in a case subject to the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Trial Court Delay Reduction Act rules, received such notice by mail and 12 days later asserted a peremptory challenge (Code Civ. Proc., § 170.6) to the assigned judge. The challenge was rejected as untimely, raising the issue before us in this proceeding: whether section 1013, subdivision (a), extends by five days the time within which a peremptory challenge must be filed under the local rules. We hold that it does not.

Under the local rules promulgated by the Los Angeles Superior Court to implement the Trial Court Delay Reduction Act (Local Rules), “[a] motion asserting a challenge to an I/C [Individual Calendar or all-purpose] Judge under Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6 must be made within 10 days after notice of the assignment of a case to such I/C Judge . . . .” (Local Rule 1104.1.) After receiving in the mail a “Notice of Status Conference”…