UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
EASTERN DIVISION
) JUDGE DONALD C. NUGENT
)
)
Plaintiff, ) CASE NO.
)
)
v. ) CIVIL JURY TRIAL ORDER
)
)
)
Defendants. )
The above-titled case is scheduled for trial on at 8:30 a.m. in Courtroom
15A, or as soon thereafter as reached. A Final Pretrial Conference will be scheduled upon request
of any party at any time convenient to all parties. Pursuant to Local Rule 16.3(e), the parties and
lead counsel of record must be present at the Final Pretrial Conference. Lead counsel of record
shall submit a status report five (5) days prior to the Final Pretrial Conference.1
Duty of Counsel
Pursuant to this Trial Order, it is the duty of counsel to confer with each other frequently in
order to prepare the case for trial. It will be necessary to confer in person on occasion. If an
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Parties are instructed to comply with Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure when computing any
period of time prescribed in this Order.
attorney is not complying with the requirements of this Trial Order, or is failing to cooperate with
opposing counsel, opposing counsel shall immediately bring such matter to the Court’s attention
by written notification. Such disputes will not delay the trial of this case. The Court will not
hesitate to impose sanctions sua sponte.
All counsel are required to be familiar with the Local Rules of this Court.
Trial Briefs
Each party is required to file a trial brief with the Court no later than five (5) days prior to
the scheduled trial date. One (1) copy of each party’s trial brief shall be filed with the Court. A
trial brief shall include: (a) a statement of the facts; (b) a discussion of the controlling law; (c) a
list of proposed witnesses along with a brief description of the subject matter of the testimony of
each witness; (d) an index of all proposed exhibits containing a brief description of each exhibit;
(e) a discussion of any evidentiary issues likely to arise at trial; (f) any proposed voir dire
questions; and, (g) proposed jury instructions.
A witness not listed in the trial brief shall not testify at trial except under extraordinary
circumstances. This rule applies to lay witnesses as well as to expert witnesses. An exhibit not
listed in the trial brief shall not be introduced at trial, absent a showing of good cause.
Counsel are required to exchange trial briefs no later than five (5) days prior to the
scheduled trial date.
Proposed Voir Dire Questions
Pursuant to Local Rule 47.3, the Court shall conduct the initial examination of all
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prospective jurors touching upon their qualifications to serve as jurors in the pending proceeding.
Proposed voir dire questions included in the trial brief may be included in the Court’s
examination, subject to the Court’s discretion. In all trials, counsel for the plaintiff and counsel
for the defendant each may be allowed such period of time, as approved by the Court, to conduct
voir dire examinations of prospective jurors. In cases involving more than one plaintiff and/or
more than one defendant, the time for voir dire shall be divided by counsel for the parties, and
additional time shall not be allowed, except where otherwise permitted by the Court. The jurors
shall be examined collectively. All proposed voir dire questions must be relevant to the facts and
issues involved in the particular case. Parties may discuss the voir dire process with the Court and
suggest a format that would be agreeable among all parties and the Court.
Proposed Jury Instructions
Counsel for the parties are required to confer with one another in person with respect to
proposed jury instructions, with a view to reaching an agreement on instructions to be requested.
The instructions agreed upon by all counsel shall be identified. Disputed instructions shall
also be identified, along with separate citations to legal authority for each instruction.
No proposed jury instruction will be considered by the Court unless it has been submitted
in compliance with these provisions, except that requests for instructions that could not reasonably
have been anticipated may be submitted at least twenty-four (24) hours before final argument.
Counsel shall also provide the agreed-upon jury instructions to the Court on a cd rom, or
by email. The files must be formatted to be readable by an IBM computer equipped with
WordPerfect X3. When submitting a cd rom to the Court, to avoid accidental erasure, counsel are
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advised to alert the security guards and avoid placing the cd rom in the x-ray machine. If
submitted by email, the files should be sent to
[email protected], unless
otherwise indicated by chambers.
Exhibits
One (1) copy of each exhibit shall be furnished to the Court no later than two (2) days
before the scheduled trial date. There is no need to file the exhibits with the Clerk of Court.
Rather, exhibits may be delivered directly to the Judge’s chambers. The original exhibits should
be retained by counsel for use at trial. Counsel shall exchange copies of all exhibits and exhibit
indexes no later than two (2) days before the scheduled trial date.
Exhibits shall be marked before trial with exhibit stickers, which are available from the
Clerk’s office upon request. The plaintiff shall mark exhibits with numbers and the defendant
shall mark exhibits with letters. Both sides are to indicate the case number on the bottom portion
of the exhibit sticker. If there are multiple parties, the parties last name should precede the
number or letter (e.g., “McGinty-1" or “Briggs-A”). If the parties have a joint exhibit, it shall be
marked as “Jt. Ex . 1" or “ Jt. Ex. 2" etc. If the defendant has more than twenty-six (26) exhibits,
double letters shall be used (e.g., AA, BB, CC, etc.).
