United States District Judge
Catherine D. Perry
Courtroom will be Requirements
designated in the order
setting the hearing or trial
and will be posted on the 1. Local and Federal Rules
daily docket. Many answers to frequently asked questions are contained in the
Address Local Rules of the Eastern District of Missouri , the Federal Rules of
111 S. 10th Street, Civil and Criminal Procedure, and the Federal Rules of Evidence. All
26th Floor
St. Louis, MO 63102 counsel are expected to know these rules and to follow them.
Phone
(314) 244-7520
2. Informal Matters
Judicial Assistant
I do not hold a regularly-scheduled informal matters docket. Most
Brian Crow minor agreed deadline changes can be done in writing, by filing a
[email protected]
motion to extend the deadline and stating that opposing counsel
Case Management Team consents. I am sometimes available for telephone conferences to
Nikki Phillips
(314) 244-7928
resolve scheduling disputes. You must notify opposing counsel before
Katie Kratzer seeking a telephone conference. If you have an emergency matter that
(314) 244-7936
Kayla Zenon
you believe requires a formal hearing on the record, you should call
(314) 244-7095 my chambers to schedule a hearing. In civil cases counsel should not
Lauren Rabbitt
(314) 244-7021
email me or any members of chambers staff unless you have been
specifically instructed to do so. In criminal cases counsel may email
Law Clerks
Mary Michenfelder
my Judicial Assistant, Brian Crow, regarding scheduling and logistics,
(314) 244-7524 but not about substantive issues.
Toni Penrod
(314) 244-7431
3. Available Courtroom Technologies
The Court has evidence presentation equipment available and expects
lawyers to use it during all trials. Please call the Case Management
Team in the Clerk’s office to schedule training before trial. Training
usually takes no more than 30 minutes, and gives you the opportunity
to get comfortable with our equipment configuration before trial. If
you intend to use your computer with the Evidence presentation
System, you must confer with the clerk’s office before trial to be sure
your settings and connections are appropriate for our system. At the
beginning of trial (in civil cases) I will receive into evidence any
exhibits that have not been objected to in the pretrial submissions.
4. Real Time Court Reporting
I do not have a regularly assigned court reporter, but all Eastern District of Missouri court
reporters can use real time court reporting for trial . If you wish to order daily copy of the trial
transcript, please contact my Case Management Team in the Clerk’s Office well in advance of
trial so they can make appropriate arrangements.
5. Scheduling Conferences and Case Management Orders
Civil cases are usually set for Rule 16 conferences after all defendants have answered. If for
some reason a party believes a conference should be set sooner, that party should file a motion.
The Order setting Rule 16 conference, as well as the Case Management Order, is self-
explanatory. Please read them and follow them. When you come to the Rule 16 conference, be
prepared to discuss the facts of your case and all other matters set out in the Rule 16 order,
including settlement. Do not send an unprepared substitute attorney: I expect all counsel to know
the case and be prepared to discuss all issues.
6. ADR
I refer most civil cases to mediation. Please be prepared to discuss the appropriate timing for a
referral to mediation at the Rule 16 Conference. A list of the court’s neutrals and the court's
ADR procedures can be found at the Court’s website.
7. Discovery Disputes
Before filing any discovery-related motion, you must meet and confer with opposing counsel in
an attempt to resolve the dispute, and your motion must contain a certification that you have
done so. Sending nasty letters or emails to one another does not fulfill the "meet and confer"
requirement, and I don’t want to see those things attached to motions. You are expected to
actually talk to one another. If your opponent will not return your calls when you attempt to
resolve the matter, you should put that in your certification with the motion. When you cannot
resolve legitimate disputes, and must file motions, I will either set the motions for hearing or rule
on the papers, depending on what I think is appropriate after I've reviewed the motions. If you
have an emergency discovery dispute, you should schedule a telephone conference on the record.
8. Courtesy Copies
Courtesy copies of bulky summary judgment motions are helpful, but I do not need courtesy
copies of other filings. Any courtesy copies must include the ECF Header on all pages (which
includes the ECF document number, page number and filing date).
