Ortiz v. County of Sonoma et al

Filing 41

CIVIL PRETRIAL ORDER: REFERRING CASE to Mediation, to be completed by 9/30/2014. Case Management Statement due by 10/23/2014. Discovery due by 10/24/2014. Expert Discovery due by 12/19/2014. Dispositive Motions due by 1/8/2015. Further Case Man agement Conference set for 10/30/2014 01:30 PM in Courtroom F, 15th Floor, San Francisco. Jury Selection / Jury Trial (7 days) set for 5/11/2015 08:30 AM in Courtroom F, 15th Floor, San Francisco before Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley. Dispositive Motion Hearing set for 2/9/2015 09:00 AM before Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley.. Signed by Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley on 6/24/2014. (tlS, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 6/24/2014)

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1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 3 4 DAVID ORTIZ, Case No. 14-cv-00322-JSC Plaintiff. 5 v. CIVIL PRETRIAL ORDER 6 7 COUNTY OF SONOMA, et al., Re: Dkt. Nos. 38, 39 Defendants. 8 Having reviewed the parties’ respective case management conference statements, the 9 Court VACATES the initial case management conference scheduled for July 10, 2014 and 11 United States District Court Northern District of California 10 imposes the schedule as set forth below. The parties’ deadline for initial disclosures remains as if 12 the case management conference was held on July 10, 2014. The Court also notes that it has 13 reviewed the email communications attached to counsel’s respective declarations and does not 14 agree with Plaintiff’s counsel’s characterization of their interaction. 15 I. ADR All parties propose a deadline of September 30, 2014. The Court will refer the parties to 16 17 the Court’s ADR program for mediation to occur by that date. The Court expects, however, for 18 the parties to hold their further ADR telephone conference with the Court’s ADR Program 19 Director Howard Herman on July 7, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. as previously scheduled. Should the 20 parties with Mr. Herman’s assistance conclude that a different early ADR approach is appropriate, 21 they may so notify the Court. 22 II. CASE MANAGEMENT SCHEDULE 23 Non-expert Discovery Completed: October 24, 2014 24 Further Case Management Conference: October 30, 2014, 1:30 p.m. 25 Plaintiff’s Expert Disclosures: November 3, 2014 26 Defendant’s Expert Disclosures: November 20, 2014 27 Plaintiff’s Rebuttal Expert Disclosures: December 5, 2014 28 Expert Discovery Completed: December 19, 2014 1 Last day to File Dispositive Motions: January 8, 2015 2 Last day to Hear Dispositive Motions: February 19, 2015 3 III. A. 4 5 8 9 Jury trial will begin on May 11, 2015, at 8:30 a.m., in Courtroom F, 15th Floor, U.S. District Court, 450 Golden Gate, San Francisco, California. B. 6 7 TRIAL DATE III. The Court is expecting the length of the trial to not exceed 7 court days. PRETRIAL CONFERENCE A Final Pretrial Conference shall be held on April 23, 2015, at 2:00 p.m., in Courtroom F, 15th Floor. Lead trial counsel for each party shall attend. A. 11 United States District Court Northern District of California 10 At least seven days prior to date of the Final Pretrial Conference the parties shall do the following: 12 1. In lieu of preparing a Joint Pretrial Conference Statement, the parties shall 13 meet and confer in person, and then prepare and file a jointly signed Proposed Final Pretrial Order 14 that contains: (a) a brief description of the substance of claims and defenses which remain to be 15 decided; (b) a statement of all relief sought; (c) all stipulated facts; (d) a joint exhibit list in 16 numerical order, including a brief description of the exhibit and Bates numbers, a blank column 17 for when it will be offered into evidence, a blank column for when it may be received into 18 evidence, and a blank column for any limitations on its use; and (e) each party’s separate witness 19 list for its case-in-chief witnesses (including those appearing by deposition), including, for all 20 such witnesses (other than party plaintiffs or defendants), a short statement of the substance of 21 his/her testimony and, separately, what, if any, non-cumulative testimony the witness will offer. 22 For each witness, state an hour/minute time estimate for the direct examination (only). Items (d) 23 and (e) should be submitted as appendices to the proposed order. The proposed order should also 24 state which issues, if any, are for the Court to decide, rather than the jury. 25 2. File a joint set of proposed instructions on substantive issues of law 26 arranged in a logical sequence. If undisputed, an instruction shall be identified as “Stipulated 27 Instruction No. ____ Re ___________,” with the blanks filled in as appropriate. If disputed, each 28 version of the instruction shall be inserted together, back to back, in their logical place in the 2 1 overall sequence. Each such disputed instruction shall be identified as, for example, “Disputed 2 Instruction No. ____ Re ____________ Offered by _________________,” with the blanks filled 3 in as appropriate. All disputed versions of the same basic instruction shall bear the same number. 