April 2012
For Non-Patent Cases
SCHEDULING ORDER
This ____ day of ________, 201_, the Court having conducted an initial Rule 16(b)
scheduling conference pursuant to Local Rule 16.1(b), and the parties having determined after
discussion that the matter cannot be resolved at this juncture by settlement, voluntary mediation,
or binding arbitration;
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. Rule 26(a)(1) Initial Disclosures. Unless otherwise agreed to by the parties, the
parties shall make their initial disclosures pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(1)
within five days of the date of this Order.
2. Joinder of Other Parties and Amendment of Pleadings. All motions to join other
parties, and to amend or supplement the pleadings, shall be filed on or before ___________,
201_.
3. Discovery.
a. Discovery Cut Off. All fact discovery in this case shall be initiated so that
it will be completed on or before ________, 201_.
b. Document Production. Document production shall be substantially
complete by _______, 201_.
c. Requests for Admission. A maximum of ___ requests for admission are
permitted for each side.
d. Interrogatories. A maximum of ___ interrogatories, including contention
interrogatories, are permitted for each side.
e. Depositions.
i. Limitation on Hours for Deposition Discovery. Each side is
limited to a total of __ hours of taking testimony by deposition upon oral examination.
ii. Location of Depositions. Any party or representative (officer,
director, or managing agent) of a party filing a civil action in this district court must ordinarily
be required, upon request, to submit to a deposition at a place designated within this district.
Exceptions to this general rule may be made by order of the Court or by agreement of the parties.
A defendant who becomes a counterclaimant, cross-claimant, or third-party plaintiff shall be
considered as having filed an action in this Court for the purpose of this provision.
f. Disclosure of Expert Testimony.
i. Expert Reports. For the party who has the initial burden of proof
on the subject matter, the initial Federal Rule 26(a)(2) disclosure of expert testimony is due on or
before ___________, 201_. The supplemental disclosure to contradict or rebut evidence on the
same matter identified by another party is due on or before ____________, 201_. No other
expert reports will be permitted without either the consent of all parties or leave of the Court.
Along with the submissions of the expert reports, the parties shall advise of the dates and times
of their experts’ availability for deposition. Any expert depositions shall be taken no later than
__________, 201__.
ii. Objections to Expert Testimony. To the extent any objection to
expert testimony is made pursuant to the principles announced in Daubert v. Merrell Dow
Pharm., Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), as incorporated in Federal Rule of Evidence 702, it shall be
made by motion no later than the deadline for dispositive motions set forth herein, unless
otherwise ordered by the Court.
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g. Discovery Matters and Disputes Relating to Protective Orders. Should
counsel find they are unable to resolve a discovery matter or a dispute relating to a protective
order, the parties involved in the discovery matter or protective order dispute shall contact the
Court’s Case Manager to schedule a hearing. Unless otherwise ordered, by no later than forty-
eight hours prior to the hearing, the party seeking relief shall file with the Court a letter, not to
exceed three pages, outlining the issues in dispute and its position on those issues. By no later
than twenty-four hours prior to the hearing, any party opposing the application for relief may file
a letter, not to exceed three pages, outlining that party’s reasons for its opposition. Should any
document(s) be filed under seal, a courtesy copy of the sealed document(s) must be provided to
the Court within one hour of e-filing the document(s).
If a discovery-related motion is filed without leave of the Court, it will be denied
without prejudice to the moving party’s right to bring the dispute to the Court through the
discovery matters procedures set forth in this Order.
4. Application to Court for Protective Order. Should counsel find it will be
necessary to apply to the Court for a protective order specifying terms and conditions for the
disclosure of confidential information, counsel should confer and attempt to reach an agreement
on a proposed form of order and submit it to the Court within ten days from the date of this
Order. Should counsel be unable to reach an agreement on a proposed form of order, counsel
must follow the provisions of Paragraph 3(g) above.
Any proposed protective order must include the following paragraph:
Other Proceedings. By entering this order and limiting the
disclosure of information in this case, the Court does not intend to
preclude another court from finding that information may be
relevant and subject to disclosure in another case. Any person or
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party subject to this order who becomes subject to a motion to
disclose another party’s information designated as confidential
pursuant to this order shall promptly notify that party of the motion
so that the party may have an opportunity to appear and be heard
on whether that information should be disclosed.
5. Papers Filed Under Seal. When filing papers under seal, counsel shall deliver to
the Clerk an original and one copy of the papers. A redacted version of any sealed document
shall be filed electronically within seven days of the filing of the sealed document.
6. Courtesy Copies. The parties shall provide to the Court two courtesy copies of all
briefs and one courtesy copy of any other document filed in support of any briefs (i.e.,
appendices, exhibits, declarations, affidavits etc.). This provision also applies to papers filed
under seal.
7. Case Dispositive Motions. All case dispositive motions, an opening brief, and
affidavits, if any, in support of the motion shall be served and filed on or before ____________,
201_ [a date approximately four months prior to the pretrial conference]. No case dispositive
motion under Rule 56 may be filed more than ten days before the above date without leave of the
Court.
8. Applications by Motion. Except as otherwise specified herein, any application to
the Court shall be by written motion. Any non-dispositive motion should contain the statement
required by Local Rule 7.1.1.
9. Pretrial Conference. On ________, 201_, the Court will hold a Rule 16(e) final
pretrial conference in Court with counsel beginning at _____ _.m. The parties shall file a joint
proposed final pretrial order in compliance with Local Rule 16.3(c) no later than 5 p.m. on the
third business day before the date of the final pretrial conference. Unless otherwise ordered by
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the Court, the parties shall comply with the timeframes set forth in Local Rule 16.3(d) for the
preparation of the proposed joint final pretrial order.
10. Motions in Limine. Motions in limine shall not be separately filed. All in limine
requests and responses thereto shall be set forth in the proposed pretrial order. Each party shall
be limited to three in limine requests, unless otherwise permitted by the Court. The in limine
request and any response shall contain the authorities relied upon; each in limine request may be
supported by a maximum of three pages of argument and may be opposed by a maximum of
three pages of argument, and the party making the in limine request may add a maximum of one
additional page in reply in support of its request. If more than one party is supporting or
opposing an in limine request, such support or opposition shall be combined in a single three
page submission (and, if the moving party, a single one page reply). No separate briefing shall
be submitted on in limine requests, unless otherwise permitted by the Court.
11. Jury Instructions, Voir Dire, and Special Verdict Forms. Where a case is to be
tried to a jury, pursuant to Local Rules 47.1(a)(2) and 51.1, the parties should file (i) proposed
voir dire, (ii) preliminary jury instructions, (iii) final jury instructions, and (iv) special verdict
forms no later than 5 p.m. on the third business day before the date of the final pretrial
conference. The plaintiff should expect to submit to an email address to be designated each of
the foregoing four documents in WordPerfect format.
12. Trial. This matter is scheduled for a __ day ____ trial beginning at 9:30 a.m. on
_________, 201_, with the subsequent trial days beginning at 9:30 a.m. Until the case is
submitted to the jury for deliberations, the jury will be excused each day at 4:30 p.m. The trial
will be timed, as counsel will be allocated a total number of hours in which to present their
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respective cases.
13. ADR Process. This matter is referred to a magistrate judge to explore the
possibility of alternative dispute resolution.
_________________________________
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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