Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_16-cv-01496/USCOURTS-caed-2_16-cv-01496-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
General Star Indemnity Company
Defendant
Porterville Hotel Investors
Plaintiff

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1 

 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

PORTERVILLE HOTEL INVESTORS, 

 2:16-cv-1496 JAM KJN 

Plaintiff, 

v. STATUS (Pre-trial 

 Scheduling) ORDER 

GENERAL STAR INDEMNITY 

COMPANY 

Defendant. 

 / 

After review of the Joint Status Report, the court makes the following order: 

 SERVICE OF PROCESS 

All parties defendant to this lawsuit have been served and no further service will be 

permitted except with leave of court, good cause having been shown. 

 JOINDER OF ADDITIONAL PARTIES/AMENDMENTS 

No further joinder of parties or amendments to pleadings is permitted except with leave 

of court, good cause having been shown. 

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 JURISDICTION AND VENUE 

Jurisdiction and venue are not contested. 

FICTITIOUSLY-NAMED DEFENDANTS 

This action, including any counterclaims, cross-claims, and third party complaints is 

hereby DISMISSED as to all DOE or other fictitiously-named defendants. 

 MOTION HEARINGS SCHEDULES 

All dispositive motions shall be filed by January 16, 2018. Hearing on such motions 

shall be on February 13, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. 

The parties are reminded of the notice requirements as outlined in Local Rule 230(b).

The time deadline for dispositive motions does not apply to motions for continuances, 

temporary restraining orders or other emergency applications. 

 All purely legal issues are to be resolved by timely pre-trial motions. The parties are 

reminded that motions in limine are procedural devices designed to address the admissibility 

of evidence and are cautioned that the court will look with disfavor upon substantive motions 

presented at the final pre-trial conference or at trial in the guise of motions in limine. The parties 

are further cautioned that if any legal issue which should have been tendered to the court by 

proper pre-trial motion requires resolution by the court after the established law and motion 

cut-off date, substantial sanctions may be assessed for the failure to file the appropriate pre-trial 

motion. 

Unless prior permission has been granted, memoranda of law in support of and in 

opposition to motions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 and 65 and any post−judgment 

or post−trial motions are limited to twenty−five (25) pages, and reply memoranda are limited 

to ten (10) pages. Memoranda of law in support of and in opposition to all other motions are 

limited to fifteen (15) pages, and reply memoranda are limited to five (5) pages. The parties 

are also cautioned against filing multiple briefs to circumvent this rule. 

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A violation of this Order will result in monetary sanctions being imposed against counsel in the 

amount of $50.00 per page and the Court will not consider any arguments made past the page 

limit. 

Documentary evidence submitted in support of or in opposition to a motion must be 

separately 

bound or placed in a binder, and exhibits must be separated with labeled tabs that extend beyond 

the edge of the page. An Index of exhibits must also be included. 

At least 28 days before the dispositive motions filing deadline, the parties must meet and 

confer to determine whether they intend to file cross motions for summary judgment. If the 

parties do intend to file cross motions, the plaintiff must file the opening brief for summary 

judgment at least 14 days before the dispositive motions filing deadline. The plaintiff’s 

concurrently-filed notice of motion shall indicate the parties’ intention to file cross motions and 

shall notice a hearing date at least 42 days from the date of filing. The briefing schedule will 

be as follows. Only four briefs shall be filed: 

(1) Plaintiff’s opening brief (25 pages maximum), along with any other documents 

required or permitted under Local Rule 260, shall be filed at least 14 days before the 

dispositive motions filing deadline; 

(2) Defendant’s opposition and cross motion for summary judgment (35 pages 

maximum) shall be filed at least 28 days before the hearing; 

(3) Plaintiff’s reply and opposition (20 pages maximum) shall be filed at least 14 days 

before the hearing; 

(4) Defendant’s reply (10 pages maximum) shall be filed at least 7 days before the 

hearing. 

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These are the only four briefs that may be filed, even if the parties move for summary judgment 

on more than one complaint (e.g., motions on a complaint and a counterclaim). The parties 

must obtain permission from the Court to exceed the stated page limitations. The parties are 

reminded that they may not file a reply to a Response of the Statement of Undisputed Facts. 

