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Pretrial Order (Judge Milling Jr) - Alabama
| Pretrial Order (Judge Milling Jr) Form. This is a Alabama form and can be used in Southern District District Court Federal . |
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STANDING ORDER GOVERNING FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE It is ORDERED that the following requirements shall prevail for Fed.R.Civ.P. 16(d) Final Pretrial Conferences set before the Honorable Bert W. Milling, Jr.: 1. Counsel shall confer and shall jointly prepare a single Joint Pretrial Document in the form attached, which must be filed with the Clerk of Court at least seven (7) calendar days before the Final Pretrial Conference. "Joint preparation" entails that counsel affirmatively and in good faith attempt to reach agreement on each of the matters required by this Standing Order to be addressed in the Joint Pretrial Document. Matters of good-faith disagreement should be so noted in the Joint Pretrial Document, and should be accompanied by a statement as to whether any specific rulings by the Court on those matters might facilitate the conduct of the trial or ongoing settlement negotiations. 2. Participation at the Final Pretrial Conference is mandatory. At least one attorney of record for each party (or, in the case of a pro se party, the party himself or herself) must be physically present at the conference, unless alternative arrangements are made and approved by the Court in advance. Additional counsel may attend, but are not required to do so unless otherwise ordered in a particular case. 3. Counsel shall confer and engage in meaningful settlement discussions within 30 days prior to the Final Pretrial Conference. Merely making a single settlement demand or offer, with no further discussions between the parties, is not sufficient. At the Final Pretrial Conference, counsel must be prepared to discuss with the Court the status of those settlement negotiations, and whether any method of Alternative Dispute Resolution may be beneficial to resolving the action before trial. American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com 4. The Joint Pretrial Document shall contain each of the following: A. Jurisdiction and Parties. A statement as to (1) the Court's jurisdiction over the subject matter and parties, (2) the propriety of parties, including correctness of identity of legal entities (e.g., partnership, corporation, or individual d/b/a trade name), and (3) the necessity of appointment of guardian ad litem or other representative, and validity of appointment if already made. B. Statement of the Case. A brief statement of the action (no more than one page), providing a broad overview of the basic facts and nature of the dispute. The Court will read this statement to the venire during jury selection to qualify prospective jurors as to the events giving rise to the lawsuit; therefore, it should be written so as to be understandable by a typical juror. C. Triable Claims and Affirmative Defenses. For each claim or affirmative defense asserted: (1) a listing of its legal elements derived from the pattern jury instructions or applicable and controlling case law; (2) a statement of the agreed facts specifically related to that claim or defense; and (3) a statement of the disputed facts specifically related to the claim or defense.1 Parties should not submit a legal memorandum, but should instead present a simple statement of the legal elements, with citations to supporting authority. D. Trial Time. An estimate of the number of trial days required, and a statement of the number of witnesses reasonably expected to testify on behalf of each party in its case in chief. E. Type of Trial. A statement indicating whether the action is a jury or non-jury action. If a jury action, the parties should indicate whether the jury trial is applicable to all aspects of the dispute or only to certain issues, which shall be specified. (1) Jury Size. In view of Fed.R.Civ.P. 48, which allows not fewer than six (6) and not more than twelve (12) jurors, the parties shall include a statement of their position with regard to the number of jurors they request be selected. If the parties are unable to agree, the Court will cause a jury of eight (8) to be selected. (2) Voir Dire Questions. Proposed voir dire questions and objections It is not necessary for the parties to set forth every possible variation of every factual dispute involved in the case for fear that they may waive the presentation of some evidence at trial. The Court is interested in a concise statement of the facts that are disputed and undisputed, specifically related to the legal claims and defenses that are to be litigated. -2- 1 American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com thereto shall be included in the Joint Pretrial Document. Each party shall be limited to twenty (20) questions. In preparing their lists, counsel may find it helpful to review this District Court's form juror questionnaire (which is available from the Clerk's Office upon request), so as not to ask questions that are redundant of those posed in that questionnaire. Also, counsel need not include questions concerning whether prospective jurors know any of the parties, witnesses or lawyers in the case, or know anything about the case, as those questions will be asked by the Court during voir dire as a matter of course. (3) Jury Instructions and Special Verdict Form. No later than seven (7) calendar days prior to trial, the parties shall submit to chambers by email a jointly prepared set of agreed jury instructions. This document should include a single, comprehensive, organized, jointly-approved set of jury instructions, rather than multiple variations of the same charge to which neither side objects. For any instructions as to which the parties have been unable in good faith to agree, the parties may file separate instructions designated accordingly (e.g., "Plaintiff's proposed jury instruction number _____"). It is anticipated that the incidence of instructions as to which the parties are unable to agree in good faith will be an infrequent occurrence in most cases. If the parties desire to submit special interrogatories to the jury, a jointly prepared proposed verdict form must be submitted to chambers by e-mail contemporaneously with the proposed jury instructions. If the parties cannot agree on the need for or form of the special verdict form, the parties may file separate proposed jury interrogatories designated accordingly. F. Motions. A list and description of any motions (including motions in limine) pending or contemplated. It is not sufficient for a party simply to state that it plans to file unspecified motions in limine. The Court will set deadlines for filing and briefing mot
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