Johnson v. United Dominion Realty Trust Long Term Disability Plan

Filing 8

PRETRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER signed by Judge Morrison C. England, Jr on 8/7/09 ORDERING the filing of the written administrative record shall be filed not later than 11/20/2009; Dispositive Motions due by 12/17/2009; Bench Trial set for 6/21/2010 at 09: 00 AM in Courtroom 7 (MCE) before Judge Morrison C. England Jr..; Final Pretrial Conference set for 4/22/2010 at 02:00 PM in Courtroom 7 (MCE) before Judge Morrison C. England Jr..; this Pretrial Scheduling Order will become final within 7 days of service of this order. (Carlos, K)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 After reviewing the parties' Joint Status Report, the Court makes the following Pretrial Scheduling Order. I. SERVICE OF PROCESS v. UNITED DOMINION REALTY TRUST LONG TERM DISABILITY PLAN, et al., Defendant. ____________________________/ FRANCES JOHNSON, Plaintiff, PRETRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER No. 2:09-cv-00471-MCE-DAD UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

All named Defendants have been served and no further service is permitted without leave of court, good cause having been shown. II. ADDITIONAL PARTIES/AMENDMENTS/PLEADINGS

No joinder of parties or amendments to pleadings is permitted without leave of court, good cause having been shown. /// /// 1

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III. JURISDICTION/VENUE Jurisdiction is predicated upon 29 U.S.C. section 1132(d)(1) and 1132(f). IV. Jurisdiction and venue are not contested.

DISCOVERY

This case is governed by ERISA, therefore, all evidence for trial will be limited to the administrative record. The parties

may move to admit evidence outside the administrative record. Defendants shall provide Plaintiff a copy of the entire administrative record within 60 days of the date of this Pretrial Scheduling Order. The filing of the written administrative

record shall be filed not later than November 20, 2009. V. MOTION HEARING SCHEDULE

All dispositive motions, except motions for continuances, temporary restraining orders or other emergency applications, shall be heard no later than December 17, 2009. The parties are

responsible for ensuring that all motions are filed to allow for proper notice of the hearing under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and/or Local Rules. Available hearing dates may be

obtained by calling Stephanie Deutsch, Courtroom Deputy Clerk, at [phone]. All purely legal issues are to be resolved by timely pretrial motions. Local Rule 78-230 governs the calendaring and

procedures of civil motions with the following additions: /// /// /// /// /// 2

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(a)

The opposition and reply must be filed by 4:00 p.m. on the day due; and

(b)

When the last day for filing an opposition brief falls on a legal holiday, the opposition brief shall be filed on the last court day immediately preceding the legal holiday.

Failure to comply with Local Rule 78-230(c), as modified by this Order, may be deemed consent to the motion and the Court may dispose of the motion summarily. Further, failure to timely

oppose a summary judgment motion1 may result in the granting of that motion if the movant shifts the burden to the nonmovant to demonstrate that a genuine issue of material fact remains for trial. The Court places a page limit of twenty (20) pages on all initial moving papers, twenty (20) pages on oppositions, and ten (10) pages for replies. All requests for page limit increases

must be made in writing to the Court setting forth any and all reasons for any increase in page limit at least fourteen (14) days prior to the filing of the motion. For the Court's convenience, citations to Supreme Court cases should include parallel citations to the Supreme Court Reporter. /// /// ///

The Court urges any party that contemplates bringing a motion for summary judgment or who must oppose a motion for summary judgment to review Local Rule 56-260. 3

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The parties are reminded that a motion in limine is a pretrial procedural device designed to address the admissibility of evidence. The Court will look with disfavor upon

dispositional motions presented at the Final Pretrial Conference or at trial in the guise of motions in limine. The parties are cautioned that failure to raise a dispositive legal issue that could have been tendered to the court by proper pretrial motion prior to the dispositive motion cut-off date may constitute waiver of such issue. VI. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE

The Final Pretrial Conference is set for April 22, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. At least one of the attorneys who will conduct the

trial for each of the parties shall attend the Final Pretrial Conference. If by reason of illness or other unavoidable

circumstance a trial attorney is unable to attend, the attorney who attends in place of the trial attorney shall have equal familiarity with the case and equal authorization to make commitments on behalf of the client. Counsel for all parties are to be fully prepared for trial at the time of the Final Pretrial Conference, with no matters remaining to be accomplished except production of witnesses for oral testimony. The parties shall file, not later than April 1, 2010, a Joint Final Pretrial Conference Statement. The provisions of

Local Rules 16-281 shall apply with respect to the matters to be included in the Joint Final Pretrial Conference Statement. /// /// 4

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In addition to those subjects listed in Local Rule 16-281(b), the parties are to provide the Court with a plain, concise statement that identifies every non-discovery motion tendered to the Court and its resolution. Failure to comply with Local Rule 16-281, as

modified by this Pretrial Scheduling Order, may be grounds for sanctions. At the time of filing the Joint Final Pretrial Conference Statement, counsel shall also electronically mail to the Court in digital format compatible with Microsoft Word or WordPerfect, the Joint Final Pretrial Conference Statement in its entirety including the witness and exhibit lists. be sent to: [e-mail]. The parties should identify first the core undisputed facts relevant to all claims. The parties should then, in a concise These documents shall

manner, identify those undisputed core facts that are relevant to each claim. manner. The disputed facts should be identified in the same