Parties are advised to carefully read Local Rule 260, which permits an opposing party to file 

only (1) a Statement of Disputed Facts and (2) a Response to the Statement of Undisputed 

Facts (with the moving party’s Statement of Undisputed Facts reproduced and then admitted 

or denied, with citations). If the parties do not comply with this procedure and schedule for 

filing cross motions for summary judgment, but nonetheless file cross motions, the Court will 

deny both motions without prejudice and may impose sanctions. 

 DISCOVERY 

 All discovery shall be completed by December 1, 2017. 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 complied with. 

 DISCLOSURE OF EXPERT WITNESSES 

The parties shall make expert witness disclosures under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2) by 

October 6, 2017. Supplemental disclosure and disclosure of any rebuttal experts under 

Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(c) shall be made by November 3, 2017. 

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 absent a showing that 

the necessity for the witness could not have been reasonably anticipated at the time the 

disclosures were ordered and that the failure to make timely disclosure did not prejudice any 

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other party. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(c). 

All experts designated are to be fully prepared at the time of designation to render an 

informed opinion, and give their reasons therefore, so that they will be able to give full and 

complete testimony at any deposition taken by the opposing parties. 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. 

JOINT MID-LITIGATION STATEMENTS 

Not later than fourteen (14) days prior to the close of discovery, the parties shall file with 

the court a brief joint statement summarizing all law and motion practice heard by the court as 

of the date of the filing of the statement, whether the court has disposed of the motion at the 

time the statement is filed and served, and the likelihood that any further motions will be noticed 

prior to the close of law and motion. The filing of this statement shall not relieve the parties 

or counsel of their obligation to timely notice all appropriate motions as set forth above. 

 FINAL PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE 

The final pre-trial conference is set for March 23, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. In each instance 

an attorney who will try the case for a given party shall attend the final pretrial conference on 

behalf of that party; provided, however, that if by reason of illness or other unavoidable circumstance the 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. All pro se parties must attend the pre-trial conference. 

Counsel for all parties and all pro se parties are to be fully prepared for trial at the time 

of the pre-trial conference, with no matters remaining to be accomplished except production of 

witnesses for oral testimony. The parties shall file with the court, no later than seven days prior 

to the final pre-trial conference, a joint pre-trial statement. 

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Also at the time of filing the Joint Pretrial Statement, counsel 

are requested to e-mail the Joint Pretrial Statement and any attachments in 

Word format to Judge Mendez's assistant, Jane Klingelhoets 

at: jklingelhoets@caed.uscourts.gov.

 Where the parties are unable to agree as to what legal or factual issues are properly before 

the court for trial, they should nevertheless list all issues asserted by any of the parties and 

indicate by appropriate footnotes the disputes concerning such issues. The provisions of Local 

Rule 281 shall, however, apply with respect to the matters to be included in the joint pre-trial 

statement. Failure to comply with Local Rule 281, as modified herein, may be grounds for 

sanctions. 

The parties are reminded that pursuant to Local Rule 281(b)(10) and (11) they are 

required to list in the final pre-trial statement all witnesses and exhibits they propose to offer 

at trial, no matter for what purpose. These lists shall not be contained in the body of the final 

pre-trial statement itself, but shall be attached as separate documents so that the court may 

attach them as an addendum to the final pre-trial order. The final pre-trial order will contain 

a stringent standard for the offering at trial of witnesses and exhibits not listed in the final pre-trial 

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 are also reminded that pursuant to Rule 16, Fed. R. Civ. P., it will be their 

duty at the final pre-trial conference to aid the court in: (a) formulation and simplification of issues 

and the elimination of frivolous claims or defenses; (b) settling of facts which should properly 

be admitted; and (c) the avoidance of unnecessary proof and cumulative evidence. Counsel 

must cooperatively prepare the joint pre-trial statement and participate in good faith at the final 

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pre-trial 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. 

 TRIAL SETTING 

Jury trial in this matter is set for April 30, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. The parties estimate a 

trial length of approximately 7 to 10 days. 

 SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 

No Settlement Conference is currently scheduled. If the parties wish to have a 

settlement conference, one will be scheduled at the final pretrial conference or at an earlier time 

upon request of the parties. 

 OTHER MATTERS 

 At the parties request in the joint status report, this matter is referred to the Court’s 

Voluntary Dispute Resolution Program. 

 OBJECTIONS TO STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) ORDER 

This Status Order will become final without further Order of Court unless objection is 

lodged within seven (7) days of the date of the filing of this Order. 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

Dated: August 30, 2016 

 /s/ John A. Mendez 

 JOHN A. MENDEZ 

 United States District Court Judge

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