St. Paul Reinsurance Company Limited London v. The Fort Miller Group, Inc. et al

Filing 249

ORDER DENYING REQUEST FOR TELEPHONE CONFERENCE. Signed by Magistrate Judge Bernard Zimmerman on 1/7/2009. (bzsec, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 1/7/2009)

SELMAN
(.) B REI T MAN LLP
ATTORNEYS

11766 Wilshire Boulevard, Sixth Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90025-6538
Telephone [phone] Facsimile 310.473.2525

Michelle R. Press

www.selmanbreitman.com

310.689.7075
mpress~selmanbreitman .com

January 5, 2009

Hon. Magistrate Judge Bernard Zimmerman United States District Cour, N.D. California 450 Golden Gate Avenue 15th Floor, Courroom G San Francisco, CA 94102

Re: Unionamerica Ins. Co. Ltd v. The Fort Miler Group, Inc., et al. U.S. District Court Case No. C05 01912 BZ
Dear Judge Zimmerman:

Plaintiff requests a telephonic conference to discuss an issue that has arisen during the parties' pretrial preparation to avoid any issues later on.

Defendants have disclosed that they will be producing four live joint witnesses, who reside out-ofstate, to testify at triaL. i Defendants represent three of these witnesses, and the fourth is a defense-

affiliated witness. They refuse to allow plaintiff to utilize those witnesses for its case-in-chief,

however, insisting that plaintiff present its case based upon deposition testimony of these
witnesses, even though they wil be rebutting the reading of the deposition transcripts through live testimony of the same witnesses.

It is plaintiffs understanding that each party's witnesses are produced for all purposes, and if a particular witness has scheduling difficulties, the parties wil work around that schedule. This will not be a lengthy triaL. As such, no witness will be waiting for multiple days to testify. In fact, if plaintiff is forced to read deposition transcripts, those readings wil take longer than the combined testimony of the few live plaintiff-affiliated witnesses plaintiff intends to offer at triaL.
Since the parties disagree on the appropriate procedure, plaintiff requests some guidance from the
Court.

UNIT ED

S

ResP1tfully submitted" ~
MIC̀iLLE R. PRESS
LAURA R. RAMOS

d ~'L/~~
NO

S DISTRICT TE C TA

DENIE

D

John Hedbring, President of

Fort Miler and Beeche during the relevant time period; and Kirk

Beeche, a former Beeche principaL.
418219. i 1090.23834

ER

N

F D IS T IC T O R

Los Angeles . San Francisco . Orange County/Inland Empire . San Diego. Las Vegas

A

C

LI

FO

man Zimmer Bernard of Fort Miller; Barbara Marshall, the broker; i The witnesses are Richard Schumaker,dge Ju current CFO

R NIA

1/7/2009 - Request for telephone conference DENIED. This matter will be addressed at the Pretrial Conference.

RT U O

RT

H