The Oklahoma Bar Journal February 2023

there is no need to set out the entire factual and procedural history. The petitioner and real party in interest should focus on important facts, procedure, precedent and legal authority to explain how the elements for a writ of prohibition or mandamus are met (or are not). A final note of caution for petitioners seeking to invoke the court’s original jurisdiction: The court will sanction petitioners for frivolous applications to assume original jurisdiction. Typically, those sanctions are an award of costs and attorney’s fees to the real party in interest. 35 A frivolous proceeding may include one brought for the sole purpose of delaying or disrupt ing the proceedings in the court below or a proceeding so obviously without merit as to impute bad faith on the party bringing the action. 36 Historically, the court has not sanctioned petitioners in original proceedings; however, especially in judicial disqualification proceed ings that are frivolous or seek to simply disrupt or delay the district court proceedings, the court has

sanctioned the filing party to deter these frivolous filings. 37

a separate motion requesting the court seal the sensitive documents, citing the appropriate statutory authority. A petitioner should not file any documents in an appendix they desire to keep sealed without first seeking leave of court. Any document placed in a filed appen dix becomes part of the court record, available to the public if no order sealing the documents is on file with the Supreme Court. Once a petitioner has filed the application and supporting documents, the court will set the briefing deadlines and the date for the oral presentation before an assigned referee. 33 The respondent in the original action is directed to respond to the petitioner’s original action through the real party in interest. This typically means the party opposing the writ of manda mus or prohibition will respond on behalf of the respondent (normally, the district court judge). A response is limited to 15 pages, and the real party in interest may also file an appendix with any documents or authority they believe pertinent to the original action not included by the petitioner. At the oral presentation, typi cally one of the court’s four referees is assigned to hear the case and make a written recommendation to the Supreme Court. Referees are assigned original actions on a rota tional basis. Oral presentations are not a matter of right, and the court will set them at its discretion. 34 The oral presentations take place in the Supreme Court’s conference rooms on the second floor of the Oklahoma Judicial Center; it is an informal, conversational presenta tion. Remember, the referee does not make any decision about your case but writes a recommendation for the court to review when it takes up the original action in con ference. The referees have reviewed all filings and the appendix, so

EMERGENCY RELIEF

The Supreme Court does not usually grant relief in fewer than 10 days. If a party is seeking to stop a trial, hearing or other matter in 10 days or less, the court will only consider the request if the party can show, “The asserted grounds for relief were not known, or could not reasonably have been discovered, prior to the ten-day period.” 38 Remember, what you think to be an emergency will not necessarily be viewed by the court as an emergency. For context, the court normally sets a deadline for the respondent, through the real party in interest, to respond to an original action in about 20 days. The court then typically sets the original action for an oral presen tation before one of the court’s four referees about a week later. After the hearing, the assigned referee submits the filings and a written recommendation to the court to review in conference.

The Supreme Court does not usually grant relief in fewer than 10 days. If a party is seeking to stop a trial, hearing or other matter in 10 days or less, the court will only consider the request if the party can show, “The asserted grounds for relief were not known, or could not reasonably have been discovered, prior to the ten-day period.” 38

FEBRUARY 2023 | 9

THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL