____________________________________

:

THE ACCENT GROUP, : UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

: DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY

Plaintiff(s), :

: Hon. William J. Martini

-vs- : Civil Action No. 11-3770 (WJM)

:

NATIONAL INDEMNITY CO., et al., : PRETRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER

 :

Defendant(s). :

____________________________________: 

THIS MATTERhaving come before the Court for a scheduling conference pursuant to Rule

16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on August 19, 2011, Daniel Bevere, Esq. appearing on

behalf of Plaintiff and Bryan M. Shay, Esq. appearing on behalf of Defendants; and for good cause

shown:

IT IS on this 25 day of August, 2011 th

ORDERED THAT:

I. DISCLOSURES

1. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 disclosures are to be exchanged on or before August 19, 2011.

II. DISCOVERY

2. Fact discovery is to remain open through April 1, 2012. No discovery is to be issued

or engaged in beyond that date, except upon application and for good cause shown.

3. The parties mayserve interrogatories limited to twenty-five (25) single questions and

requests for production of documents on or before September 15, 2011, to be responded to within

thirty (30) days of receipt.

4. No objections to questions posed at depositions shall be made other than as to lack

of foundation, form, or privilege. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 32(d) (3) (A). No instruction not to answer

shall be given unless a privilege is implicated.

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5. Any discovery dispute shall be brought to the Court's attention in the first instance

by letter or by telephone conference call immediately after the parties' good faith attempt to resolve

the dispute has failed. See L. Civ. R. 16.1(f)(1).

6. No discovery motion or motion for sanctions for failure to provide discovery shall

be made without prior leave of Court.

III. DISCOVERY CONFIDENTIALITY ORDERS

7. Any proposed confidentiality order agreed to by the parties must strictly complywith

Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c) and L. Civ. R. 5.3. See also Pansy v. Borough of Stroudsburg, 23 F.3d 772 (3d

Cir. 1994); Glenmede Trust Co. v. Thompson, 56 F.3d 476 (3d Cir. 1995). Any such form of order

must be accompanied by an affidavit or attorney certification filed electronically under the

designation “affidavit/certification in support of discovery confidentiality order.” The affidavit or

attorney certification shall describe (a) the nature of the materials to be kept confidential, (b) the

legitimate private or public interests which warrant confidentiality and (c) the clearly defined and

serious injury that would result should the order not be entered. Any such order must be clearly

designated “Discovery Confidentiality Order.” See L. Civ. R. 5.3.

IV. FUTURE CONFERENCES

8. There shall be a status/settlement conference before the undersigned on Tuesday,

November 22, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. at the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, 1 Federal Square, Fourth

Floor, Room 457, Newark, New Jersey. 

9. The Court may from time to time schedule conferences as maybe required, either sua

sponte or at the request of a party.

10. Counsel should be prepared to discuss settlement at every conference with the Court. 

The senior attorney in charge of the case must attend all settlement conferences and client(s) with

full settlement authority must either attend or be immediately available by telephone. In cases

involving insurance companies and other corporate or business entities, it is expected that the

executive who will make the final decision on the settlement will be the person available for the

conference. 

11. Since all dates set forth herein are established with the assistance and knowledge of

counsel, there will be no extensions except for good cause shown and by leave of Court, even with

consent of all counsel.

12. A copy of every pleading, document or written communication with the Court shall

be served on all other parties to the action. Any such communication which does not recite or

contain a certification of such service may be disregarded by the Court.

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V. MOTIONS

13. Any motion to add new parties, whether by amended or third-party complaint, must

be returnable not later than October 15, 2011. 

14. Any motion to amend pleadings must be returnable not later than October 15, 2011.

15. No motions are to be filed without prior written permission from this Court. All

dispositive motions must first be subject to a dispositive motion pre-hearing. These prerequisites

must be met before any motions are filed and the motions will be returned if not met. All calendar

or dispositive motions, if permitted, shall comply with L. Civ. R. 7.1(b), Appendix N and 78.1.

16. Dispositive motions, if any, are to be filed by TO BE SET.

VI. EXPERTS

17. All affirmative expert reports shall be delivered by May 15, 2012, with depositions

of those experts to be taken and completed within thirty (30) days of receipt of report. See Fed.

R. Civ. P. 26(b) (4) (A). Any such report is to be in the form and content as required by Fed. R. Civ.

P. 26(a) (2) (B).

18. All responding expert reports shall be delivered by June 15, 2012, with depositions

of those experts to be taken and completed within thirty (30) days of receipt of report. Any such

report shall be in the form and content as described above.

19. No expert shall testify at trial as to any opinions or base those opinions on facts not

substantially disclosed in his report.

VII. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE

20. A final pretrial conference shall be conducted pursuant to Civil Rule 16(d) at a time

and date to be assigned.

21. Pursuant to paragraphs 14 and 15 of this Court’s form of Final Pretrial Order, all

pretrial submissions must be served upon the Court forty-eight (48) hours prior to the final pretrial

conference.

22. All counsel are directed to assemble at the office of plaintiff's counsel not later than

ten (10) days before the pretrial conference to prepare the proposed Final Pretrial Order in the form

and content required by the Court, as well as the required pretrial submissions consisting of agreedupon jury instructions, voir dire questions, verdict sheet, trial briefs and a neutral statement of the

case to be read to the jury panel, all of which must be submitted forty-eight (48) hours before the

final pretrial conference. Plaintiff's counsel shall prepare the Pretrial Order and shall submit it to all

other counsel for approval.

23. With respect to non-jury trials, each party shall submit to the District Judge and to

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opposing counsel proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, trial briefs and any

hypothetical questions to be put to an expert witness on direct examination.

24. The original of the Final Pretrial Order shall be delivered to Chambers not later than

forty-eight (48) hours before the pretrial conference, along with all pretrial submissions and trial

briefs. All counsel are responsible for the timely submission of the Pretrial Order and submissions.

25. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THIS ORDER WILL RESULT IN SANCTIONS

PURSUANT TO Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(f) and 37.

s/Mark Falk 

MARK FALK

United States Magistrate Judge

Original: Clerk of the Court

cc: Hon. William J. Martini, U.S.D.J.

All Parties

File

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