Q: When calendar days are counted at court for due date, is it inclusive last day?

A: The California Court has a online court day calculator that makes this easy. It is at:

https://www.lacourt.org/courtdatecalculator/ui/

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A: When calculating court deadlines in California, the days are typically counted by including the first day and excluding the last. However, when you're dealing with a situation where the last day falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline usually extends to the next court day.

In your example, if you have 3 calendar days from October 1, 2024, you start counting on October 1st. The third day would then be October 3rd, not October 4th. So, October 4th would be beyond the deadline.

Always make sure to double-check if any special rules apply or if the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday. It's important to count carefully to avoid missing any critical deadlines.

A: In California, the simple way to remember is that there are two types of deadlines when calculating the last day for something to be served or filed: forward-looking deadlines and backwards-looking deadlines.

Forward-looking deadlines are ones that are as follows: "no later than X days from Y date." For these deadlines, you count forward each day on the court calendar, starting with the first day after the "from" date -- e.g., 3 court days "from" October 1, 2024, means October 2, October 3, and October 4, with October 4 being the third day and thus the last day for the filing (it would be due October 4, 2024).

Backwards-facing deadlines are ones that are "before" a certain date, usually these are deadlines associated with Notice. For example, an opposition must be served 9 court days *before* the hearing date, because the purpose of the deadline is to provide the movant time to prepare a reply in response to the opposition. For backwards-facing deadlines, you do not count the last day, but you start counting backwards from that date.

E.g., 3 court days before October 4, 2024, does not include October 4, 2024. Rather you count backwards and if you land on a weekend, you continue going backwards down the calendar week until you land on another non-weekend or non-holiday day. They key difference is that you start with the stated date when the deadline is back-facing (i.e., if the hearing is on October 4, you start counting at October 3, backwards counting until you reach the 3rd day free of any holiday or vacation plans.

I hope this helps!