Where the parties are unable to agree as to what

disputed facts are properly before the Court for trial, they should nevertheless list all disputed facts asserted by each party. Each disputed fact or undisputed fact should be

separately numbered or lettered. Each party shall identify and concisely list each disputed evidentiary issue which will be the subject of a motion in limine. /// /// /// /// 5

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Each party shall identify the points of law which concisely describe the legal issues of the trial which will be discussed in the parties' respective trial briefs. Points of law should

reflect issues derived from the core undisputed and disputed facts. Parties shall not include argument or authorities with

any point of law. The parties are reminded that pursuant to Local Rule 16-281 they are required to list in the Joint Final Pretrial Conference Statement all witnesses and exhibits they propose to offer at trial. After the name of each witness, each party shall provide

a brief statement of the nature of the testimony to be proffered. The parties may file a joint list or each party may file separate lists. These list(s) shall not be contained in the body of the

Joint Final Pretrial Conference Statement itself, but shall be attached as separate documents to be used as addenda to the Final Pretrial Order. Plaintiffs' exhibits shall be listed numerically. Defendant's exhibits shall be listed alphabetically. The parties

shall use the standard exhibit stickers provided by the Court Clerk's Office: pink for Plaintiff and blue for Defendant. In

the event that the alphabet is exhausted, the exhibits shall be marked "AA-ZZ" and "AAA-ZZZ" etc. After three letters, note the

number of letters in parenthesis (i.e., "AAAA(4)") to reduce confusion at trial. All multi-page exhibits shall be stapled or

otherwise fastened together and each page within the exhibit shall be numbered. All photographs shall be marked individually.

The list of exhibits shall not include excerpts of depositions, which may be used to impeach witnesses. 6

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In the event that Plaintiffs' and Defendant offer the same exhibit during trial, that exhibit shall be referred to by the designation the exhibit is first identified. The Court cautions

the parties to pay attention to this detail so that all concerned will not be confused by one exhibit being identified with both a number and a letter. The Final Pretrial Order will contain a stringent standard for the offering at trial of witnesses and exhibits not listed in the Final Pretrial Order, and the parties are cautioned that the standard will be strictly applied. On the other hand, the

listing of exhibits or witnesses that a party does not intend to offer will be viewed as an abuse of the court's processes. The parties also are reminded that pursuant to Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure it will be their duty at the Final Pretrial Conference to aid the Court in: (a) the formulation and simplification of issues and the elimination of frivolous claims or defenses; (b) the settling of facts that should properly be admitted; and (c) the avoidance of unnecessary proof and cumulative evidence. Counsel must cooperatively

prepare the Joint Final Pretrial Conference Statement and participate in good faith at the Final Pretrial Conference with these aims in mind. A failure to do so may result in the

imposition of sanctions which may include monetary sanctions, orders precluding proof, elimination of claims or defenses, or such other sanctions as the Court deems appropriate. /// /// /// 7

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VII. TRIAL BRIEFS The parties shall file trial briefs not later than April 8, 2010 by 4:00 p.m. Counsel are directed to Local Rule 16-285

regarding the content of trial briefs. VIII. EVIDENTIARY AND/OR PROCEDURAL MOTIONS

Any evidentiary or procedural motions are to be filed by April 1, 2010. Oppositions must be filed by April 8, 2010 and The motions will be

any reply must be filed by April 15, 2010.

heard by the Court at the same time as the Final Pretrial Conference. IX. TRIAL SETTING Trial will

The trial is set for June 21, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. be a bench trial. day. X. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE

The parties estimate a trial length of one (1)

At the Final Pretrial Conference, the Court may set a settlement conference if the parties so request. In the event no

settlement conference is requested, the parties are free to continue to mediate or attempt to settle the case with the understanding that the trial date is a firm date. In the event a settlement conference is set by the Court, counsel are instructed to have a principal with full settlement authority present at the Settlement Conference or to be fully authorized to settle the matter on any terms. At least seven (7)

calendar days before the settlement conference, counsel for each party shall submit to the chambers of the settlement judge a confidential Settlement Conference Statement. /// 8

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Such statements are neither to be filed with the Clerk nor served on opposing counsel. Each party, however, shall serve notice on If the

all other parties that the statement has been submitted. settlement judge is not the trial judge, the Settlement

Conference Statement shall not be disclosed to the trial judge. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the parties may request a settlement conference prior to the Final Pretrial Conference if they feel it would lead to the possible resolution of the case. In the event an early settlement conference date is requested, the parties shall file said request jointly, in writing. The

request must state whether the parties waive disqualification, pursuant to Local Rule 16-270(b), before a settlement judge can be assigned to the case. Absent the parties' affirmatively

requesting that the assigned Judge or Magistrate Judge participate in the settlement conference AND waiver, pursuant to Local Rule 16-270(b), a settlement judge will be randomly assigned to the case. XI. VOLUNTARY DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROGRAM

Pursuant to Local Rule 16-271 parties will need to lodge a stipulation and proposed order requesting referral to the Voluntary Dispute Resolution Program. XII. MODIFICATION OF PRETRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER

The parties are reminded that pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Pretrial Scheduling Order shall not be modified except by leave of court upon a showing of good cause. /// /// 9

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Agreement by the parties pursuant to stipulation alone to modify the Pretrial Scheduling Order does not constitute good cause. Except in extraordinary circumstances, unavailability of witnesses or counsel will not constitute good cause. XIII. OBJECTIONS TO PRETRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER

This Pretrial Scheduling Order will become final without further order of the Court unless objections are filed within seven (7) court days of service of this Order. IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: August 7, 2009

_____________________________ MORRISON C. ENGLAND, JR. UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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