Opinion ID: 780138
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Amendment to Pretrial Order

Text: 18 The district court's decision not to allow QTI's proposed amendment of the Pretrial Order submitted shortly before trial is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Masinter v. Tenneco Oil Co., 929 F.2d 191, 194 (5th Cir.1991). Because of the importance of the pre-trial order in achieving efficacy and expeditiousness upon trial in the district court, appellate courts are hesitant to interfere with the court's discretion in creating, enforcing, and modifying such orders. Flannery v. Carroll, 676 F.2d 126, 129 (5th Cir.1982). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(e) states that [t]he order following a final pretrial conference shall be modified only to prevent manifest injustice. 19 QTI asserts that a damages claim based on prospective corrective advertising was mistakenly left out of the Joint Pretrial Order presented to the district court in November 2000. 5 The district court, concerned with fundamental fairness, refused to allow QTI to modify the Pretrial Order. QTI argues that the district court abused its discretion because Holdings and Sage Software would not have been prejudiced by the amendment, rather, the amendment would have caused only a slight inconvenience. Moreover, QTI argues that it was substantially harmed by not being allowed to amend the Pretrial Order. We disagree. In Trinity Carton Co. v. Falstaff Brewing Corp., this Court explained that: 20 Even though amendment of the Pretrial Order may be allowed where no surprise or prejudice to the opposing party results, where ... the evidence and the issue were known at the time of the original pretrial conference, amendments may generally be refused. Each party has an affirmative duty to allege at the pretrial conference all factual and legal bases upon which the party wishes to litigate the case. Failure to do so may implicate waiver of the issue at the discretion of the trial court, subject to considerations of fairness and efficient administration of justice. 21 767 F.2d 184, 193 n. 13 (5th Cir.1985) (citation omitted). Accordingly, we find that the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to allow the amendment.