[STIPULATED SCHEDULING AND DISCOVERY ORDER
FOR USE IN CASES ASSIGNED TO JUDGE KANE]
[Except for the caption and signature blocks, the proposed Order itself, like all filings, should be
double-spaced as required by D.C.Colo.LCivR 10.1(e). The bracketed text on the form conveys
instructions to counsel or parties appearing pro se and should not be included in the proposed
Scheduling and Discovery Order submitted to the court.]
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Civil Action No. *
*,
Plaintiff,
v.
*,
Defendant.
STIPULATED SCHEDULING AND DISCOVERY ORDER
1. DATE OF CONFERENCE
[State the date of the Scheduling and Discovery Conference.]
2. STATEMENT OF CLAIMS AND DEFENSES
[State concisely and without boilerplate the essence of your case. Do not quote from the
complaint, answer, or other pleadings. Include the specific basis for the court’s jurisdiction.]
a. Plaintiff(s):
b. Defendant(s):
c. Other parties:
[Each party shall make a concise narrative statement of all claims or defenses. Unless
the same items of relief are sought against all defendants, use of the collective “defendants” is
inappropriate. Each party should, in light of any informal discovery undertaken thus far, take
special care to eliminate frivolous claims or defenses. Jurisdictional or otherwise dispositive
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affirmative defenses should be addressed by dispositive motion or risk being deemed waived at
the Pretrial Conference. Do not summarize the pleadings. Statements such as “defendant denies
the material allegations of the complaint” are not acceptable. State with particularity what is
asserted and what is denied.]
3. UNDISPUTED FACTS
The following facts are undisputed:
a.
b.
c.
[. . . , etc.]
[A statement of all facts which the parties acknowledge to be undisputed. When the
parties have their Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(f) meeting, they should make a good-faith
attempt to determine the facts that are not in dispute. There is a continuing duty throughout the
discovery period to supplement undisputed facts. This supplement will be included in the Pretrial
Order.]
4. COMPUTATION OF DAMAGES
[Include a computation of all categories of damages sought or the basis and theory for
calculating damages. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1)(A)(iii). This should include the claims,
counterclaims and cross-claims of all parties. If the computation cannot be complete, set forth
the reasons why and the date when it will be completed.]
5. REPORT OF PRE-CONFERENCE DISCOVERY &
MEETING UNDER FEDERAL RULE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE 26(f)
a. Date of Rule 26(f) meeting:
b. Name of each participant:
c. Proposed changes, if any, in timing or requirement of disclosures under Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a):
d. Statement as to when Rule 26(a) disclosures were made or will be made:
[If a party’s disclosures were not made within 14 days after the Rule 26(f)
meeting, as provided in my Pretrial and Trial Procedures Memorandum, and
Rule 26(a)(1), the party must provide an explanation showing good cause for
noncompliance.]
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e. Statement concerning any agreements to conduct informal discovery:
[State what processes the parties have agreed upon to conduct informal discovery
such as joint interviews with potential witnesses or joint meetings with clients or
exchanging documents outside of formal discovery. If there is an agreement to
conduct joint interviews with potential witnesses, list the names of such witnesses.
The parties should at a minimum meet and exchange, collate, and number
documents.]
f. Statement concerning any agreements or proposals regarding electronic
discovery:
[In cases in which: (i) the substantive allegations involve extensive
computer-generated records; (ii) a substantial amount of disclosure or discovery
will involve information or records in electronic form (e.g., emails or databases);
(iii) expert witnesses will develop testimony based in large part on computer data
and/or modeling; or (iv) either party plans to present a substantial amount of
evidence in digital form at trial, the parties shall confer regarding steps they can
take to preserve relevant computer records and data, facilitate computer-based
discovery, limit discovery costs and delay, and avoid discovery disputes. Counsel
should provide a statement here regarding agreements or proposals regarding
electronic discovery made at the Rule 26(f) conference and be prepared to discuss
these issues, as appropriate, at the Scheduling Conference.]
g. Statement concerning any other agreements or proposals to reduce discovery and
other litigation costs:
[Examples of efforts to reduce discovery and other litigation costs include
depositions via remote means, joint repositories for documents, use of discovery
in other cases, and extensive use of expert affidavits to support judicial notice.]
h. Statement regarding use of the unified exhibit numbering system:
[Parties are required, to use a unified exhibit numbering system, meaning that
each exhibit is given only one Arabic number throughout the litigation and that
number is used no matter who presents or offers it.]
i. Statement on anticipated costs of litigation:
a. Plaintiff(s):
b. Defendant(s):
[Each party shall set forth its anticipated costs of conducting this litigation,
itemizing costs including travel and attorney fees for taking depositions,
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paralegal expenses, costs of preparations, costs of drafting written discovery and
anticipated motions, and costs of complying with discovery requests. This
information is used by me to fulfill the requirements of Federal Rule Civil
Procedure 1.]
6. CASE PLAN AND SCHEDULE
a. Deadline for Joinder of Parties
[This deadline should be no later than 45 days after the Scheduling Conference.]
b. Deadline to Amend Pleadings
[This deadline should be no later than 45 days after the Scheduling Conference.]
c. Discovery Cut-off
[This deadline should be not more than 6 months if the case involves one plaintiff
and one defendant or not more than 12 months if multiple parties are involved.
