Opinion
20cv116-LL-MSB
12-16-2022
PATRICIA NARCISO, Individually and Through her Conservators MARCELINA LUNA and TRACY NARCISO, Plaintiff, v. COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO, DEPUTIES DONALD FRANK and DARSHAUN DOUGLAS, and Does 1 to 10, Defendants.
ORDER SETTING TRIAL AND PRETRIAL DATES AND PROCEDURES
Honorable Linda Lopez, United States District Judge.
A pretrial conference was held on December 15, 2022. ECF No. 90. After discussing trial-related issues with counsel, the Court ORDERS the following:
TRIAL AND PRETRIAL DATES
1. Trial Date.
A jury trial in this action shall commence on January 10, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom 5D. There will be no trial activity in the courtroom on Mondays.
2. Time Limits.
To promote the efficient administration of justice, provide for an orderly presentation of the evidence, and accommodate the parties' time estimates and the Court's schedule, the Court orders reasonable time limits of 10 hours per side, including opening statements and closing arguments. The Court will exercise its discretion as to whether time should be deducted from a side's time limits due to counsel's failure to state objections concisely in a nonargumentative and nonsuggestive manner. The Courtroom Deputy will provide a summary of the time used at the conclusion of each trial day.
DOCUMENTS FOR TRIAL
1. Revised Witness List.
If the parties revise their witness lists after the PTO is entered, they shall file a revised list of witnesses on or before January 5, 2023 .
On or before January 5, 2023, the parties shall email to chambers a list of their witness names to be provided to the Courtroom Deputy.
2. Revised Stipulations.
If the parties revise their stipulations after the PTO is entered, they shall file a revised list of stipulations and agreements in a form suitable to be read and provided to the jury on or before January 3, 2023 .
3. Revised Deposition Designations.
If the parties revise their deposition designations after the PTO is entered, they shall file a revised joint list of deposition designations on or before January 3, 2023 .
4. Trial Briefs.
On or before January 3, 2023, each party shall file a trial brief, not to exceed fifteen pages in length.
5. Voir Dire.
On or before January 3, 2023, the parties may, but need not, submit proposed voir dire questions they want the Court to pose to the panel. Additionally, Counsel will be allotted 20 minutes per side to conduct their own voir dire.
JURY INSTRUCTIONS AND SPECIAL VERDICT FORMS
Counsel are responsible for substantive law instructions including Burden of Proof. Written instructions are provided to the jury upon retiring for deliberation and may be provided during the reading of the instructions by the Court. The parties must meet and confer in person, by video conference, or by telephone to reach an agreement on proposed jury instructions and/or verdict forms.
On or before January 3, 2023, Plaintiff (on behalf of the parties) shall submit to the Court a JOINT, complete set of substantive law jury instructions and verdict forms. This JOINT submission shall be one document, which is organized in two parts as follows: (1) the agreed upon set of JOINT jury instructions on substantive law and verdict forms; and (2) the separate set of any substantive instructions and/or verdict forms they propose to which there is an objection.
Each proposed substantive jury instruction and/or verdict form shall be set forth in full; be on a separate page; be numbered; cover only one subject or principle of law; not repeat principles of law contained in any other requested instructions; and cite the authority for the instruction. Each instruction shall have a heading at the top of the page that reads: “COURT'S INSTRUCTION NUMBER __.” The Court will fill in the applicable number at a later date.
When the parties disagree on an instruction or verdict form, the party opposing the instruction must draft a short statement (no longer than one paragraph) to be incorporated in the JOINT submission that supports the objection and any alternative instruction, with citation to any relevant authorities. Each statement should be on a separate page and should follow directly after the disputed instruction.
Plaintiff shall also submit (on behalf of the parties) an agreed upon JOINT index that sets forth the order that the instructions are to be submitted to the jury. The index page shall succinctly indicate the following: (1) the number of the instruction; (2) a brief title of the instruction; (3) the source of the instruction and any relevant case citation; and (4) the page number for the instruction in the parties' JOINT submission of substantive law jury instructions and verdict forms.
These submissions to the Court must be emailed in Word format to efilelopez@casd.uscourts.gov.
The Court directs counsel to use the instructions from the Manual of Model Jury Instructions for the Ninth Circuit, where applicable. Where California law applies and the Ninth Circuit instructions are not applicable, the Court prefers the parties to use the California Jury Instructions in CACI first, and in BAJI second.
Modifications of instructions from the foregoing sources (or any other form instructions) must specifically state the modification made to the original form instruction and the authority supporting the modification.
TRIAL EXHIBITS
Plaintiff's exhibits shall be identified numerically, starting with “1” and Defendant's exhibits identified alphabetically, starting with A to Z, then AA to AZ, then BA to BZ, etc. Exhibit stickers may be obtained from the intake window of the Clerk's Office. Parties may create their own exhibit stickers as long as the stickers include the exhibit number/letter and case number. All questions regarding trial exhibits should be directed to the Courtroom Deputy.
On or before January 5, 2023 , Counsel shall submit to the Court two (2) courtesy copies of the exhibits in three-ring binders separated by tabs and containing an index, and one (1) electronic copy on a USB flash drive.
Each party must keep its own list of exhibits and should keep track when each has been admitted into evidence. The Courtroom Deputy will have the official exhibit list. Once an exhibit is admitted, it is the property of the Court and must remain in the courtroom, unless otherwise ordered by the Court.
An exhibit must be admitted into evidence before counsel may show it to the jury. When referring to an exhibit, counsel should refer to its exhibit number whenever possible.
INTERPRETERS
If an interpreter is needed for a witness, please make arrangements in advance.
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
Counsel should contact the Courtroom Deputy to arrange a time to allow counsel to review and set up equipment for trial.
IT IS SO ORDERED.