Hosie v. Omni Hotels Management Corporation

Filing 52

SUPPLEMENTAL Pretrial Order and Case Management Plan. Signed by Chief Judge Martin Reidinger on 8/28/2024. (cly)

THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
ASHEVILLE DIVISION
CIVIL CASE NO. 1:22-cv-00265-MR-WCM
DEANA HOSIE,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
vs.
)
)
OMNI HOTELS MANAGEMENT
)
CORPORATION,
)
)
Defendants.
)
________________________________ )
SUPPLEMENTAL PRETRIAL ORDER
AND CASE MANAGEMENT PLAN
IN ACCORDANCE WITH the Local Rules of the Western District of
North Carolina and pursuant to Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure, the undersigned enters the following Supplemental Pretrial Order
and Case Management Plan in this matter.
I.
The Pretrial Order and Case Management Plan previously
entered in this matter sets forth certain requirements for the
parties to follow in preparing for and trying a civil case
before this Court. These requirements are not a mere
formality but rather are essential to the efficient

administration of the trial.

To ensure such efficient

administration, the Court hereby supplements these
requirements so as to better elucidate the parties’
responsibilities and the Court’s expectations. A party’s
failure to comply with the requirements set forth in the
Pretrial

Order

and

Case

Management

Plan,

as

supplemented herein, may subject such party to an
administrative fine for interfering with the efficient
administration of the trial.
II.
A.

DEPOSITIONS TO BE USED AT TRIAL

Page/line designations for any depositions to be used at
trial, whether discovery or de bene esse depositions, shall
be filed no later than fourteen (14) days before the final
pretrial conference. Objections and counter-designations
shall be filed no later than seven (7) days before the final
pretrial conference, and objections to any such counterdesignations shall be filed no later than two (2) business
days before the final pretrial conference. Failure to meet
these deadlines may result in summary exclusion of the
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designated testimony or the summary denial of the
objections.
B.

If the parties are unable to resolve all of the objections to
the designated deposition testimony, such objections that
remain will be resolved at the final pretrial conference.
Thus, a copy of the transcript excerpts necessary for the
Court to understand such designations and objections
must be filed with the Court no later than two (2) business
days before the final pretrial conference.

C.

If counsel intends to use deposition or trial testimony given
in another case, such designation must be accompanied
by a statement as to how counsel contends such testimony
is admissible in the present action.

D.

While the parties may present deposition or trial testimony
by reading such testimony into the record, the use of video
recording is strongly encouraged.

E.

If testimony is presented by video, the video must be edited
so as to exclude any testimony for which an objection has
been sustained and so that the video can be played for the
jury without any interruptions.
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F.

Before the trial begins, counsel shall provide the Court with
an estimate of the length of any deposition or trial testimony
to be proffered (e.g., for a video deposition, counsel shall
provide the playtime length of the edited video; for a
deposition that will be read, counsel shall provide an
estimate of the length of time to read the edited transcript
into the record).

G.

Any attorney who will appear at trial must attend the final
pretrial conference, unless such attorney seeks, in writing,
to be excused from such attendance at least one (1) week
in advance of the final pretrial conference.
III.

A.

EXHIBIT LISTS AND EXHIBIT NOTEBOOKS

Final exhibit lists must be submitted before the trial begins.
Exhibit lists must follow the format set forth in the Pretrial
Order and Case Management Plan.

B.

Exhibit lists must list each exhibit counsel reasonably
anticipates using at trial, whether offered as substantive or
illustrative evidence, or whether it is to be used on direct or
cross-examination or to refresh a witness’s recollection.
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C.

While exhibit lists should not be under-inclusive, they also
should not be over-inclusive.

Exhibit lists should not

include all exhibits that counsel believes may possibly be
used at trial. If necessary, the parties may supplement their
exhibit lists at trial with additional exhibits upon a showing
of good cause and a lack of surprise or unfair prejudice to
the opponent. Counsel should prepare exhibit lists with a
few blank spaces at the end to allow for the exhibit lists to
be amended as the trial progresses; counsel should not file
amended exhibit lists in the middle of trial.
D.

The exhibit lists should designate each exhibit individually;
the use of group exhibits (e.g., designating a series of
photographs as one exhibit) is discouraged. The parties
may, however, designate a group of exhibits in such a way
as to indicate their related nature (e.g., designating a series
of photographs as Exhibit 1A, Exhibit 1B, Exhibit 1C, etc.).
“Catch-all” exhibits (e.g., an exhibit designation of “all
materials provided in discovery”) are not permitted.

E.

Exhibit notebooks also must be tendered to the Court
before the beginning of trial. Such notebooks must contain
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one clean, legible copy of each exhibit on the party’s exhibit
list. For any exhibits that are added during the trial, a copy
must be handed up to the Court at or before the time that
the particular exhibit is offered.
IV.
A.

WITNESS LISTS

Witness lists must be filed no later than noon on the
business day before jury selection.

B.

Each witness list must identify all persons who may be
called to testify at trial. Any person not so named on a
witness list will not be allowed to testify absent a showing
of good cause.

C.

Each witness list must identify those witnesses who will be
testifying live and those who will be testifying by deposition.

D.

Each witness list must identify any witness that counsel
intends to tender as an expert as well as the area of
expertise of that witness.

E.

Each witness list must identify all witnesses who will
appear at trial pursuant to a trial subpoena.

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V.
A.

JURY SELECTION

The Court utilizes a “mandatory strike method” for jury
selection. Pursuant to this method, the Clerk will call 14
members of the jury pool into the jury box. The Court will
then conduct the voir dire of the 14 prospective jurors.
Each side will then be allowed approximately 20 minutes
to conduct a voir dire of the 14 prospective jurors. Each
side will then be given the opportunity to make any motions
with respect to the jury panel, i.e., challenges for cause.
Motions to strike for cause will be heard at the bench. If
any of the prospective jurors are stricken for cause, then
those members will be replaced with new members of the
jury pool.

B.

The Court will then conduct a voir dire of the new members
of the 14 prospective jurors who have replaced the
members who were stricken for cause. This will be followed
by an opportunity for the Plaintiff to likewise voir dire the
new members, followed by a like opportunity for the
Defendant.

Counsel

will

ordinarily

be

allowed

approximately two minutes per new member of the panel
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for such voir dire. If there are any additional motions to
strike for cause as to the new members of the panel they
would be heard in the same manner as before at this time.
C.

Once all 14 positions are filled with prospective jurors who
have not been challenged for cause, then the parties will
exercise their peremptory challenges in the following
manner. First, the Plaintiff will be called upon to exercise
one of its peremptory challenges. This will be initiated by
the Court by saying: “What says the Plaintiff as to the jury
panel?” After the Plaintiff has excused one juror, then the
parties will exercise their remaining challenges for each
side by alternating. In other words, after the Plaintiff has
stricken one, then the Defendant will strike one, followed
by the Plaintiff striking another, until the parties have used
all of their peremptory challenges.

D.

Once all the peremptory strikes have been used by both
sides, then there will only be 8 members of the 14
remaining. All eight will sit as jurors to decide the case.
There will be no alternates. However, since only six jurors
are required for a civil trial, if any one or two members of
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the jury are excused or dismissed after being empaneled,
then the remaining jurors will decide the case.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Signed: August 28, 2024

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