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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

KEITH T. TOWNS,

NO. CIV. S-04-1855 FCD/PAN

Plaintiff,

AMENDED

v. STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING)

ORDER

AMERIQUEST MORTGAGE COMPANY,

TOWN AND COUNTRY TITLE

SERVICES, INC., NORTH AMERICAN

TITLE COMPANY, and DOES 1 to

10, inclusive, 

Defendants.

__________________________/

After reviewing the parties’ Joint Status Report, the court

VACATES the status conference set for January 12, 2007 and hereby

AMENDS the Status Order filed on January 3, 2005 as follows:

I. SERVICE OF PROCESS

All named defendants have been served. No further service

will be permitted without leave of court, good cause having been

shown.

///

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II. ADDITIONAL PARTIES/AMENDMENTS/PLEADINGS

No further joinder of parties or amendments to pleadings is

permitted without leave of court, good cause having been shown. 

See Fed. R. Civ. P.16 (b); Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc.,

975 F.2d 604 (9th Cir. 1992).

III. JURISDICTION/VENUE

Jurisdiction is predicated upon 18 U.S.C. § 1331 and 

28 U.S.C. § 1441(b). Jurisdiction and venue are not contested.

IV. DISCOVERY

All discovery has been completed.

V. DISCLOSURE OF EXPERT WITNESSES

All expert discovery has been completed. 

VI. MOTION HEARING SCHEDULE

No dispositive motions have been filed as to the remaining

defendants and the date in which to have a motion heard has

expired.

VII. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE

The Final Pretrial Conference is set for September 7, 2007 

at 1:30 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

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oral testimony. The parties shall file, not later than seven (7)

calendar days prior to the Final Pretrial Conference, a joint

pretrial statement. The provisions of Local Rules 16-281 shall

apply with respect to the matters to be included in the joint

pretrial 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 order, may be grounds for sanctions. 

Concurrently with the filing of the Joint Final Pretrial

Conference Statement, counsel shall submit to chambers the word

processing version of the statement, in its entirety (including

the witness and exhibit lists) to: fcdorders@caed.uscourts.gov.

The parties shall, in a concise manner, jointly identify

only undisputed core facts separately that are relevant to each

claim. Disputed core facts should then be identified in the same

manner. The parties are reminded not to identify every fact in

dispute but only those disputed facts that are essential to the

formulation of each claim. Each disputed fact and undisputed

fact should be separately numbered or lettered. Where the

parties are unable to agree what are the core disputed facts,

they should nevertheless list core disputed facts in the above

manner.

Each party shall identify and concisely list each disputed

evidentiary issue which will be the subject of a party’s motion

in limine.

Each party shall identify the points of law which concisely

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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.

The parties are reminded that pursuant to Local Rule 16-281

they are required to attach to the Final Pretrial Conference

Statement an exhibit listing 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 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. 

Defendant’s exhibits shall be listed alphabetically. The parties

shall use the standard exhibit stickers provided by the court:

yellow 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. All multi page exhibits shall be stapled or

otherwise fastened together and each page within the exhibit

shall be numbered. The list of exhibits shall not include

excerpts of depositions, which may be used to impeach witnesses. 

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In the event that plaintiff(s) and defendant(s) 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. 

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.

Counsel shall produce all trial exhibits to Maureen Price,

the Courtroom Clerk, no later than 3:00 p.m. on the Friday before

trial.

Discovery documents to be listed in the pretrial statement

shall not include documents which will be used only for

impeachment and in rebuttal.

 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

///

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1 “If the pretrial conference discloses that no material

facts are in dispute and that the undisputed facts entitle one of

the parties to judgment as a matter of law,” the court may

summarily dispose of the case or claims. Portsmouth Square v.

Shareholders Protective Comm., 770 F.2d 866, 868-69 (9th Cir.

1985).

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these aims in mind.1 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 SETTING

The trial is set for November 6, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. Trial

will by the court. The parties estimate a trial length of

approximately 2-4 days.

IX. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE

No settlement conference is currently scheduled. A

settlement conference may be set at the time of the Final

Pretrial Conference or at an earlier time at the parties’

request. In the event that an earlier settlement conference date

is requested, the parties shall file said request jointly, in

writing. If the case will be tried to a jury, all parties should

be prepared to advise the court whether they will stipulate to

the trial judge acting as settlement judge and waive

disqualification by virtue thereof.

Counsel, except for Counsel for the United States, 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

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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.

X. MODIFICATION OF STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) ORDER

The parties are reminded that pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Status (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 does not constitute good cause. Except in

extraordinary circumstances, unavailability of witnesses or

counsel does not constitute good cause.

XI. OBJECTIONS TO STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) ORDER

This Status Order will become final without further order of

the court unless objections are filed within ten (10) court days

of service of this Order.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

DATED: January 12, 2007

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