IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE

MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA, EASTERN DIVISION

B.B., a minor, by and )

through his mother and )

next friend, OWENA KNOWLES, )

)

Plaintiff, )

) CIVIL ACTION NO.

v. ) 3:06cv715-MHT

) 

PAWN CITY, INC., a )

corporation, et al., )

)

Defendants. )

UNIFORM SCHEDULING ORDER

Please read this order carefully. These deadlines

and responsibilities may not be changed without leave of

court. All parties are expected to comply with each and

every provision of this order in a timely manner, and

extensions will be granted only in extraordinary and

unforeseeable circumstances. The parties are also

expected to comply with the Middle District's Local Rules

and the Middle District's Guidelines to Civil Discovery

Practice, both of which can be found at

http://www.almd.uscourts.gov/.

Under Rule 16, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as

amended, the court is required to set a schedule for

discovery and the filing of motions. Accordingly, it is

ORDERED as follows:

SECTION 1. A pretrial conference is scheduled for

the 3rd day of September, 2008. This cause is set for

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trial during the term of court commencing on the 6th day

of October, 2008.

SECTION 2. Dispositive motions, i.e., motions to

dismiss or motions for summary judgment, shall be filed

no later than 90 days prior to the pretrial hearing. A

brief and all supporting evidence shall be filed with any

such motion. In all briefs filed by any party relating

to the motion, the discussion of the evidence in the

brief must be accompanied by a specific reference, by

page and line, to where the evidence can be found in a

supporting deposition or document. Failure to make such

specific reference will result in the evidence not being

considered by the court.

SECTION 3. No later than 21 days after the

dispositive motion deadline, counsel for all parties

shall conduct a face-to-face settlement conference at

which counsel shall engage in good faith settlement

negotiations. If settlement cannot be reached, counsel

shall also discuss whether mediation will assist the

parties in reaching settlement. Not more than FIVE (5)

DAYS after this conference, counsel for the plaintiff

shall file a pleading titled "Notice Concerning

Settlement Conference and Mediation". This pleading

shall indicate whether settlement was reached and, if

not, whether the parties believe mediation will assist

them in resolving this case short of trial. 

SECTION 4. Motions to amend the pleadings and to add

parties shall be filed by the plaintiff on or before

October 15, 2007, and by the defendants on or before

November 12, 2007.

SECTION 5. Motions for class certification shall be

filed on or before October 15, 2007. A brief addressing

the factors enumerated in Rule 23(a), (b) and (g) of the

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure shall be filed with any

such motion.

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SECTION 6. The failure to file a response to any

motion -- either dispositive or non-dispositive -- within

the time allowed by the court shall indicate that there

is no opposition to the motion.

SECTION 7. All discovery shall be completed on or

before May 26, 2008, except that, as to any witnesses

whose names are not revealed until the last day allowed

under SECTION 9 or whose names are not revealed with

sufficient time for the other parties to take a

deposition prior to the pretrial conference, the opposing

party shall have the deadline in this paragraph extended

to allow for deposing such witnesses.

SECTION 8. The parties shall disclose to each other

the identity of ANY person who may be used at trial to

present evidence under Rules 701, 702, 703, or 705 of the

Federal Rules of Evidence, and provide the reports of

retained experts or witnesses whose duties as an employee

of the party regularly involved giving expert testimony,

required by Rule 26(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil

Procedure, as follows:

From the plaintiff(s), on or before January 7, 2008.

From the defendant(s), on or before March 3, 2008.

The parties shall comply fully with all requirements

of Rule 26(a)(2) in regard to disclosure of expert

testimony.

SECTION 9. FORTY (40) DAYS BEFORE TRIAL, each party

shall, pursuant to the provisions of Rule 26(a)(3) of the

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, file a list of the

names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all witnesses,

except witnesses to be used solely for impeachment

purposes, separately identifying those whom the party

expects to present and those whom the party may call if

the need arises. The witness list should include the

names of any witnesses required to be disclosed under

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Section 8. Unless specifically agreed between the

parties or allowed by the court for good cause shown, the

parties shall be precluded from calling any witness not

so identified.