This period includes both fact and expert discovery. Any longer periods proposed
by the parties must be fully justified to the court at the Scheduling Conference.]
d. Dispositive Motion Deadline
[This deadline should be not more than 30 days after discovery cut-off.]
e. Expert Witness Disclosure
(1) Statement regarding anticipated fields of expert testimony, if any:
(2) Statement regarding any limitations proposed on the use or number of
expert witnesses:
(3) The parties shall designate all experts and provide opposing counsel and
any pro se party with all information specified in Rule 26(a)(2) on or
before __________________.
[This deadline should ordinarily be no later than 90 days after the
Scheduling Conference.]
(4) The parties shall designate all rebuttal experts and provide opposing
counsel and any pro se party with all information specified in Rule
26(a)(2) on or before ________________.
[This deadline should ordinarily be no later than 30 days after receipt of
the experts’ reports to which the rebuttal is addressed.]
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[All designations of experts shall include a statement describing the
methodology to be used by the particular expert. Daubert/Kumho Tire
motions challenging any proposed methodology may be considered before
the expert is deposed. Such a motion does not preclude the filing of any
subsequent motions. The aim is to cut off faulty methodology before
undertaking extensive discovery and may result in an amended
designation with either a new expert, a revised methodology, or both.]
(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of Rule 26(a)(2), no exception to the
requirements of the Rule will be allowed by stipulation of the parties
unless the stipulation is approved by the court.
f. Deposition Schedule
Name of Deponent Date of Deposition Time of Expected Length
Deposition of Deposition
[List the names of persons to be deposed and a schedule of any depositions to be
taken, including: (i) a good-faith estimate of the time needed for the deposition
and (ii) time(s), date(s), and location(s) for the deposition to which the persons
signing the Stipulated Scheduling and Discovery Order have agreed. Counsel
must confer in advance of the Scheduling Conference, and unless otherwise
ordered and for good cause stated (e.g., counsel does not know the names of any
deponent until receipt of answers to interrogatories), identify by name, title, or
occupation the persons counsel wishes to depose.]
g. Interrogatory Schedule
[Set a schedule for the submission of and response to any written
interrogatories.]
h. Schedule for Request for Production of Documents
[Set a schedule for the submission of and response to any requests for
documents.]
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i. Discovery Limitations
(1) Limits on the length of any deposition:
[List those proposed by either party or agreed upon.]
(2) Modifications to the presumptive numbers of depositions or
interrogatories contained in the Federal Rules:
[List those proposed by either party or agreed upon.]
(2) Limitations on the number of requests for production of documents and/or
requests for admissions:
[List those proposed by either party or agreed upon.]
j. Other Planning or Discovery Orders
[Set forth any other proposed orders concerning scheduling or discovery.]
7. SETTLEMENT
[The parties must certify here that, as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(f),
they have discussed the possibilities for a prompt settlement or resolution of the case by
alternate dispute resolution. This statement should also report whether any of the parties
requests a settlement conference before a magistrate judge. Note: I do not preside over
settlement conferences in cases assigned to me for trial. Nor do I wish to be informed about the
specifics of settlement offers, counteroffers, proposals, etc. I will refer this case to a magistrate
judge for a settlement conference if any party requests such a reference. Be prepared at the
Scheduling Conference to advise me when and under what circumstances it will be propitious to
take further steps toward settlement. I encourage but do not require use of privately retained
mediators.]
8. OTHER SCHEDULING ISSUES
a. Statement of those discovery or scheduling issues, if any, on which counsel, after
a good-faith effort, were unable to reach an agreement:
b. Statement of anticipated motions to be filed, by whom, estimated time of filing,
and any proposed briefing schedule:
[Note that my general practice is to require that the response or answer brief be
filed 21 days from the date of filing of the motion and the reply brief 14 days from
the date of filing of the response brief.]
c. Statement whether trial is to the court or jury:
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[If a mixed trial, e.g., declaratory judgment and damages, specify which claims
are to be tried to a jury and which to the court.]
9. AMENDMENTS TO DISCOVERY AND SCHEDULING ORDER
This Stipulated Scheduling and Discovery Order may be altered or amended only upon
motion showing good cause and order entered thereon.
[As stated elsewhere herein, I will almost always grant stipulated motions for extensions of time
and changes in deadlines up to and including the signing of a Pretrial Order. If the parties
cannot agree on such extensions, my inclination is, in the absence of abuse, to be permissive. On
the contrary, I am not permissive or lenient in changing trial dates.]
DATED this ____ day of _________________, 20___
___________________________
JOHN L. KANE
SENIOR U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE
[Please affix counsel’s signatures in the form below before submission of the Stipulated
Scheduling and Discovery Order to the court.]
STIPULATED SCHEDULING AND
DISCOVERY ORDER APPROVED:
________________________ ________________________
[Name] [Name]
[Address] [Address]
[Telephone Number] [Telephone Number]
[Attorney for Plaintiff or Plaintiff, [Attorney for Defendant or Defendant,
Pro Se] Pro Se]
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