4 Any modifications to a form instruction must be plainly identified. If a party does not have a 5 counter version and simply contends that no such instruction in any version should be given, then 6 that party should so state (and explain why) on a separate page inserted in lieu of an alternate 7 version. With respect to form preliminary instructions, general instructions, or concluding 8 instructions, please simply cite to the numbers of the requested instructions in the current edition 9 of the Ninth Circuit Model Jury Instructions. Other than citing the numbers, the parties shall not 10 include preliminary, general, or concluding instructions in the packet. 3. United States District Court Northern District of California 11 12 instructions, if any, organized by instruction number. 4. 13 14 File a separate memorandum of law in support of each party’s disputed File a joint set of proposed voir dire questions supplemented as necessary by separate requests. 15 5. File trial briefs on any controlling issues of law. 16 6. File proposed verdict forms, joint or separate. 17 7. File and serve any objections to exhibits. 18 8. File a joint simplified Statement of the Case to be read to the jury during 19 voir dire as part of the proposed jury instructions. Unless the case is extremely complex, this 20 statement should not exceed one page. 21 B. Any motions in limine shall be submitted as follows: at least twenty (20) calendar 22 days before the conference, the moving party shall serve, but not file, the opening brief. At least 23 ten (10) calendar days before the conference, the responding party shall serve the opposition. 24 There will be no reply. When the oppositions are received, the moving party should collate the 25 motion and the opposition together, back-to-back, and then file the paired sets at least seven (7) 26 calendar days before the conference. Each motion should be presented in a separate memorandum 27 and properly identified, for example, “Plaintiff’s Motion in Limine No. 1 to Exclude . . . .” Each 28 party is limited to bringing five motions in limine. The parties are encouraged to stipulate where 3 1 possible, for example, as to the exclusion of witnesses from the courtroom. Each motion should 2 address a single, separate topic, and contain no more than seven pages of briefing per side. C. 3 Hard-copy courtesy copies of the above documents shall be delivered by NOON 4 the day after filing. The Joint Proposed Final Pretrial Order, jury instructions, and verdict form 5 shall be submitted via e-mail as attachments to JSCpo@cand.uscourts.gov. The Court requests 6 that all hard-copy submissions be three-hole-punched. 7 IV. 8 9 10 United States District Court Northern District of California 11 PRETRIAL ARRANGEMENTS A. Should a daily transcript and/or real-time reporting be desired, the parties shall make arrangements with Debra Campbell, Supervisor of the Court Reporting Services, at (415) 522-2079, at least ten (10) calendar days prior to the trial date. B. During trial, counsel may wish to use overhead projectors, laser-disk/computer 12 graphics, poster blow-ups, models, or specimens of devices. Equipment should be shared by all 13 counsel to the maximum extent possible. The Court provides no equipment other than an easel. 14 The United States Marshal requires a court order to allow equipment into the courthouse. For 15 electronic equipment, parties should be prepared to maintain the equipment or have a technician 16 handy at all times. The parties shall tape extension cords to the carpet for safety. The parties may 17 work with the deputy clerk, Ada Means (415-522-2015), on all courtroom-layout issues. 18 SCHEDULING 19 Trial will be conducted from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 or 3:00 p.m., depending on the availability 20 of witnesses, Monday through Friday. Counsel must arrive by 8:15 a.m., or earlier as needed, for 21 any matters to be heard out of the presence of the jury. The jury will be called at 8:30 a.m. 22 23 THE JURY In civil cases, there are no alternate jurors and the jury is selected as follows: 24 Eighteen to twenty jurors are called to fill the jury box and the row in front of the bar, and are 25 given numbers (1 through 18). The remaining potential jurors will be seated in the public benches. 26 Hardship excuses will usually be considered at this point. The Court will then ask questions of 27 those in the box and in the front of the bar. Counsel may then conduct a limited voir dire. 28 Challenges for cause will then be addressed out of the presence of the potential jurors. The Court 4 1 will consider whether to fill in the seats of the stricken jurors. If so, questions will be asked of the 2 additional jurors and cause motions as to them will be considered. After a short recess, each side 3 may exercise its allotment of peremptory challenges out of the presence of the potential jurors. 