9. Proposed Orders
Proposed orders should be attached and filed in ECF as an exhibit to your motion. Please also
email proposed orders in word format to my Judicial Assistant, Brian Crow, at the following
email address:
[email protected]
10. Trial Settings
Most cases are set for trial on a two-week docket. This is a firm setting, meaning that I almost
always reach all the cases set within that time. I set jury and non-jury, civil and criminal on the
same dockets. We pick juries at 9 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays in St. Louis.
If you have not heard otherwise, you should always assume you are #1 on the docket
11. Pretrial Conferences
Although I do not always have a formal pretrial conference in advance of the day of trial, I
require parties to appear for trial 30 minutes before the scheduled jury selection for a final
pretrial conference. We will use this time to discuss any evidentiary problems, motions in limine,
scheduling issues, etc. In a particular case, if I believe a more lengthy pretrial conference is
necessary, I will schedule one earlier, or you may request one.
12. Voir Dire
You will be provided a list of the jury panel members as they enter the courtroom. We do not
provide the list in advance so don't ask. The list contains names, municipality where the juror
lives, employer and former employer, occupation, and spouse's employer and occupation.
In most cases I allow attorneys to conduct part of the voir dire. I will begin by asking counsel to
introduce themselves and their clients. I will then ask introductory questions, covering such
things as the nature of the case, burden of proof, prior jury service, length of the trial, etc. If you
want me to ask any specific questions that for some reason you prefer not to ask, please submit
them to me in writing. Otherwise, you may inquire about anything relevant to jury selection.
General questions must be asked generally, that is, of the panel as a whole. You may then ask
follow-up questions of any persons who raise their hands. You may also ask follow-up questions
based on my questioning. You may not ask unnecessary questions just to hear the jurors speak,
ask the jurors to make promises to you, make speeches, argue your case or tell the jury about
yourself or your family, or do anything else that is not directly designed to elicit information
about the potential jurors.
After all questioning has been completed, the panel will be removed from the courtroom
and I will immediately ask for challenges for cause. No challenges for cause or statements that
the panel or that any juror is acceptable may be made in front of the jury panel. After any persons
are stricken for cause, the plaintiff will make its peremptory challenges and then the defense will
make its. In a civil case, the first seven or eight jurors remaining after the strikes will be seated,
and all are "real" jurors. In a criminal case, the first twelve will be seated, and the number of
alternates will depend on the length of trial.
After the jury is selected, all copies of jury lists must be returned to the clerk.
13. Courtroom Logistics and Trial Rules
a. Use of lectern: Opening statements, examination of witnesses and closing
arguments must be made from the lectern. You do not need to ask my permission to approach the
witness. You may never hover over the witness during an examination and you may never hover
over the jury for any reason.
b. Objections: Stand and state your legal basis for the objection, without argument or
elaboration. I will either rule or ask you to approach for a sidebar conference.
c. Recross: I do not allow recross as a matter of right; recross is only allowed if
something new is brought out on redirect. If counsel wishes to recross a witness, counsel must
approach the bench with the request and tell me the areas on which recross is sought. I will
determine whether the questioning will be allowed.
d. Exhibits: You must pre-mark all exhibits, as set out in the Case Management
Order. Do not ask us to mark exhibits for you. Plaintiffs or the Government must use numbers
for their exhibits; defendants must use letters for exhibits. If you have more than 100 exhibits, I
suggest you figure out a way to avoid exhibits such as AAAAAAAAA, and there are many ways
to do so and still comply with the pretrial order. In civil cases, I will receive into evidence at the
beginning of trial any exhibits to which no objections are filed in the pretrial. To assist in this, I
ask that you bring a list of all exhibits which may be received without objection at the beginning
of trial.
e. Depositions: Counsel frequently "over designate" deposition portions in their
pretrial submissions. I do not like to waste time ruling on what portions of the depositions can be
read to the jury, when often the issues can be worked out by the attorneys without my ruling. If
you intend to read less than what you designated in your pretrial, you must notify opposing
counsel of what you really intend to read sufficiently in advance so that they may see if they still
object or wish to remove any counter designations. This will require meeting before trial, or at
the end of the first day of trial. I will then rule on any remaining issues, but I will expect you to
have attempted to resolve disputes before bringing them to me. Please plan for this when you are
scheduling your time.