When a multi-page exhibit is used, each page of the exhibit must be separately numbered.
For example, if plaintiff’s exhibit one is a three-page document, the first page should be marked
“1-1”, the second page should be marked “1-2”, and the third page should be marked “1-3”.
The Court recommends that counsel place all exhibits in three-ring looseleaf binders, with
appropriately marked divider tabs. A table of contents for each binder must be included.
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Stipulations of Fact
Counsel for the parties shall confer with one another in person in order to prepare written
stipulations as to all uncontested facts to be presented to the jury. Said stipulations shall be filed
with the Court no later than ten (10) days prior to the scheduled trial date. The Court will not
allow direct or cross examination of any witness with respect to facts which are uncontested and
facts which could have been stipulated.
Joint Statement of Disputed Facts
Counsel for the parties shall confer with one another in person to prepare a joint statement
listing all disputed issues of fact which are to be submitted to the jury. Such statement shall be
filed with the Court no later than five (5) days prior to the scheduled trial date.
Deposition Testimony (Video Tape or Written Transcript)
When depositions (video tape or written transcript) are intended to be used as evidence at
trial, counsel proposing to use such deposition testimony shall notify opposing counsel at least
five (5) days prior to the scheduled trial date. Any objections to the deposition testimony must be
filed in writing with the Court at least four (4) days prior to the scheduled trial date. Counsel
proposing to use said deposition testimony shall file a reply brief within two (2) days thereafter or
indicate agreement to delete the portions to which there is objection. If it is a video tape
deposition, the Court must be provided with a complete written transcript of the video tape
deposition. The Court will not allow the use of deposition testimony at trial unless counsel has
complied with all of the above procedures.
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Remote Testimony
If a party intends to use the Court’s remote testimony technology to allow testimony from
a witness who is unable to attend Court proceedings in person, the party seeking to offer the
witness’ testimony shall obtain prior approval of the Court, and shall contact the Court’s
technology advisors no later than ten days prior to trial to allow the technology advisor sufficient
time to schedule and test the proposed remote access location and equipment. The current contact
person for the technology department is David Zendlo, and he can be reached at 216-357-7053, or
by email at
[email protected] . Remote testimony is not generally an acceptable
substitute for presenting a live witness. It is not available to obtain testimony from witnesses who
will be merely inconvenienced by having to appear in person, or because a party merely hopes to
minimize their own cost of litigation, and should not be sought for those reasons. If, however, a
witness would otherwise be unavailable to testify in person, permission may be sought from the
Court and may be granted if the request is justified by sufficient cause.
Courtroom Technology
Any party that wishes to familiarize themselves with the presentation equipment and other
technology available for use in the courtroom prior to trial, should contact the Courtroom Deputy
at 216-357-7160 no later than one week before trial to schedule a time to visit the courtroom. If
the party will require technological assistance with any of the equipment, they should also contact
the Court’s technology advisors to ensure that someone will be available during the scheduled
time to assist with the set-up and use of any equipment, or any other technological issues that may
arise.
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The current contact person for the technology department is David Zendlo, and he can be reached
at 216-357-7053, or by email at
[email protected] .
Motions
Any pre-trial motion, such as a motion in limine, the moving party believes requires the
Court’s attention prior to the commencement of trial, shall be filed in writing and served upon
opposing counsel at least ten (10) days prior to the scheduled trial date. The nonmoving party
shall respond, if desired, at least three (3) days prior to the scheduled trial date. Failure to comply
with this requirement may impair the Court’s ability to thoroughly analyze such motion before the
commencement of trial.
Continuances
No party shall be granted a continuance of a trial or hearing without a written motion from
the party or counsel stating the reason for the continuance, endorsed in writing by all parties and
lead counsel of record. The Court will not consider any motion for a continuance due to a conflict
of trial assignment dates unless a copy of the conflicting assignment is attached thereto. The
motion shall be filed within fifteen (15) days of counsel becoming aware of the conflict and not
less than thirty (30) days prior to the scheduled trial date.
Settlement
The parties shall notify the Court at the earliest possible time if a settlement is reached in
the case.
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Trial Order
Counsel are expected to comply with this Trial Order. In order to accomplish this, the
Court will assume that all counsel have read and familiarized themselves with this Trial Order and
with the Local Rules of this Court.
Trial Conduct
To prevent unnecessary delay and to ensure all counsel are able to fully participate in all
stages of the trial, counsel are to remain available and in the proximity of the courtroom during
jury deliberations. If counsel needs to leave the immediate area, they must notify the courtroom
deputy.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
/s/ Donald C. Nugent
DONALD C. NUGENT
United States District Judge
DATE: _________________
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