California’s New Summary Judgment Deadlines: The 81/20/11 Count Under CCP 437c

Short answer: a California summary judgment motion must be served at least 81 days before the hearing, opposition is due 20 days before, and reply 11 days before. Those numbers replaced 75, 14, and 5 as of January 1, 2025.

The counts are not interchangeable with the old ones, and the notice period is the one that kills hearing dates. Below is the operative statutory language, a backward count against a real calendar, and drafting text you can lift.

What changed in CCP 437c on January 1, 2025

Assembly Bill 2049 (Chapter 99, Statutes of 2024, approved by the Governor and filed with the Secretary of State on July 15, 2024) rewrote the three timing numbers in Code of Civil Procedure section 437c. The notice period moved from 75 days to 81. The opposition deadline moved from 14 days to 20. The reply deadline moved from 5 days to 11. The publisher of the section text records the current version as updated January 1, 2025.

The same bill added subdivision (a)(4): “A party shall not bring more than one motion for summary judgment against an adverse party to the action or proceeding.” If you are recycling a strategy from a 2023 case file, both the calendar and the one-motion rule have moved underneath you.

How many days before the hearing must a California MSJ be served?

Eighty-one days, and the statute says served, not filed. Subdivision (a)(2) also carries its own service extensions, which stack on top of the 81 days rather than replacing them.

CCP 437c and CRC 3.1350 rule table

Provision	Operative language	Source read
CCP 437c(a)(1)	“The motion may be made at any time after 60 days have elapsed since the general appearance in the action or proceeding of each party against whom the motion is directed”	california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com
CCP 437c(a)(2)	“Notice of the motion and supporting papers shall be served on all other parties to the action at least 81 days before the time appointed for hearing.”	california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com
CCP 437c(a)(2), service extensions	Mail: “increased by 5 days if the place of address is within the State of California, 10 days if … outside the State of California but within the United States, and 20 days if … outside the United States.” Overnight or fax: “increased by two court days.”	california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com
CCP 437c(a)(3)	“The motion shall be heard no later than 30 days before the date of trial, unless the court for good cause orders otherwise.”	california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com
CCP 437c(b)(2)	“An opposition to the motion shall be served and filed not less than 20 days preceding the noticed or continued date of hearing, unless the court for good cause orders otherwise.”	california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com
CCP 437c(b)(4)	“A reply to the opposition shall be served and filed by the moving party not less than 11 days preceding the noticed or continued date of hearing, unless the court for good cause orders otherwise.”	california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com
CCP 437c(b)(1)	“The failure to comply with this requirement of a separate statement may in the court’s discretion constitute a sufficient ground for denying the motion.”	california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com
CCP 437c(b)(3)	“Failure to comply with this requirement of a separate statement may constitute a sufficient ground, in the court’s discretion, for granting the motion.”	california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com
CCP 12c(a), (b)	(a) “the last day to perform that act shall be determined by counting backward from the hearing date, excluding the day of the hearing.” (b) Service extensions “shall be computed by counting backward from the day determined in accordance with subdivision (a).”	california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com
CCP 1010.6(a)(3)(B)	“Any period of notice … shall be extended after service by electronic means by two court days”	california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com
CCP 135; Gov. Code 6700(a)	“Every Saturday and the day after Thanksgiving Day are judicial holidays,” plus the Gov. Code 6700 list, which includes “November 11, known as ‘Veterans Day.'”	california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com
CRC 3.1350(b)	“The specific cause of action, affirmative defense, claims for damages, or issues of duty must be stated specifically in the notice of motion and be repeated, verbatim, in the separate statement of undisputed material facts.”	courts.ca.gov
CRC 3.1350(d)	“Citation to the evidence in support of each material fact must include reference to the exhibit, title, page, and line numbers.”	courts.ca.gov
CRC 3.1350(f)(2)	“Each material fact claimed by the moving party to be undisputed must be set out verbatim on the left side of the page”	courts.ca.gov
CRC 3.1350(g)	“If evidence in support of or in opposition to a motion exceeds 25 pages, the evidence must be separately bound and must include a table of contents.”	courts.ca.gov
CRC 3.1350(h)	“the response must unequivocally state whether that fact is ‘disputed’ or ‘undisputed.'”	courts.ca.gov

Worked backward count for a February 1, 2027 hearing

Assume a Los Angeles Superior Court hearing on Monday, February 1, 2027. CCP 12c(a) tells you to count backward from the hearing date and exclude the day of the hearing. CCP 12c(b) tells you to count any service extension backward from the date you just derived, not forward from filing.

