Court Opinion

ID: 9448103
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 23:23:28.731324+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:31:17.738815
License: Public Domain

DAWSON, District Judge
(dissenting in part and concurring in part).
I concur in so much of Judge Clark’s opinion as grants the motion for a writ of mandamus vacating the preclusion order issued by Chief Judge Bruchhausen and remanding the case to him. I do this because the directions issued by Judge Bruchhausen during the course of pre-trial hearings were not set forth with definiteness and precision and the plaintiff may perhaps have been in doubt as to what he was supposed to do and wherein he failed to comply with the directions of the court. On the point that the preclusion order should be vacated and the case remanded to Judge Bruchhausen the Court is unanimous.
Where I disagree is with the body of Judge Clark’s opinion which purports to limit, not alone in this case but in all other cases, the procedure which a pretrial may take. Thus Judge Clark seems to indicate that a court may not, in a pre-trial conference, direct the par- ■ ties to submit written statements setting forth the facts the parties will seek to prove at the trial and the legal- theory or theories on which they will attempt to predicate a recovery. In addition, Judge Clark’s opinion seems to indicate that failure to comply with the court’s directions may not properly be met with a preclusion order.
To accept Judge Clark’s theory of pre-trial would put the calendar back a generation, so far as court administration is concerned.5- This is no time to retrogress in this important field of judicial administration.6
Judge Clark has apparently confused pre-trial problems with the problems of pleading. He is still carrying the torch for “notice pleading” as contrasted with more elaborate and particularized pleadings, but that battle is now long over.7 We are not here concerned with pleadings but with pre-trial statements to be filed long after the pleadings are closed.8
*552However, in supporting the cause of notice pleading, Judge Clark himself has said, although briefly, that when details are lacking in a complaint they may be obtained in pre-trial. 21 F.R.D. at page 52. Now he says that they cannot be compelled to be provided in written statements.
But how are the facts and issues to be • particularized ? The way was well explained by Judge William E. Smith of New Jersey in a seminar for judges conducted jointly by the Committee on Pretrial Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States and a panel of federal judges appointed by the Chief Justice of the United States to study the problems of procedure in protracted cases. Judge Smith said (23 F.R.D. 414):
“The success of the initial pretrial conference will depend upon two factors, to wit, adequate preparation and cooperation. A basis for discussion may be laid in advance of the conference if counsel for the litigants are required to file with the Court written preliminary statements in which they shall particularize both the factual and legal issues. These statements should not be made a part of the pleadings. We are of the opinion that oral statements made at the pre-trial conference are inadequate because they do not permit the trial judge to limit the scope of discussion.
"The plaintiff should be required to file with the trial judge a concise but comprehensive statement of the factual issues. This statement should not be couched in the usually verbose language of the complaint; the surplusage frequently found in the complaint should be eliminated. The defendant should be required to file a counterstatement of the factual issues but only if these issues as stated by the plaintiff are disputed. There should be incorporated in each of the preliminary statements a particularization of the legal issues, supported, if feasible, by citations of only the principal authorities. * * *»
The inference in Judge Clark’s opinion is that such procedure is not permissible. This will render pre-trial largely useless. His approach presupposes that we must wait until the trial is in progress before we ascertain what particular facts are in issue and what legal theories are relied upon by the parties.9
And what is a judge to do if a party fails to comply with the order of the court to file a preliminary statement? In the instant case, on April 8, 1960, Judge Bruchhausen filed a memorandum pointing out the respects in which the statement submitted by the plaintiff was insufficient. Judge Bruchhausen, after pointing out these defects in the pre-trial statement given by plaintiff, said:
“Unless plaintiff specifically states his position in these respects, defendant cannot properly answer in order for the court to consider simplification of the issues and thereby expedite the trial.”
He therefore fixed a date for plaintiff to serve and file a complete pre-trial statement.
A second pre-trial statement was filed by the plaintiff which was equally insufficient.
A hearing was held on December 13, 1960. Plaintiff was ordered to file a new pre-trial statement. A further hearing was held on January 9, 1961, to consider the third pre-trial statement filed by the plaintiff and objections made by the defendant thereto. Prior to that time *553plaintiff’s counsel was supposed to file a statement in writing complying with a notice served by the defendant. Judge Bruchhausen ruled at that time (on January 9, 1961) that an offer of plaintiff’s counsel for counsel to look at his file “does not seem to meet a specific demand made in writing which called for a reply in writing.” Defendant’s counsel moved, at this hearing, that unless their demand, which had been served on December 15th was adequately and sufficiently answered by January 16th, a pretrial order be granted precluding plaintiff from offering any other evidence with respect to which the demands were directed. When it was not answered Judge Bruchhausen granted the application of the defendant.
Judge Clark’s opinion would also seem to indicate that a preclusion order should not be entered for failure to comply with directions of the court in the course of pre-trial. However, this Court has held that failure to comply with such an order in a pre-trial proceeding can properly result in a preclusion order. Syracuse Broadcasting Corp. v. Nehouse, 2 Cir., 1959, 271 F.2d 910. So also the Ninth Circuit has held that where plaintiff’s attorney failed to disclose a contention at the pre-trial conference, the trial court properly precluded him from offering evidence on the subject at the trial. Walker v. West Coast Fast Freight, Inc., 9 Cir., 1956, 233 F.2d 939.
The preclusion order in this case did, in effect, prevent the plaintiff from presenting any evidence at the trial which could lead to a recovery by the plaintiff. Plaintiff’s inattention to the directions of the court may have justified this procedure. I am perfectly willing, however, to give the plaintiff a second try since the directions of Judge Bruchhausen were not made with definiteness and precision. I am not willing to accept the premise that if directions are made with definiteness and precision and then ignored by the plaintiff he may not be precluded from offering evidence at the trial on those issues.

. See remarks of Mr. Justice Brennan in the Seminar on Protracted Cases, 23 F.R.D. 376.

. The results of a program of intensive pre-trial in the Eastern District of New Xork, initiated by the Committee on Pretrial Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States, are described in an article in The New York Law Journal of July 18, 1961, at page 1.

. See Dioguardi v. Durning, 2 Cir., 1944, 139 F.2d 774; Clark, “Special Pleading In The Big Case,” 21 F.R.D. 45.

. As Professor Moore has stated:
“Under the generalized style of pleading authorized by Rule 8, the pleadings frequently do not define the issues with any degree of sharpness * * * The pre-trial conferences enable the parties, under the mediation of the court, to crystallize these issues and eliminate those which are not really controverted or which use of the deposition and discovery procedure has shown to be without merit.” 3 Moore, Federal Practice U1U5 (2d Ed.).

. Mr. Justice Brennan of the United) States Supreme Court has said:
“The biggest single obstacle in my judgment to acceptance of this technique [pre-trial] and to full cooperation in making it work, is the old business of playing the cards close to the vest, the way most of us grew up in the handling of litigation for our clients. We did not like the idea of having to put the cards upon the table before putting our witnesses on the stand.” 23 F.R.D. 376.