(A) Conference with the Assigned Judge. It is the normal practice in this district
to issue the scheduling order based on the information received from the
Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) report to the court, including the disclosures required
by Local Civ. Rule 26.03 (D.S.C.), without further conference. If one or
more parties believe a conference is justified by the particular circumstances
of the case, they shall so inform the assigned judge by letter as soon as
practicable.
Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1), the parties may, by stipulation, agree not to make some or
all of the Rule 26(a)(1) initial disclosures. If such a stipulation is made, it shall be confirmed in
writing between the parties. See Local Civ. Rule 29.01 (D.S.C.).
(B) Trial Date. Unless otherwise directed by the court, all cases shall be ready
for trial on the date set for jury selection. Therefore, for scheduling
purposes under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Civil
Rules of this district, the jury selection date shall be deemed the trial date.
(C) Content of Scheduling Order. “[A]s soon as practicable, but in any event
within the earlier of 90 days after any defendant has been served with the
complaint or 60 days after any defendant has appeared” (Fed. R. Civ. P.
16(b)(2)), the court shall issue a scheduling order setting deadlines for the
following:
(1) Completion of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) conference of the parties (to be
held no later than forty-five (45) days after the appearance of a
defendant).
(2) Exchange of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1) required initial disclosures (to be
made no later than fourteen (14) days after the Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f)
conference).
(3) Filing Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) report to the court (to be filed no later than
fourteen (14) days after the Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) conference).
(4) Filing motions to join parties and to amend pleadings (Fed. R. Civ. P.
16(b)(3)).
(5) Exchange of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2) expert witness disclosures and
filing any related disclosure and certification required by the
scheduling order.10
(6) Service of affidavits of records custodian witnesses proposed to be
presented by affidavit at trial (See Fed. R. Evid. 803(6), 902(11), or
902(12) and Local Civ. Rule 16.02(D)(3) (D.S.C.)).
(7) Completion of discovery (Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(3)) and filing
certification of consultation with client and opposing counsel as to the
use of alternative dispute resolution as required by Local Civ. Rule
16.03 (D.S.C.).
Most of the judges in this district require that parties file a document identifying the expert
witnesses and certifying that the required disclosures have been made. This is intended to
preclude disputes at trial as to whether disclosures were made. The disclosures themselves
should not be filed absent order to the contrary.
(8) Conclusion of alternative dispute resolution conference, if any.
(9) Filing dispositive motions (Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(3)).
(10) Filing and exchanging Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(3) pretrial disclosures.
(11) Filing and exchanging Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(3) objections, any
objections to use of a deposition designated by another party, and any
deposition counter-designations under Fed. R. Civ. P. 32(a)(4).
(12) Meeting, marking, and exchanging exhibits and completing a final
exhibit list with objections noted. See Local Civ. Rule 26.07 (D.S.C.)
(instructions relating to exhibits).
(13) Submission of Local Civ. Rule 26.05 (D.S.C.) pretrial brief to the
court.
(14) Jury selection.11
All disclosures shall be supplemented in a timely manner. In the event an action
is carried over to a later trial term after pretrial disclosures are made and pretrial
briefs are filed, the parties should file and serve any supplementation in a like
period of time prior to the new trial term, but need not file and serve disclosures
or briefs that are merely duplicative.
(D) Timeliness of Requests and Disclosures.
(1) Discovery requests are timely if served in time for the response to be
served by the discovery deadline set by the scheduling order.
(2) Witnesses who are not timely identified may be excluded. All
witnesses should be identified as early in the discovery process as is
feasible. Witnesses identified within the last twenty-eight (28) days of
the discovery period will be presumed not to be timely identified,
absent a showing of good cause.
(3) Affidavits of records custodians that a party intends to offer for
authentication in lieu of live testimony shall be served no fewer than
thirty (30) days before the close of discovery unless otherwise ordered.
The trial term commences on the date of jury selection whether the action is to be tried with
or without a jury. Trial terms may last from one to two months. Absent a contrary instruction
from the court, an action should be ready for trial on the date set for jury selection.
Objections to such affidavits must be made within fourteen (14) days
after the service of the disclosure unless otherwise ordered. See Local
Civ. Rule 16.02(C)(6) (D.S.C.).
