Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_07-cv-01945/USCOURTS-caed-2_07-cv-01945-3/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 442
Nature of Suit: Civil Rights Employment
Cause of Action: 42:1981 Job Discrimination (Race)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

GARY GOETHE,

Plaintiff,

v.

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES,

Defendant.

___________________________/

No. 2:07-cv-01945-MCE-GGH

PRETRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER

After reviewing the parties’ Joint Status Report, the Court 

makes the following Pretrial Scheduling Order.

I. SERVICE OF PROCESS

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. 

III. JURISDICTION/VENUE

Jurisdiction is predicated upon 28 U.S.C. sections 1331. 

Jurisdiction and venue are not contested. 

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The discovery of experts will include whether any motions 1

based on Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S.

579 (1993) and/or Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 119 S. Ct. 1167

(1999) are anticipated.

2

IV. DISCOVERY

All discovery, with the exception of expert discovery, shall

be completed by November 30, 2009. In this context, “completed”

means that all discovery shall have been conducted so that all

depositions have been taken and any disputes relative to

discovery shall have been resolved by appropriate order if

necessary and, where discovery has been ordered, the order has

been obeyed. All motions to compel discovery must be noticed on

the magistrate judge’s calendar in accordance with the local

rules of this Court.

V. DISCLOSURE OF EXPERT WITNESSES

All counsel are to designate in writing, file with the Court,

and serve upon all other parties the name, address, and area of

expertise of each expert that they propose to tender at trial not

later than January 25, 2010. The designation shall be 1

accompanied by a written report prepared and signed by the

witness. The report shall comply with Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(B). 

Within twenty (20) days after the designation of expert

witnesses, any party may designate a supplemental list of expert

witnesses who will express an opinion on a subject covered by an

expert designated by an adverse party. The right to designate a

supplemental expert for rebuttal purposes only shall apply to a

party who has not previously disclosed an expert witness on the

date set for expert witness disclosure by this Pretrial

Scheduling Order. 

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Failure of a party to comply with the disclosure schedule as

set forth above in all likelihood will preclude that party from

calling the expert witness at the time of trial. An expert

witness not appearing on the designation will not be permitted to

testify unless the party offering the witness demonstrates:

(a) that the necessity for the witness could not have been

reasonably anticipated at the time the list was proffered;

(b) that the Court and opposing counsel were promptly notified

upon discovery of the witness; and (c) that the witness was

promptly made available for deposition.

For purposes of this Pretrial Scheduling Order, an “expert”

is any person who my be used at trial to present evidence under

Rules 702, 703, and 705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, which

include both “percipient experts” (persons who, because of their

expertise, have rendered expert opinions in the normal course of

their work duties or observations pertinent to the issues in the

case) and “retained experts” (persons specifically designated by a

party to be a testifying expert for the purposes of litigation). 

Each party shall identify whether a disclosed expert is

percipient, retained, or both. It will be assumed that a party

designating a retained expert has acquired the express permission

of the witness to be so listed. Parties designating percipient

experts must state in the designation who is responsible for

arranging the deposition of such persons.

All experts designated are to be fully prepared at the time

of designation to render an informed opinion, and give their bases

for their opinion, so that they will be able to give full and

complete testimony at any deposition taken by the opposing party. 

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4

Experts will not be permitted to testify at the trial as to any

information gathered or evaluated, or opinion formed, after

deposition taken subsequent to designation. 

Counsel are instructed to complete all discovery of expert

witnesses in a timely manner in order to comply with the Court’s

deadline for filing dispositive motions. 

VI. MOTION HEARING SCHEDULE

All dispositive motions, except motions for continuances,

temporary restraining orders or other emergency applications,

shall be heard no later than March 29, 2010. 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

(916) 930-4207.

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:

(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.

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 The Court urges any party that contemplates bringing a 2

motion for summary judgment or who must oppose a motion for

summary judgment to review Local Rule 56-260.

5

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 motion may result in the granting of 2

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 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 (except those noted on page 3) 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. 

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6

VII. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE

The Final Pretrial Conference is set for August 12, 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 July 22, 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. 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. 

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7

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. These documents shall

be sent to: mceorders@caed.uscourts.gov.

The parties should identify first the core undisputed facts

relevant to all claims. The parties should then, in a concise

manner, identify those undisputed core facts that are relevant to

each claim. The disputed facts should be identified in the same

manner. 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.

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 shall prepare a joint statement of the case in 

plain concise language which will be read to the jury at the

beginning of the trial. The purpose of the joint statement is to

inform the jury what the case is about.

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8

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. 

Plaintiff’s exhibits shall be listed numerically. 

Defendants’ 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. In the event that

Plaintiff and Defendants’ 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, including the

jury, will not be confused by one exhibit being identified with

both a number and a letter. 

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9

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.

VIII. TRIAL BRIEFS

The parties shall file trial briefs not later than July 29,

2010 by 4:00 p.m. Counsel are directed to Local Rule 16-285

regarding the content of trial briefs. 

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10

IX. EVIDENTIARY AND/OR PROCEDURAL MOTIONS

Any evidentiary or procedural motions are to be filed by

July 22, 2010. Oppositions must be filed by July 29, 2010 and

any reply must be filed by August 5, 2010. The motions will be

heard by the Court at the same time as the Final Pretrial

Conference.

X. TRIAL SETTING

The trial is set for September 27, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. Trial

will be by jury. The panel will consist of eight (8) jurors. 

The parties estimate a trial length of ten (10) days.

XI. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE

No settlement conference is currently scheduled. A

settlement conference may be set at the parties’ request. In the

event a settlement conference date is requested, the parties

shall file said request jointly, in writing. 

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. Such

statements are neither to be filed with the Clerk nor served on

opposing counsel. Each party, however, shall serve notice on all

other parties that the statement has been submitted. If the

settlement judge is not the trial judge, the Settlement

Conference Statement shall not be disclosed to the trial judge.

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After the Final Pretrial Conference, the Court will not set

a settlement conference. The parties are free, however, to

continue to mediate or attempt to settle the case with the

understanding that the trial date is a firm date. 

XII. 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.

XIII. 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. 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.

XIV. OBJECTIONS TO PRETRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER

This Status 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: March 27, 2009

_____________________________

MORRISON C. ENGLAND, JR.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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