SAMPLE FORM ONLY
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
____________________________________
:
: CIVIL ACTION
Plaintiff, :
:
v. :
:
: No.
Defendant. :
____________________________________:
SCHEDULING ORDER
AND NOW, this day of , , following a pretrial conference with counsel,
and pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16, it is hereby ORDERED as follows:
1. The parties shall strictly comply with all deadlines recited herein. In the event a
deadline cannot be reached, the parties are directed to timely notify the Court in advance of the
deadline by filing a letter on the docket, which explains why the deadline cannot be honored,
whether counsel have met and conferred as to the outstanding issue, and a proposed new
deadline. The failure to do so may result in appropriate sanctions including, but not limited to,
the forfeiture of claims and/or waiver of defenses. As it concerns discovery specific issues, the
Court expects the Parties to engage in discovery promptly and diligently without delay. Although
counsel may, independent of Court involvement, agree to extend the deadline to complete
discovery in this case, the Court will not entertain any future requests for an extension of the
deadlines to file dispositive motions and the trial deadlines, as set forth in this Order.
2. Counsel shall advise chambers via email
(
[email protected]) as to whether their client consent to impaneling
eight jurors in this matter, no later than .
3. In the event the parties are interested in a settlement conference, they shall jointly
contact Judge chambers no later than , to schedule the conference
for a date that is convenient for Judge .1
4. Fact discovery shall be completed no later than . All discovery
motions shall be filed and served prior to the close of the discovery period.
5. Affirmative expert reports, if any, are due by .
6. Rebuttal expert reports, if any, are due by .
7. Expert depositions, if any, shall be concluded no later than .
8. Motions for summary judgment and/or Daubert motions, if any, shall be filed by
. Responses shall be filed no later than . It is imperative that Daubert motions be filed
by this deadline so that the Court may determine whether a hearing as to any issues raised via the
motion can be addressed in a timely manner.
9. Any party expecting to offer opinion testimony from lay witnesses pursuant to
Federal Rule of Evidence 701 with respect to the issues of liability and damages shall, at the time
required for submission of information and/or reports for expert witnesses on liability and
damages set forth in the preceding paragraphs, serve opposing parties with concise details and/or
documents covering the lay opinions of the Rule 701 witnesses, including the identity of each
witness offering the expert opinion, the substance of each opinion, and the basis for each
opinion.
1
If the parties determine a settlement conference is not necessary, they shall contact Judge chambers
informing them of the decision as a courtesy.
10. Counsel for each party shall serve upon counsel for every other party a copy of
each exhibit the party expects to offer at trial no later than .
11. Each party shall file a pretrial memorandum no later than . The pretrial
memorandum should be prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Local Rule of Civil
Procedure 16.1 and should also include the following items:
a. All stipulations of counsel.
b. A statement of objection to: (1) the admissibility of any exhibit based on
authenticity; (2) the admissibility of any evidence expected to be offered for any reason
(except relevancy); (3) the adequacy of the qualifications of an expert witness expected to
testify; and (4) the admissibility of any opinion testimony from lay witnesses pursuant to
Federal Rule of Evidence 701. Such objection shall describe with particularity the ground
and the authority for the objection.
c. Deposition testimony (including videotaped deposition testimony) that the
party intends to offer during its case-in-chief. The statement should include citations to
the page and line number and the opposing party’s counter-designations.
d. A statement of any anticipated important legal issues on which the Court
will be required to rule, together with counsel’s single best authority on each such issue.
12. All motions in limine shall be filed no later than . Each party may file
no more than five (5) motions in limine without prior leave of Court. The Court will not entertain
Daubert motions that are styled as “motions in limine.” All such motions should be filed by the
deadline set forth in paragraph 8 above.
13. Responses to properly filed motions in limine, if any, shall be filed no later than
.
14. No later than, , the parties shall file jointly proposed jury
instructions on substantive issues and proposed verdict forms or special interrogatories to the
jury. The parties shall also email an editable, Word version of the instructions and verdict forms
to Chambers at
[email protected]. In this regard, counsel shall meet
and confer and jointly file proposed instructions and verdict forms that explicitly note areas of
agreement, as well as any objections. While the undersigned prefers use of the Third Circuit
Model Jury Instructions where appropriate, it is insufficient to simply list the header without
tailoring the content of the instruction to the facts and circumstances that are unique to this
matter. Where the parties cannot agree on the instruction or verdict form content, please indicate
as much, and include appropriate citations of legal authority in support of the proffered
instruction.
15. A final pretrial conference will be held on at 9:30 a.m. in
Courtroom 4A, United States District Court located at 504 West Hamilton Street, Allentown,
Pennsylvania 18101. Counsel shall be prepared to address any pending motions in limine and
objections to witnesses and exhibits. Trial counsel must attend the final pretrial conference and
only those attorneys attending the conference may participate in the trial.
16. Jury selection will take place on at 9:30 a.m. at the James A. Byrne
United States Courthouse, 601 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19106, in a courtroom
to be determined.
17. The jury trial will begin on at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 4A, United
States District Court located at 504 West Hamilton Street, Allentown, Pennsylvania 18101. Trial
is expected to also take place on : and conclude on ,
2026.
BY THE COURT:
_____________________________
PAMELA A. CARLOS
U.S. Magistrate Judge
