Opinion
No. 03 Civ. 7496 (LAK).
October 27, 2005
ORDER
The parties have filed a joint pretrial order and waived a jury. Their attention is drawn to the following portion of the Court's individual practices:
Bench Trials
Form of Statement
In bench trials, counsel shall prepare and exchange statements containing the direct testimony of each witness they intend to call. These witness statements, copies of which are to be addressed to chambers and delivered to the mail room with copies of all exhibits at least one week before trial, shall be used at trial in accordance with the following procedure.
For each witness whose direct testimony will be presented in statement form, counsel shall prepare a statement setting forth in declaratory form all of the facts to which that witness will testify. The facts shall be stated in narrative, rather than question and answer, form. The statement shall contain all of the relevant facts to which the witness would testify including facts necessary to establish the foundation for the testimony. It need not be sworn or notarized.
At the trial, each witness whose direct testimony previously has been submitted in statement form shall take the stand and under oath shall adopt the statement as true and correct. The party offering that witness then shall offer the statement as an exhibit, subject to appropriate objections by the opposing party on which the court will then rule. The witness then will be allowed to supplement his or her statement by any additional live direct testimony considered necessary by counsel. Thereafter cross-examination and any redirect shall proceed in the ordinary course.
Statements will be required of the parties and other witnesses under their control. They are not to be used for adverse parties or for persons whose attendance must be compelled by subpoena.
Documents to be offered as exhibits shall not be attached to witness statements but shall be pre-marked and exchanged along with other proposed exhibits in the usual fashion.
Plaintiff's witness statements shall be served and filed no later than November 18, 2005. Defendants' witness statements shall be served and filed no later than December 5, 2005. The case is set for trial on December 5, 2005 at 10:30 a.m., although counsel should be in contact with the Court's deputy clerk as the trial date approaches to keep informed of whether the case in fact will be reached on that date.
SO ORDERED.