If you wish to play video depositions, please let me know in advance, so I can
rule objections in time for editing, or we can otherwise work out the logistics.
The court reporter does not transcribe deposition testimony. For the record you
must provide a list of the pages and lines showing the portions of each deposition that were actually
read or shown to the jury. You may do this at the end of the day or the end of the trial, but it is your
responsibility to provide a record of what deposition testimony is actually presented.
f. Note taking by jurors: I allow jurors to take notes. The clerk will provide each
juror with a notepad and pen and the clerk will secure the notes during recesses. Jurors can, of
course, have the notes during deliberations.
g. Jury Instructions: I use the 8th Circuit Model instructions for boilerplate and
things covered by those instructions. I send the instructions to the jury in writing. Both parties
should e-mail word processing versions of your proposed instructions to my Judicial Assistant,
Brian Crow, at the following email address:
[email protected]
h. Closing arguments: Twenty minutes is the presumptive time limit. I occasionally
allow longer if there is a good reason. The clerk will provide you with a warning if you request.
The plaintiff or government must use more than 50% of its time in the opening part of its
argument.
14. Expert Witnesses
a. Be prepared at the Rule 16 conference to discuss the types of expert witnesses
who are likely in the case. Parties are allowed to stipulate to different ways of disclosing expert
opinions, but in the absence of stipulation or provisions in the Case Management Order, the
provisions of Rule 26 (a)(2) will apply.
b. Expert witness reports are hearsay and are not usually admitted as evidence. The
evidence is the witness’s testimony; the report is simply a means for discovery. Reports may be
used for impeachment purposes, of course, if the witness attempts to change his or her testimony.
c. Expert witnesses are limited to the opinions and bases for opinions that they
provided during the discovery period. The expert may testify about any opinion disclosed in
either the report or the deposition, but may not add reasons or authorities for the opinion that
were not disclosed some way during the discovery period. Absent unusual circumstances, the
expert may not supplement or change opinions after the close of expert discovery, and the
deadlines set out in the Case Management Order overrule any different deadlines in the rules or
statutes.
d. I do not tell the jury that anyone is an expert. Do not ask me to tell the jury that
your witness is an expert or is qualified to give expert testimony, and do not “tender the witness
as an expert” in front of the jury. I simply allow or exclude the testimony, depending on whether
it is properly admissible under Rule 702; I do not add my blessing in front of the jury.
e. Whether witnesses consider themselves “experts” on anything is irrelevant to any
issue in the case. Counsel shall not ask these witnesses whether they do or do not consider
themselves to be experts. Counsel may cross-examine, of course, on the witness’s qualifications,
but questioning (or arguing) about whether someone “holds himself out as an expert” or “admits
she is not an expert” on any particular topic is improper.
f. Expert witnesses are not allowed to opine on the law (that’s my job in instructing
the jury), nor are they allowed to sum up the evidence and tell the jury that one side or the other
should win (that’s your job in closing arguments).
15. Courtroom Decorum
Stand when the jury enters and leaves the courtroom; stand at all times when speaking.
All attorney cell phones must be silenced. All client or witnesses or spectator cell phones must
be turned off. No photographs or audio or video recording or broadcasting from the courtroom is
allowed. Although laptops may be used at counsel tables, if counsel wish laptops to be used by
someone in the audience they must get approval from me in advance. Please be sure that your
clients and witnesses observe these rules.
No eating, drinking other than water, gum chewing, or audible beepers or watches are allowed.
Please tell your clients and witnesses these rules.
All witnesses and opposing counsel must be addressed by their last names, with appropriate
titles. Do not address any witnesses by their first names, even your clients, and please advise
witnesses not to address counsel by their first names. This rule governs how we address one
another in the courtroom -- it is not a rule that witnesses have to refer to one another in any
certain way in their testimony.
Please be civil to one another.
