IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
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_____________________________________,
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Plaintiff,
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v.
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_____________________________________,
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Defendant.
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CASE MANAGEMENT ORDER AND ORDER SETTING FORTH TRIAL
PROCEDURES IN CIVIL CASES
Pursuant to the Civil Justice Reform Act Expense and Delay Reduction Plan and the
Differentiated Case Management Program of the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Missouri, the following schedule shall apply in this case and will be modified only
upon a showing of exceptional circumstances. The parties shall also review the Civil Trial
Procedures contained in this Order on the pages after Judge Divine’s signature. Failure to
comply with any part of this Order may lead to sanctions.
Scheduling Plan
1. This case has been assigned to Track ___________________.
2. All motions for joinder of additional parties or amendment of pleadings shall be filed
by _________________________. Motions for leave to amend must be accompanied by
the proposed amended pleading.
3. Disclosure shall proceed in the following manner:
a. The parties shall make all required disclosures required by Rule 26(a)(1), Fed.
R. Civ. P., by _________________________.
b. The plaintiff shall disclose all expert witnesses and shall provide the reports
required by Rule 26(a)(2), Fed. R. Civ. P., by _________________________, and
shall make expert witnesses available for depositions and have depositions
completed by _________________________.
c. The defendant shall disclose all expert witnesses and shall provide the reports
required by Rule 26(a)(2), Fed. R. Civ. P., by _________________________, and
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shall make expert witnesses available for depositions and have depositions
completed by _________________________.
d. The presumptive limits of ten (10) depositions per side as set forth in Rule
30(a)(2)(A), Fed. R. Civ. P., and twenty-five (25) interrogatories per party as
set forth in Rule 33(a), Fed. R. Civ. P., shall ___________ (apply/not apply).
e. The parties _________________________ (anticipate/do not anticipate) requests
for physical or mental examinations of parties under Rule 35, Fed. R. Civ. P.
If so, requests for physical or mental examinations of parties under Rule 35,
Fed. R. Civ. P., must be made by _________________________, and any exam
must be completed by _________________________.
f. The parties shall complete all discovery by _________________________.
g. Motions to compel shall be pursued in a diligent and timely manner, but in no
event filed more than eleven (11) days following the discovery deadline set out
above and only in accordance with the undersigned Judge’s Requirements.
4. This case shall be referred to alternative dispute resolution on _____________________,
and that reference shall terminate on _____________________.
5. Any motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, or motions for judgment on
the pleadings must be filed by ____________________. Opposition briefs shall be filed
by ____________________. Any reply brief may be filed by ____________________.
Within 10 days after briefing on a summary judgment motion is complete, the parties
must file a joint statement of uncontested facts.
6. Any motions under Daubert shall be filed by _________________________.
7. This action is set for a _________ (jury/bench) trial on _________________________, at
______________. This is a 3-week docket. Trial is expected to last ___ days.
8. The parties shall include any additional deadlines or special circumstances in an
appendix attached to this document. If any deadline in paragraphs one through seven
is not applicable or needs clarification, the parties shall leave that entry blank and
note it in the appendix. The parties __________ (have/have not) included an appendix.
Dated this ___ day of ___________, 2026
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED.
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JOSHUA M. DIVINE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
FOR THE EASTERN AND WESTERN
DISTRICTS OF MISSOURI
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Civil Trial Procedures
The Court orders the parties to review and comply with the undersigned’s Judge’s
Requirements, located on the Eastern District of Missouri’s court website. Judge Divine
periodically updates his Judge’s Requirements, and the parties must ensure that they are
complying with the most recent version before filing any document. Failure to comply with
the requirements may lead to “sanction[s] or other disadvantage.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 83(b). The
Court further orders the parties to comply with the following procedures and requirements:
I. Trial schedule
If a trial is scheduled, the Court will announce times for starting and adjourning the
trial day at the start of trial. Court will begin promptly, and the jury will not be kept waiting.
The Court will be available to resolve preliminary matters 15 minutes before the scheduled
start of the trial day, during the lunch break, or at the conclusion of the trial day. But the
Court will not waste trial time and jury time. In particular, the Court warns counsel not to
raise preliminary matters at the start of the trial day when the jury and all others are ready
to proceed.
Unless otherwise ordered, all civil trials are assigned to a 3-week docket, and
the trial will begin at some period in the three weeks following the first day of that docket.
The parties are expected to be ready and available for trial on the first day of the docket and
thereafter on twenty-four hours’ notice.
Cases settled after prospective jurors report to the courthouse may be assessed costs
of the prospective jurors under Local Rule 8.04.
II. Stipulations
No later than 10 days before trial, the parties must file: (1) a joint stipulation of all
uncontested facts, which may be read into evidence; and (2) a joint brief summary of the case,
not to exceed one page in length, which the Court may use during voir dire.
III. Jury selection
The Court will conduct voir dire. The Court will ask standard voir dire questions.
The Court will then permit counsel for each party no more than 20 minutes to ask questions
after the Court concludes its questioning.