4 The eight (or such other size as will constitute the jury) surviving the challenge process with the 5 lowest numbers become the final jury. For example, if the plaintiff strikes 1, 5, and 7 and the 6 defendant strikes 2, 4, and 9, then 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 become the final jury. If more (or 7 fewer) than eight jurors are to be seated, then the starting number will be adjusted. So too if more 8 than a total of six peremptories are allowed. Once the jury selection is completed, the jurors’ 9 names will be read again and they will be seated in the jury box and sworn. The Court may alter 10 this procedure in its discretion and after consultation with the parties. WITNESSES United States District Court Northern District of California 11 12 At the close of each trial day, all counsel shall exchange a list of witnesses for the 13 next two full court days and the exhibits that will be used during direct examination (other than 14 for impeachment of an adverse witness). Within 24 hours of such notice, all other counsel shall 15 provide any objections to such exhibits and shall provide a list of all exhibits to be used with the 16 same witness on cross-examination (other than for impeachment). The first notice shall be 17 exchanged prior to the first day of trial. All such notices shall be provided in writing. EXHIBITS 18 19 A. Prior to the Final Pretrial Conference, counsel must meet and confer in person to 20 consider all exhibit numbers and objections and to eliminate duplicate exhibits and confusion over 21 the precise exhibit. 22 B. Use numbers only, not letters, for exhibits, preferably the same numbers as were 23 used in depositions. Blocks of numbers should be assigned to fit the need of the case (e.g., 24 Plaintiff has 1 to 100, Defendant A has 101 to 200, Defendant B has 201 to 300, etc.). A single 25 exhibit should be marked only once. If the plaintiff has marked an exhibit, then the defendant 26 should not re-mark the exact document with another number. Different versions of the same 27 document, e.g., a copy with additional handwriting, must be treated as different exhibits with 28 different numbers. To avoid any party claiming “ownership” of an exhibit, all exhibits shall be 5 1 marked and referred to as “Trial Exhibit No. _____,” not as “Plaintiff’s Exhibit” or “Defendant’s 2 Exhibit.” 3 C. The exhibit tag shall be in the following form: 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 United States District Court Northern District of California 11 12 13 14 Counsel preferably will make the tag up in a color that will stand out (yet still allow for 15 photocopying), but that is not essential. Place the tag on or near the lower right-hand corner or, if 16 a photograph, on the back. Counsel should fill in the tag but leave the last two spaces blank. The 17 parties must jointly prepare a single set of all trial exhibits that will be the official record set to be 18 used with the witnesses and on appeal. Each exhibit must be tagged, three-hole-punched, 19 separated with a label divider identifying the exhibit number, and placed in 3-ring binders. Spine 20 labels should indicate the numbers of the exhibits that are in the binders. Each set of exhibit 21 binders should be marked as “Original.” Deposit the exhibits with the deputy clerk seven (7) days 22 before the Pretrial Conference. 23 D. Counsel must consult with each other and with the deputy clerk at the end of each 24 trial day and compare notes as to which exhibits are in evidence and any limitations thereon. If 25 there are any differences, counsel should bring them promptly to the Court’s attention. 26 E. In addition to the official record exhibits, three sets of bench binders containing 27 copies of the exhibits must be provided to the Court seven (7) days before the Pretrial Conference, 28 one should be marked as “Chambers Copies”, and the other two as “Clerk’s Copies.” Each 6 1 exhibit must be separated with a label divider identifying the exhibit number. (An exhibit tag is 2 unnecessary for the bench set.) Spine labels should indicate the numbers of the exhibits that are 3 in the binders. 4 5 6 F. Before the closing arguments, counsel must confer with the deputy clerk to make sure the exhibits in evidence are in good order. G. Exhibit notebooks for the jury will not be permitted without prior permission from 7 the Court. Publication must be by poster blow-up, overhead projection, or such other method as is 8 allowed in the circumstances. It is permissible to highlight, circle or underscore in the 9 enlargements as long as it is clear that it was not on the original. CHARGING CONFERENCE 10 United States District Court Northern District of California 11 As the trial progresses and the evidence is heard, the Court will fashion a comprehensive 12 set of jury instructions to cover all issues actually being tried. Prior to the close of the evidence, 13 the Court will provide a draft final charge to the parties. After a reasonable period for review, one 14 or more charging conferences will be held at which each party may object to any passage, ask for 15 modifications, or ask for additions. Any instruction request must be renewed specifically at the 16 conference or it will be deemed waived, whether or not it was requested prior to trial. If, however, 17 a party still wishes to request an omitted instruction after reviewing the Court’s draft, then it must 18 affirmatively re-request it at the charging conference in order to give the Court a fair opportunity 19 to correct any error. Otherwise, as stated, the request will be deemed abandoned or waived. 20 21 22 23 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: June 24, 2014 ______________________________________ JACQUELINE SCOTT CORLEY United States Magistrate Judge 24 25 26 27 28 7

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