What if the defendant does not attend a Pretrial Conference?

Answer 1

Practically speaking, nothing will happen, except the court might sanction the missing attorney with an order to pay the other attorney for his time spent unnecessarily coming to court and wasting his time. Since the pre-trial conference usually does nothing of a substantive nature regarding the claims of the parties, the court will most like neither dismiss the complaint nor suppress the answer, but will simply reschedule the pre-trial conference.

Answer 2

Generally, a defendant, needs to be present at every court hearing. But if a specific hearing does not require the presence of a defendant, then the defendant doesn't have to show. In my years of judicial experience I have never heard of any pretrial hearings were defendant did not have to appear. But in some hearings a defendant can be exempt from appearing in his attorney is appearing on his behalf.

ANOTHER VIEW: The question specifically asks about a pre-trial CONFERENCE, not a pre-trial HEARING. In my experience pre-trial conferences were office meetings conducted strictly between the prosecutor handling the case and the defense attorney, to iron out/hammer out procedural matters prior to trial and with no judge present. Defendants were welcome to accompany their defense attorney to this conference but their presence was not required (and in most cases was discouraged by the defense).

Either way, if the defendants notice specifically states that their presence is not required they do not have to attend.

Answer 3

Generally no. They are strictly 'administrative' in manner and no matters dealing with the defendant or specifics of their case are discussed at these meetings.

A pretrial conference is a meeting held before trial to outline the issues of a case and set timeframes for legal and procedural matters.

Answer 4

usually the first time this oocurs a motion is made to the court to compell the defendant to appear

somtimes the plantive is awarded costs ( legal fees ) for the day the defendant missed.

The second time the defendant dose not show up, after it is been court ordered, the judge has very broad discression. he may " strike" the defendant answers, empose sanctions and costs, and may take such action so that the plantive will esentially win the case without ever going to trial

it is never a good idea not to show up to depostions. even if you feel you may be asked questions about a potential crime you can allways plead the 5th ammendment although you will likely loose the civil portion of your case.

Always consult a lawyer!

Answer 5

The trial will go forward as scheduled and if the defendant does not appear in court at the time of the suit a default judgment will likely be entered in favor of the plaintiff.