No later than 7 days before trial, the parties must file any specific questions the
parties would like the Court to ask the venire. The Court may, in its discretion, decline to
consider any questions submitted less than seven days before trial.
Panel members may answer questions involving sensitive information (such as those
related to medical problems, excuses, past criminal record, experiences as a victim of crime,
etc.) at sidebar. At that time, counsel may pose brief follow-up questions to those asked by
the Court.
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After the Court completes voir dire, the Court will excuse the jurors before hearing
argument from counsel on strikes for cause or otherwise.
IV. Motions in limine
The Court encourages motions in limine only with respect to legal matters that the
parties reasonably expect to arise during trial. The parties must file such motions in limine
no later than 10 days before trial. The Court will consider motions in limine filed less
than 10 days before trial only upon a showing for good cause. Responses to any motions in
limine are due no later than 7 days before trial.
Each party must file all its motions in limine in one document, and each party must
file all its responses in one document. Each party must file a response to each motion in
limine of the other party, stating whether it opposes or consents to the motion.
V. Illustrative aids and demonstrative evidence
A. No later than 14 days before trial, the parties must file a list of all
illustrative aids and demonstrative evidence that they intend to use at trial,
as governed by Federal Rule of Evidence 107. Further, no later than 10 days
before trial, the parties must exchange all illustrative aids and
demonstrative evidence.
B. No later than 10 days before trial, the parties must file any objections to
such illustrative aids and demonstrative evidence. Before filing any objections,
the parties must meet and confer and attempt to resolve any issue regarding
the illustrative aids and demonstrative evidence. Any filed objection must
state how and when the parties conferred and attempted to resolve the dispute
without judicial involvement.
C. No later than 7 days before trial, the parties must file a response to such
objections. The parties may not file any replies without leave of court.
VI. Exhibit lists
A. Counsel must mark all exhibits in advance of trial and submit a written list
containing a brief description of each exhibit. All parties must use numbers
for exhibits. The plaintiff must number its exhibits beginning with the number
1. The defendant must number its exhibits beginning with the number 1000.
B. No later than 10 days before trial, the parties must file a list of exhibits,
identifying those that the party will introduce into evidence and those that
may be introduced. The list must clearly indicate for each business record
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whether the proponent seeks to authenticate the business record by affidavit
or declaration under Federal Rule of Evidence 902(11) or 902(12).
C. No later than 10 days before trial, each party must separately submit (to
the clerk listed on the docket) the party’s exhibits, or true copies thereof, that
the party expects to introduce at trial.
D. No later than 7 days before trial, the parties must file any objections.
Before filing any objections, the parties must meet and confer and attempt to
resolve any issue. Any objections not made may be considered waived.
E. Except for good cause shown, no party will be permitted to offer any exhibits
not identified or not submitted in compliance with this Order.
VII. Depositions, interrogatory answers, and requests for admissions
A. No later than 10 days before trial, the parties must deliver to opposing
counsel and to the Clerk a list of all interrogatory answers or parts thereof and
depositions or parts thereof (identified by page and line numbers), and answers
to requests for admissions proposed to be offered in evidence. Parties should
designate only what they reasonably expect to need during trial and should not
overdesignate.
B. No later than 7 days before trial, opposing counsel shall state in writing
any objections to such testimony and shall identify any additional portions of
such depositions not listed by the offering party which opposing counsel
proposes to offer.
C. Except for good cause shown, no party will be permitted to offer any
interrogatory answer, or deposition or part thereof, or answer to a request for
admissions not listed in compliance with this Order. Any objections not made
as above required may be considered waived.
VIII. Trial brief
No later than 10 days before trial, each party must submit a trial brief stating the
legal and factual issues and authorities relied on and discussing any anticipated substantive
or procedural problems that need to be decided.
IX. Witness list
Counsel must deliver to opposing counsel each evening, before 7:00 p.m. CT (and
preferably earlier) a list of witnesses that counsel anticipates calling the next trial day. The
Court strongly encourages the parties to produce all materials at the earliest opportunity,
especially if the materials are particularly voluminous for a witness. Nevertheless, the Court
understands that the parties will not be absolutely bound by the list in calling its witnesses.
For example, security concerns may well justify non-identification of witnesses until a party
actually calls them at trial. In such cases, parties may exclude those names from disclosures
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to opposing counsel and bring these concerns to the Court’s attention in camera when
delivering the witness list.
The parties must file potential witness lists no later than 10 days before trial.
Except for good cause shown, no party will be permitted to call any witnesses not listed in
compliance with this Order.
X. 404(b) evidence
If a party expects to introduce 404(b) evidence, it must file notice of its intention to do
so no later than 7 days before trial. The notice must include a brief summary of the
proposed evidence, identifying the specific elements of 404(b) under which it intends to
introduce such evidence, and the proposed jury instruction to be read before the introduction
of any such evidence.
XI. Jury instructions
A. No later than 30 days before trial, parties must submit to opposing counsel
their proposed jury instructions and forms of verdict, reserving the right to
submit requests for additional or modified jury instructions and verdict forms
in light of the opposing party’s requests for jury instructions. The parties must
support each request with at least one pertinent citation.
