Duarte v. Catalina Foothills School District No. 16

Filing 84

ORDER re: ACRD Determination. Signed by Judge James A Soto on 11/3/14.

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

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Gary S. Duarte,

No. CV-12-00844-TUC-JAS
Plaintiff,

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v.

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ORDER

Catalina Foothills School District No. 16,

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Defendant.

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On 11/3/14, the Court held a pretrial conference with the parties to discuss

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pending matters related to the jury trial set for 11/4/14. At the pretrial conference, the

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parties expressed their respective positions pertaining to the admissibility of Defendant’s

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Exhibit 54 which is a “no cause” determination from the Arizona Civil Rights Division

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(“ACRD”). The determination is simply a fill-in-the-blank form which has an “X”

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marked next to a sentence that summarily states that based on the ACRD’s investigation,

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“the information is not sufficient to establish violations of the statute(s).” The Ninth

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Circuit has held that such “no cause” determinations are not per se admissible, but require

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the trial court to weigh its probative value against Rule 403 considerations. See Beachy

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v. Boise Cascade Corp., 191 F.3d 1010, 1015 (9th Cir. 1999). As the fill-in-the-blank

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form does not discuss the extent of any investigation by the ACRD and does not give any

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analysis whatsoever, the probative value is minimal at best. In light of the low probative

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value of the determination and upon consideration of the Rule 403 factors, the Court

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finds that the minimal relevance of the ACRD’s decision is outweighed by Rule 403

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factors such that it must be excluded at trial. See Fed. R. Evid. 403 (“The court may

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exclude relevant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by a danger

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of one or more of the following: unfair prejudice, confusing the issues, misleading the

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jury, undue delay, wasting time, or needlessly presenting cumulative evidence.”).

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Dated this 3rd day of November, 2014.

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Honorable James A. Soto
United States District Judge

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