Short answer. The Rules cap the presentation of evidence at ten months — three hundred calendar days — for all parties, and at six months, or one hundred eighty calendar days, where there is no third-party claim, counterclaim or cross-claim. Each side gets ninety calendar days, and the court must then decide within ninety calendar days from submission.
What the law says
the presentation of evidence of all parties shall be terminated within a period of ten months or three hundred calendar days
Rule 30, Section 1 — Schedule of trial. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If there are no third (fourth, etc.)-party claim, counterclaim or cross-claim, the presentation of evidence shall be terminated within a period of six months or one hundred eighty calendar days.
Rule 30, Section 1 — Schedule of trial. Read the full provision →
Trial runs on a schedule fixed at pre-trial
Section 1 of Rule 30 opens with an instruction to the parties, not the judge: The parties shall strictly observe the scheduled hearings as agreed upon and set forth in the pre-trial order. Trial dates are fixed in advance, and the schedule shall be continuous. The plaintiff goes first: the initial presentation of its evidence must be set not later than thirty calendar days after the termination of the pre-trial conference, and the plaintiff's whole case must fit within a period of three months or ninety calendar days — a window that includes any judicial dispute resolution.
The defendant's turn, and everyone else's
The defence follows the same pattern. Its initial presentation must be set not later than thirty calendar days after the court's ruling on plaintiff's formal offer of evidence, and the defendant likewise presents within a period of three months or ninety calendar days. Where the case carries a counterclaim, cross-claim or third-party claim, the court sets the period, but the total shall in no case exceed ninety calendar days; and if rebuttal evidence is needed, it must be completed within a period of thirty calendar days.
The overall ceilings
Two ceilings sit over the whole exercise. In every case the presentation of evidence of all parties shall be terminated within a period of ten months or three hundred calendar days; and where no third-party claim, counterclaim or cross-claim complicates things, the shorter cap applies — six months or one hundred eighty calendar days. The section also points the other way: trial dates may be shortened depending on the number of witnesses to be presented. The caps are maximums, not entitlements, and a tightly-run case can finish well inside them.
After the evidence: ninety days to decide
Once the evidence closes, the court itself goes on the clock: it must decide and serve copies of its decision to the parties within a period not exceeding ninety calendar days from the submission of the case for resolution, with or without memoranda. For a litigant, the value of this section is less prediction than leverage. The periods are written into the pre-trial order that both sides helped settle, so a party facing drift can point to the specific dates the schedule has missed — and a party planning a case can budget realistically for roughly a year of trial time plus decision.