All proceedings in Superior Court are conducted according to the State Court Rules issued by the Washington State Supreme Court as well as local rules which are issued by the various county Superior Court Judges. In order to conduct a case in the Superior Court for Cowlitz County, you should be familiar with both as they may apply to your case.
The Statewide Court Rules can be found at the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) in Olympia which is: www.courts.wa.gov
The local rules for Cowlitz County Superior Court are also available on that site, but we maintain a more user-friendly version below.
Civil Trial Case Scheduling Rules
These rules are intended to help manage the caseloads in Superior Court and to efficiently move civil cases from filing to final decision in a consistent manner. Our courts carry a very large case load of both civil and criminal matters, and these rules help provide more definite trial dates by not scheduling matters for trial that are not actually ready for trial. It is a different test than simply having an "Answer" files, in legal terms, "At Issue". Local Rules 16 and 40 are the operative sections and must be followed in order to get a trial date set. Both of these rules can be viewed at the links above.