• 81 days before February 1, 2027: Thursday, November 12, 2026. That is the last day for personal service or e-filing service without extension.
• Electronic service: add two court days backward under CCP 1010.6(a)(3)(B). November 11, 2026 is a Wednesday and is Veterans Day, a state holiday under Gov. Code 6700(a) and therefore a judicial holiday under CCP 135. The two court days are Tuesday, November 10 and Monday, November 9. Serve by Monday, November 9, 2026.
• Mail to a California address: add 5 calendar days backward, which lands on Saturday, November 7, 2026. Every Saturday is a judicial holiday under CCP 135, and no statute pushes a backward-counted deadline later, so the working last day is Friday, November 6, 2026.
• Opposition, 20 days before: Tuesday, January 12, 2027.
• Reply, 11 days before: Thursday, January 21, 2027.
• Trial date constraint under (a)(3): the hearing must be no later than 30 days before trial, so this hearing supports a trial date no earlier than Wednesday, March 3, 2027.
• Back end of the 60-day bar: to serve on November 12, 2026, the last general appearance by a party you are moving against must have occurred on or before September 13, 2026.

Add the two periods and the practical floor is 141 days from the last general appearance to the earliest available hearing date, before you account for the court’s own calendar congestion.

Drafting-ready text

A timing recital in the moving declaration is worth the three sentences it costs. It gives the clerk and the research attorney the arithmetic without making them do it.

DECLARATION OF [COUNSEL] RE: TIMELINESS OF MOTION

1. I am an attorney licensed to practice before all courts of the State of
   California and am counsel of record for [PARTY]. I have personal knowledge
   of the facts stated below and could testify competently to them.

2. Each party against whom this motion is directed made a general appearance
   in this action on or before [DATE]. More than 60 days have elapsed since
   that date. (Code Civ. Proc., section 437c, subd. (a)(1).)

3. The hearing on this motion is noticed for [HEARING DATE]. Notice of this
   motion and all supporting papers were served on [SERVICE DATE], which is
   [NUMBER] days before the noticed hearing date, counted backward from the
   hearing date and excluding the day of the hearing. (Code Civ. Proc.,
   section 12c, subd. (a).)

4. Service was effected by [electronic service / personal service / mail to an
   address within California]. [For electronic service: Two court days were
   added to the 81-day period and counted backward from the 81st day, and the
   intervening judicial holiday of [HOLIDAY, DATE] was excluded. (Code Civ.
   Proc., sections 1010.6, subd. (a)(3)(B), 12c, subd. (b), 135.)]

5. Trial in this matter is set for [TRIAL DATE], which is more than 30 days
   after the noticed hearing date. (Code Civ. Proc., section 437c, subd.
   (a)(3).)

6. [PARTY] has not previously brought a motion for summary judgment against
   [ADVERSE PARTY] in this action. (Code Civ. Proc., section 437c, subd.
   (a)(4).)

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California
that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on [DATE] at [CITY],
California.

The separate statement skeleton follows CRC 3.1350(f) and (h). The left column is the moving party’s fact and evidence, verbatim. The right column is the opposing party’s response.

SEPARATE STATEMENT OF UNDISPUTED MATERIAL FACTS

ISSUE 1: [Cause of action / affirmative defense, stated verbatim as it appears
in the Notice of Motion, per CRC 3.1350(b).]

+---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| MOVING PARTY'S UNDISPUTED MATERIAL     | OPPOSING PARTY'S RESPONSE AND          |
| FACTS AND SUPPORTING EVIDENCE          | SUPPORTING EVIDENCE                    |
+---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| 1. [One fact. Not argument. Not a      | 1. Undisputed. / Disputed. [Evidence:  |
| legal conclusion.]                     | Exh. __, Decl. of __, p. __, ll. __.]  |
| [Evidence: Exh. __, Decl. of __,       |                                        |
| p. __, ll. __ (exhibit, title, page,   |                                        |
| and line numbers per CRC 3.1350(d)).]  |                                        |
+---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
| 2. [Next fact.]                        | 2. Undisputed. / Disputed. [...]       |
+---------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+

Why the separate statement is a timing problem, not just a format problem

Subdivisions (b)(1) and (b)(3) are asymmetric and worth reading twice. A defective moving separate statement “may in the court’s discretion constitute a sufficient ground for denying the motion.” A defective opposing separate statement “may constitute a sufficient ground, in the court’s discretion, for granting the motion.” The opposing party is the one with 20 days and the greater exposure.

