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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO

Civil Action No. 11-cv-02545-KLM

SAMMY KING,

Plaintiff,

v.

GORDON TRUCKING, INC., and

SARAH GRAHAM,

Defendants.

CIVIL TRIAL PROCEDURES ORDER

(effective August 15, 2012)

_____________________________________________________________________

The following procedures and orders supplement the Federal Rules of Civil

Procedure and the local rules of this court. In order to fairly and efficiently try the merits of

each case, the Court ORDERS as follows:

I. Final Pretrial Conference/Trial Preparation Conference (“FPTC/TPC”) 

1. Date. The FPTC/TPC will be held on October 6, 2014 at 10:30 a.m. in

Courtroom C204, Second Floor, Byron Rogers U.S. Courthouse, 1929 Stout St., Denver,

Colorado. Trial counsel must attend in person.

2. Deadline for filing proposed Final Pretrial Order. The proposed Final Pretrial

Order is due on September 29, 2014.

3. Instructions for preparation of Proposed Final Pretrial Order. The parties

shall use the form of proposed Final Pretrial Order available on the court’s website and as

an attachment to the Local Rules, with the following changes:

- section 6(a)(3) and (b)(3) shall be modified to include a statement about

proposed use of videotaped and non-videotaped deposition testimony.

- section 7(b) shall be deleted.

II. Pretrial Deadlines 

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1. Exchange of exhibit and witness lists. The parties shall exchange exhibit and

witness lists fourteen (14) days before the FPTC/TPC. Exhibit lists shall identify all exhibits

by Bates numbers. Witness lists shall identify “will call” witnesses and “may call” witnesses.

2. Objections to exhibits and witnesses. The parties shall file all objections to

exhibits and witnesses three (3) days before the FPTC/TPC.

3. Trial briefs. The parties may file Trial Briefs ten (10) days before trial.

4. Motions in limine. Motions in limine are discouraged. Instead, the parties may

flag evidentiary issues in their trial briefs. Motions to exclude expert testimony shall be filed

thirty (30) days after the rebuttal expert witness disclosure deadline set forth in the

scheduling order.

5. Proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. In trials to the Court, the

parties shall file proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law five (5) court business

days before trial.

6. Proposed jury instructions. In jury trials, the parties shall file proposed jury

instructions ten (10) days before trial. Proposed jury instructions shall be in WordPerfect

or Word format and include citations of relevant authority in footnotes.

7. Special accommodations. Counsel shall notify my courtroom deputy of any

need for special accommodations for any attorney, party or witness, and any need for

technological equipment for videoconferencing or electronic presentation of evidence no

later than thirty (30) days before trial. 

8. Settlement. Pursuant to D.C.COLO.LCivR 54.2, counsel must notify the court

clerk and my Chambers of a settlement before twelve o’clock noon on the last court

business day before the scheduled trial date. The assessment of jury costs may be

imposed as a consequence of noncompliance with this instruction.

III. First Day of Trial

1. Witness lists. Three copies of each party’s witness list shall be provided to the

courtroom deputy and one copy to opposing counsel.

2. Exhibit lists. Three copies of each party’s exhibit list shall be provided to the

courtroom deputy and one copy to opposing counsel. 

3. Exhibit notebooks. Each party shall prepare an exhibit notebook containing

original exhibits, properly marked and tabbed, with pages of each exhibit numbered. These

notebooks shall be provided to the courtroom deputy. Similar notebooks with exhibit copies

shall be provided to the court and to opposing counsel. Exhibits with more than one page

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shall have each page numbered.

4. Copies of exhibits for jurors. In jury trials, each party shall provide notebooks

for juror exhibits. Those exhibits which have been stipulated to may be placed in the jurors’

notebooks prior to trial. Additional exhibits may be published to the jury for placement in

juror notebooks following the exhibit’s admission into evidence at trial. Blank pages may

be inserted into juror notebooks so that jurors may take notes of the proceedings.

 

5. List of stipulated facts. Plaintiff shall provide an original list of any stipulated

facts to the court and two copies to the courtroom deputy.

IV. General Information

1. Voir dire. Counsel will be permitted to conduct voir dire of potential jurors, if trial

is to a jury, for a specified amount of time, to be determined at the Trial Preparation

Conference. Accordingly, counsel should be prepared to conduct voir dire at trial as they

deem appropriate.

2. Courtroom Deputy. My courtroom deputy’s name is Laura Galera. She can be

reached at (303) 335-2104. Any questions concerning exhibits or courtroom equipment

may be directed to her. The proceedings will be digitally recorded. Any request for

transcripts should be directed to the courtroom deputy. Extraordinary requests, such as

for daily copy, should be made at least 30 days in advance of the trial date.

3. Law Clerks. My law clerks can be reached at (303) 335-2770. Please do not

call them about issues which are handled by the courtroom deputy, as indicated in this

Order.

4. Witness salutations. At trial, all parties and witnesses shall be addressed as

“Mr.”, “Mrs.”, “Ms.”, “Dr.”, etc. Informal references are not permitted except when children

are testifying.

5. Timing of giving of jury instructions. In jury trials, instructions will be given

prior to closing arguments. Copies of written instructions will be given to the jury for its

deliberations.

6. Trial dates. The four-day Trial is set to begin on October 27, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.

in Courtroom C-204, Second Floor, Byron Rogers U.S. Courthouse, 1929 Stout Street,

Denver, Colorado.

7. Type of Trial. Pursuant to a March 27, 2014 telephone conference with

Chambers, Defendant shall file a notice on the docket on or before April 30, 2014 

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informing the Court whether the parties wish to try the case to a jury or to the Court. 

Dated: March 27, 2014

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