B. No later than 20 days before trial, the parties must meet and confer to
discuss jury instructions and the verdict form(s). During the meet and confer,
the parties must attempt to resolve any issue(s) with jury and objections to
instructions and the verdict form(s). The parties must issue a joint status
report to the Court about their progress conferring about jury instructions.
C. No later than 10 days before trial, the parties must jointly file a single
document that (1) identifies the final jury instructions they have agreed upon
and (2) identifies the final jury instructions that remain in dispute. The
document must also contain the proposed verdict form(s). Parties must
support each request by at least one pertinent citation.
D. No later than 10 days before trial, the parties must file a clean copy of all
proposed jury instructions and verdict form(s) (even if there are objections). In
the clean copy, the instructions must be in the order that the parties propose
giving them to the jury, and the clean copy must contain only “Instruction No.
” at the top with no further explanatory comments at the top or bottom
of the page. The parties must also email that clean copy to the case’s assigned
clerk. The parties must also email one jointly filed document, in Microsoft
Word format, to the clerk assigned to your case.
1. The parties need not submit any jury instructions to be given at the
beginning of trial; Judge Divine has his own standard set. Further,
Judge Divine will use applicable Eighth Circuit Jury Instructions.
When an Eighth Circuit instruction is not available, the parties must
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submit instructions from another source, accompanied by legal
authority on which the party bases the instruction.
2. If the final jury instructions and verdict form remain in dispute, the
parties must include each party’s position, along with citations of
authority, in the jointly filed document. Any objection to a jury
instruction or verdict form must include the objecting party’s proposed
alternative. For example, if a party objects to certain language, the
objecting party must propose specific alternative language. The
objecting party need not propose an alternative instruction if the party
is objecting on grounds that the Court should not give the jury
instruction at all.
3. If one or more parties seek to amend the jointly filed final jury
instructions, the parties must jointly file a motion for leave to amend
that is accompanied by (1) a clean copy of the amended version of the
final jury instructions and (2) the amended version with all changes
tracked for comparison with the original filing. The requirements
discussed above apply to the amended version as well. The parties must
email the clean copy and the tracked-changes copy, in Microsoft Word
format, to the clerk assigned to your case.
4. The parties are responsible for filing any proposed instructions, and
objections to instructions, that they wish to be part of the record in the
case. Emailing the clerk assigned to your case is not sufficient to make
any proposed instructions or objections part of the record.
XII. Audio and video recordings to be used at trial
If any party intends to use audio or video recordings in this case, counsel for both sides
must resolve any dispute between any alleged inaccuracy of the transcripts and the actual
recordings. If it proves impossible for counsel to resolve the dispute, they must so advise the
Court at least 7 days before trial to avoid confronting the Court with this problem mid-
trial and causing delay and expense to the parties and the Court.
XIII. Evidentiary objections
PARTIES MUST NOT ARGUE EVIDENTIARY OBJECTIONS IN THE
PRESENCE OF THE JURY, ALTHOUGH COUNSEL MAY STATE A ONE-WORD OR
ONE-PHRASE GROUND. Counsel must state the legal basis for their objections in a word
or, at most, a phrase without elaboration or argument (unless called to the bench). The Court
discourages bench conferences during trial.
If counsel wishes to make a further record of the basis for any rulings during trial,
whether on objections or otherwise, counsel must ask the Court to do so at the first recess
immediately following the ruling.
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XIV. Direct and cross-examination
On direct or cross-examination of a witness, counsel must not:
A. be allowed re-cross-examination of any witness, except that the Court may
allow re-cross only if something new is brought out on redirect;
B. testify by improperly incorporating facts into their questions so as to put before
the jury information that has not been received into evidence;
C. use an objection as an opportunity to argue or make a speech in the presence
of the jury;
D. refer to any witness qualified under Federal Rule of Evidence 701 or 702 as an
“expert”; or
E. offer gratuitous comments and asides about witnesses’ testimony or opposing
counsel.
XV. Opening statements and closing arguments
Unless otherwise ordered, the Court allows no more than 20 minutes per side for
opening statements and 20 minutes per side for closing arguments. On both opening
statements and closing arguments, the Court will intervene sua sponte and not wait for
objections if it observes the failure to adhere to basic legal principles. The Court will limit
counsels’ closing arguments to the evidence presented during trial. The Court reminds
counsel of the prohibition against appealing to the passions or prejudices of jurors. Moreover,
during closing arguments and throughout the trial, counsel must not:
A. make statements of personal belief to the jury or express belief in the
credibility of any witness;
B. make personal attacks on other counsel in the case;
C. appeal to the self-interest of the jurors; or
D. make racial, political, or religious comments.
XVI. Contact with non-party witnesses during trial
Except by leave of court, counsel calling a witness to testify should have no further
discussions with that witness after the witness has been tendered for cross-examination until
the witness has been tendered back for redirect examination. This applies to discussions
concerning the case or any aspect of the testimony. At all other times, within the bounds of
governing ethics and the law, counsel may pursue their discussions with witnesses during
the trial.
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