Two mechanical traps recur. First, CRC 3.1350(b) requires each issue to be “repeated, verbatim” from the notice of motion into the separate statement, and paraphrase there draws objections that are cheap for the other side to make. Second, CRC 3.1350(g) requires evidence over 25 pages to be separately bound with a table of contents, a bindery task discovered the afternoon of filing more often than it should be. Our contract litigation and negligence and liability motion support pages describe how we sequence those steps against the 81-day date.

California, New York, and federal court compared

These three systems anchor the summary judgment clock to three different events, which is why multi-jurisdiction practitioners miss them.

• California: the clock runs backward from the hearing date. 81 days notice, 20 days opposition, 11 days reply, plus a 60-day floor after general appearance and a ceiling of 30 days before trial.
• New York: the clock runs forward from a filing event. CPLR 3212(a) provides that a motion “shall be made no later than one hundred twenty days after the filing of the note of issue, except with leave of court on good cause shown,” and permits the court to set an earlier cutoff “no earlier than thirty days after the filing of the note of issue.” There is no statewide notice period embedded in 3212 the way 437c embeds one.
• Federal: the clock runs forward from discovery. FRCP 56(b) provides that “Unless a different time is set by local rule or the court orders otherwise, a party may file a motion for summary judgment at any time until 30 days after the close of all discovery.” The local rule and the individual judge’s practices, not Rule 56, supply the notice and briefing dates.

The practical consequence: a California calendaring habit produces a late federal motion, and a federal habit produces a California motion served too close to the hearing to be heard at all.

Pre-filing checklist

• Confirm the date of general appearance for every party the motion is directed against, and confirm 60 days have elapsed.
• Confirm no prior summary judgment motion has been brought against that party in this action.
• Reserve the hearing date first, then count 81 days backward from it, excluding the hearing day.
• Add the service extension backward from the 81st day: two court days for electronic, fax, express mail, or overnight delivery; 5, 10, or 20 calendar days for mail depending on the address.
• Check whether any judicial holiday falls inside a court-day extension, including every Saturday, the day after Thanksgiving, and the Gov. Code 6700 holidays.
• Confirm the hearing date is at least 30 days before the trial date.
• Calendar the opposition date at 20 days and the reply date at 11 days from the hearing, and recalendar both if the hearing is continued, since the statute keys to the “noticed or continued” date.
• Repeat each issue verbatim from the notice of motion into the separate statement.
• Cite exhibit, title, page, and line numbers for every material fact.
• If evidence exceeds 25 pages, bind it separately with a table of contents.
• Check the department’s local rules and the judge’s individual practices before you rely on any of the above as complete.

If you need the package drafted

LegalBriefsUSA drafts complete California summary judgment packages for licensed attorneys: notice of motion, memorandum, CRC 3.1350 separate statement in the two-column format, supporting declarations, evidentiary appendix with the table of contents that subdivision (g) requires, and the timeliness declaration above filled in against your actual hearing date. We also draft oppositions on the 20-day clock, the posture where a defective separate statement can hand the other side the motion. If you have a hearing reserved and an 81-day count tighter than you would like, send us the pleadings and the discovery record and we will tell you what is achievable on that calendar. See our personal injury and premises liability motion practice pages for scope and deliverables.

Authorities cited

Code of Civil Procedure section 437c, subdivisions (a)(1) through (a)(4), (b)(1) through (b)(4), read at california.public.law and independently at codes.findlaw.com, with both sources agreeing on the operative language quoted above. Code of Civil Procedure sections 12c, 135, and 1010.6, subdivision (a)(3)(B), and Government Code section 6700, subdivision (a), each read at both of the same two sources. California Rules of Court, rule 3.1350, subdivisions (b), (d), (f), (g), and (h), read at courts.ca.gov. Assembly Bill 2049, Chapter 99, Statutes of 2024, approved and filed July 15, 2024, read at LegiScan. CPLR 3212, subdivision (a), read at nysenate.gov. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(b), read at Cornell LII. Left out for lack of independent verification in this run: the operative text of Local Civil Rule 56.1 of the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, any local rule or standing order of a specific California superior court department, any Judicial Council form separate statement, and all case law, including any decision construing the amended 81-day period, because no case reporter source was opened and read for this article. Note also that leginfo.legislature.ca.gov blocks automated retrieval, so the California code text here was confirmed from two independent commercial publishers rather than from the Legislature’s own site.

LegalBriefsUSA.com provides drafting and research support to licensed attorneys and law firms. This article is written for attorneys, is not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.