Opinion ID: 497041
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Alleged Invalidity of Pretrial Order

Text: 25 Malone also argues that the district court's pretrial order was invalid and therefore that her refusal to comply with the order was justified. Malone primarily contends that the court did not have the authority to require her to supply all anticipated questions and answers for the witnesses that would testify at trial. Malone concludes that the district court's order of dismissal was improper because an order of dismissal cannot be premised on the violation of an invalid order. 26 It is well established that [a]n attorney who believes a court order is erroneous is not relieved of the duty to obey it. Chapman v. Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co., 613 F.2d 193, 197 (9th Cir.1979). We note, however, that several courts have looked to the validity of an order in deciding whether violation of that order may result in dismissal. See, e.g., Identiseal Corporation of Wisconsin v. Positive Identification Systems, Inc., 560 F.2d 298, 301 (7th Cir.1977) (district court's dismissal based on plaintiff's failure to file court-ordered pretrial report can be upheld only if it was within court's authority to compel plaintiff to conduct discovery which would provide the facts to be contained in the pretrial report); McCargo v. Hedrick, 545 F.2d 393, 396-402 (4th Cir.1976) (reversing dismissal in part because violated order was premised on invalid local rule); J.F. Edwards Construction Co. v. Anderson Safeway Guard Rail Corp., 542 F.2d 1318, 1325 (7th Cir.1976) (because Rule 16 does not authorize court to order parties to stipulate facts, sanctions for failure to so stipulate are not available); see also Titus, 695 F.2d at 752 (Fullam, J., concurring) (dismissal for failure to obey requirement of pretrial order is justified only if requirement is reasonable). 27 Even if dismissal cannot be premised on the violation of an invalid order, the district court's order of dismissal was proper because the court's pretrial order was valid under Fed.R.Civ.P. 16. Rule 16 basically enables trial courts to take steps to improve the efficiency of trials. Hitherto we have not explicitly approved a pretrial order requiring the parties to provide a list of all proposed direct questions and answers. However, we have encouraged attempts by district courts to simplify trials by requiring the parties to submit proposed testimony. See Miller v. Los Angeles County Board of Education, 799 F.2d 486, 488 (9th Cir.1986) (order requiring plaintiff to submit proposed questions); Chapman, 613 F.2d at 197-98 (order requiring plaintiffs to submit written narrative of direct testimony of each witness). The pretrial order at issue here was designed in that spirit. 28 Malone has submitted no evidence that the pretrial order was unfair. Because both Malone and the Government were required to supply proposed questions and answers, the pretrial order imposed no special burdens or disadvantages on Malone. Nor was the pretrial order unnecessarily or excessively burdensome. We note that another circuit has cautioned that Rule 16 should not be implemented in such a manner that the pretrial procedure itself is more difficult and time consuming than the actual trial. McCargo, 545 F.2d at 401. However, unlike the order at issue in McCargo, the pretrial order at issue served a valuable purpose by trying to organize a very disorganized case. We conclude that the pretrial order issued by the trial court in this case was valid. 29