Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_11-cv-01155/USCOURTS-caed-2_11-cv-01155-14/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 550
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Civil Rights (U.S. defendant)
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Prisoner Civil Rights

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

MARCELINO CALDERON-SILVA,

Plaintiff,

v.

B. DELEON, C. CARILLO, and A. 

GUZMAN,

Defendants.

No. 2:11-cv-01155-GEB-EFB

ORDER

On August 20, 2015, Defendants filed an objection to 

the portion of the July 21, 2015 Pretrial Order, which denied 

their request to bifurcate trial on the amount of punitive 

damages. (Defs.’ Obj., ECF No. 87.) Defendants’ objection is 

sustained. 

The trial will be conducted in two phases: liability 

and the amount of punitive damages, if any. If the jury finds 

punitive damages are recoverable in the liability phase, trial on 

the amount of punitive damages will immediately occur. During the 

first phase of the trial, the jury will be given a liability 

instruction on punitive damages along with the other closing 

instructions and a verdict form which will include the liability 

question on punitive damages. If the answer is “yes,” then 

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evidence pertinent to the amount of punitive damages would be 

presented in the second phase of the trial, following which the 

parties would present closing argument on that issue and a jury 

instruction would be given. The jury would then deliberate on the 

issue and fill in a punitive damages verdict form.

The remainder of the July 21, 2015 Pretrial Order, (ECF 

No. 84), is final and is supplemented as follows:

TRIAL DATE

Trial is currently scheduled to commence at 9:00 a.m. 

on February 9, 2016. Trial is held Tuesday, Wednesday, and 

Thursday of each week from 9:00 a.m. until approximately 4:30 

p.m. However, once the jury begins deliberating, the parties 

shall be available for communication with the jury during the 

above mentioned times, Monday through Friday. 

QUALIFIED IMMUNITY AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE

All issues shall be tried to a jury, with the exception 

of each Defendant’s qualified immunity affirmative defense, which 

shall be decided by the bench. However, sufficient jury 

interrogatories are required on the qualified immunity defense so 

that a judicial decision can be rendered on that issue, if 

necessary, following the jury’s return of a verdict. See A.D. v. 

Cal. Highway Patrol, 712 F.3d 446, 459 (9th Cir. 2013) (stating 

“post-verdict, a court must apply the qualified immunity 

framework to the facts that the jury found”); see also Acosta v. 

City & Cnty. of S.F., 83 F.3d 1143, 1147 (9th Cir. 1996) (“[T]he 

jury, not the judge, must decide the disputed ‘foundational’ or 

‘historical’ facts that underlie the [qualified immunity] 

determination.”); Johnson v. Breeden, 280 F.3d 1308, 1318 (11th 

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Cir. 2002) (“When the case goes to trial, the jury itself decides 

the issues of historical fact that are determinative of the 

qualified immunity defense, but the jury does not apply the law 

relating to qualified immunity to those historical facts it 

finds; that is the court’s duty.”).

Accordingly, a special verdict or interrogatories shall 

be filed by each party for all factual disputes to be resolved by 

the jury concerning the qualified immunity affirmative defense no 

later than February 1, 2016. Further, no later than February 1, 

2016, each party shall file proposed prevailing party findings of 

fact and conclusions of law concerning this affirmative defense.

The failure to do so dismisses, waives, or abandons that defense.

MISCELLANOUS PROVISIONS

1. Since it is evident that each Defendant acted 

under color of law at all relevant times, this issue need not be 

presented to the jury.

2. It is expected that Plaintiff will appear at trial 

seated at counsel table with a leg restraint that is shielded 

from the jury’s view by a fabric panel that runs from the bottom 

of counsel table to the floor and that Plaintiff will offer his 

testimony from counsel table. Should Plaintiff object to either 

of these provisions, no later than February 1, 2016, he shall 

file written objections thereto. Any response to an objection 

shall be filed no later than February 3, 2016. 

3. Seven (7) jurors will be selected using the 

“struck jury” system. The struck jury system is “designed to 

allow both the [plaintiff] and the defen[dants] a maximum number 

of peremptory challenges. The venire . . . start[s] with about 

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[18] potential jurors, from which the [plaintiff] and the 

[defendants] alternate[] with strikes until a petite panel of 

[seven] jurors remain[s].” Powers v Ohio, 499 U.S. 400, 404-05 

(1991); see also United States v. Esparza-Gonzalez, 422 F.3d 897, 

899 (9th Cir. 2005) (discussing the “struck jury” system). 

The Jury Administrator randomly selects potential 

jurors and places their names on a list that will be provided to 

each party in the numerical sequence in which they were randomly 

selected. Each juror will be placed in his or her randomlyselected seat. The first randomly selected juror will be in jury 

seat number one, which is at the extreme right-hand side of the 

jury box in the top row as the jury box is viewed from the well 

of the courtroom. The eighth juror will be in the eighth seat. 

The ninth selected juror will occupy the seat located at the 

extreme right-hand side of the jury box in the bottom row. The 

fifteenth seat will be in the left-hand side of that row. Three 

chairs will be placed in front of the jury box. The sixteenth 

juror will occupy the seat on the right and the eighteenth juror 

will occupy the seat on the left. The first seven jurors on a 

list, which shall be given to counsel, will constitute the petit 

jury unless one or more of those seven is excused for some 

reason. Assuming that the first and fifth jurors on the list are 

excused, the second listed juror becomes the first, and the other 

jurors’ numbers are changed accordingly, with the ninth juror on 

the list becoming seventh on the list; however, the jurors 

continue to be identified by their original numbers.

4. The judge will conduct voir dire. The Courtroom 

Deputy will give each juror a large laminated card on which their 

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number is placed. When questions are posed to the jurors as a 

group, they will be asked to raise their number if they have a 

response. Generally, jurors will be given an opportunity to 

respond in numerical order. 

During voir dire the judge will ask, “Does a party have 

additional input?” If a party responds, “Yes,” that party shall 

give the Courtroom Deputy that party’s written question or 

questions; alternatively, each side will be given fifteen (15)

minutes within which to ask follow up questions.

Following voir dire questioning, each side will take 

turns exercising its three allotted peremptory strikes. The 

parties will be given a sheet of paper (“strike sheet”) upon 

which they shall silently exercise their peremptory strikes, 

commencing with Plaintiff, by passing the strike sheet back and 

forth until all peremptory challenges are used or waived. If a 

side elects to pass rather than exercise a particular peremptory 

challenge, that challenge is waived.1 

5. Each side’s opening statement shall not exceed 

fifteen (15) minutes; each side’s closing argument for the 

liability and non-punitive damages phase may not exceed fortyfive (45) minutes. Plaintiff may decide how to allocate his total 

time for closing argument between his opening and rebuttal 

arguments.2

 

1 See United States v. Esparza-Gonzalez, 422 F.3d 897, 899 (9th Cir. 2005) 

(discussing waiver of peremptory challenges in “struck jury system”); see 

generally United States v. Yepiz, 685 F.3d 840, 845-46 (9th Cir. 2012) 

(indicating “‘use it or lose it’ voir dire practice” is authorized if “the 

composition of the panel” does not change). 

2 See United States v. Patterson, 678 F.2d 774, 781 (9th Cir. 1982) 

(discussing the district court’s discretion in limiting the length of closing 

arguments).

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If a second phase of trial is needed to determine an

amount of punitive damages, each side is limited to ten (10) 

minutes for closing argument on this issue.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: January 11, 2016

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