SECTION 10. FORTY (40) DAYS BEFORE TRIAL, the

parties shall, pursuant to the provisions of Rule

26(a)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, file

deposition designations that the parties expect to use at

trial. Adverse parties shall within one week thereafter

file deposition designations expected to be used in

response, and a party shall within three days of the

designation of such responsive parts file the designation

of any part that is desired as a rebuttal thereto.

Unless specifically agreed between the parties or allowed

by the court for good cause shown, the parties shall be

precluded from using any part of a deposition or other

document not so listed, with the exception of parts of

depositions or documents to be used solely for the

purpose of impeachment. Except to the extent written

objections are filed 14 days prior to the trial date,

each party shall be deemed to have agreed that one of the

conditions for admissibility under Rule 32 of the Federal

Rules of Civil Procedure is satisfied with respect to any

such deposition and that there is no objection to the

testimony so designated. Objections shall state with

particularity the portions objected to, and the objecting

party shall attach a copy of the portions to which the

objections apply.

SECTION 11. FORTY (40) DAYS BEFORE TRIAL, the

parties shall, pursuant to the provisions of Rule

26(a)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, file

exhibit lists and furnish opposing counsel for copying

and inspection all exhibits and tangible evidence to be

used at the trial. Proffering counsel shall have such

evidence marked for identification prior to trial.

Unless specifically agreed between the parties or allowed

by the court for good cause shown, the parties shall be

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precluded from offering such evidence not so furnished

and identified, with the exception of evidence to be used

solely for the purpose of impeachment. Except to the

extent written objections are filed, the evidence shall

be deemed genuine and admissible in evidence. Objections

shall be filed 14 days prior to the trial date, and shall

set forth the grounds and legal authorities. The

offering party shall file a written response to the

objections no later than 7 days prior to trial and shall

include a premarked copy of the evidence at issue. 

SECTION 12. Except to the extent of any conflict

with the deadlines set out herein, the discovery plan

contained in the report of parties' planning meeting

(Doc. No. 42) is adopted and incorporated herein.

SECTION 13: If a jury trial: The parties shall file

any requested voir dire questions, motions in limine

fully briefed, and any proposed jury instructions,

together with citations of law thereon, on or before 14

days prior to the trial date unless said time is

shortened by the court on motion of either party. Trial

counsel are directed to review the jury questionnaire

used in this court and to avoid any duplication of

matters addressed therein in their voir dire questions.

The jury questionnaire is available on the court's

website at http://www.almd.uscourts.gov/juryinfo.htm.

SECTION 14. In cases involving jury trials, the term

“trial date” as used in the foregoing deadlines shall

mean the date set for jury selection.

SECTION 15. GENERAL PROVISIONS:

(A) All briefs on any matter before the court must be

formal in format and filed with the court. The court

does not accept "letter briefs" or "letter reports." 

(B) A request or motion for extension of a deadline

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in any court order (i) must be in writing; (ii) must

indicate that movant has, in a timely manner, previously

contacted counsel for all other parties; and (iii), based

on that contact, must state whether counsel for all other

parties agree to or oppose the extension request or

motion. A request or motion that fails to meet this

requirement will be denied outright, unless the movant

offers a credible explanation in the request or motion

why this requirement has not been met. Absent stated

unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances beyond the

control of the movant, oral extension requests and

motions are not allowed, and "eleventh hour" extension

requests and motions will be denied outright.

(C) The proposed order that a party desires the court

to enter should be submitted to the court in both (i) an

Adobe Acrobat PDF format attachment to the motion and

(ii) by transmitting an electronic copy of the proposed

order to the court as an attachment to an email message

sent to <propord_thompson@almd.uscourts.gov>. For these

purposes, the electronic copy should be in WordPerfect or

Word format and not in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. 

(D) If any party has an objection to these deadlines,

the party should inform the court within 14 days from the

date of this order; otherwise, the court will assume that

the deadlines are agreeable to all parties. Unless this

order is modified by subsequent order of the court, the

provisions hereinabove set out are binding on the

parties.

DONE, this the 12th day of July, 2007.

 /s/ Myron H. Thompson 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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