Lobato v. Gomez, et al.

Filing 100

ORDER re the Court's proposed jury document signed by Magistrate Judge Erica P. Grosjean on 6/23/2017. (Attachments: # 1 jury instructions, # 2 statement of case, # 3 verdict form)(Rooney, M)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 RACHEL LOBATO, Plaintiff, 12 13 14 15 16 17 Case No. 1:15-cv-00686-EPG COURT’S PROPOSED JURY DOCUMENTS v. EVERARDO O. GOMEZ, individually and dba EL SARAPE RESTAURANT; DOLORES B. GOMEZ, individually and dba EL SARAPE RESTAURANT, Defendants. 18 The Court has reviewed the parties' submission of documents for the jury and submits its 19 proposed draft jury instructions, neutral statement of the case, and special verdict form (see attached 20 exhibits to this order). The parties should raise any objections related to these documents at the 21 pretrial conference currently set for June 26, at 11:00 am. 22 Upon preparation of these documents, the Court has the following questions and comments, 23 which the parties should be prepared to address at the pretrial conference: 24 1. Is Plaintiff requesting that the jury determine damages? The Court has not seen a proposed 25 26 jury instruction on damages beyond reference to the $4,000 statutory minimum. 27 28 1 1 2. Is Plaintiff requesting a finding from the jury regarding the claims for the Unruh Act and 2 California Health and Safety Code? Note that Plaintiff did not submit a jury instruction to 3 determine this. Currently, the special verdict form requesting a finding on these claims, but 4 there is no jury instruction giving jury guidance. 5 6 As discussed in the prior order, the Court would like to discuss the issue of standing. Note 7 that jury instruction 20 discusses any difficulty, discomfort or embarrassment related to Plaintiff's 8 encounter with a barrier, which assumes that Plaintiff has standing. It is possible for the Court to 9 hear an evidentiary hearing on standing on Tuesday, June 27, and proceed with the jury trial, if still 10 applicable, on Wednesday June 28. The Court again solicits counsels’ input on this issue. 11 12 13 14 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: June 23, 2017 /s/ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

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