The court encourages parties to consider agreeing to an individualized trial. The Individualized
Trial Program is meant to offer an abbreviated, efficient and cost-effective litigation and trial
alternative. Subject to the approval of the assigned judge, the following procedures shall govern.
“Individualized Trial” means a consensual, binding trial before a jury or before a judge with
limited discovery and limited rights to appeal. Recognizing that individualized trial procedures
are most efficient when tailored to the specific needs of a case, the parties may propose
modifications to this rule, subject to the approval of the judge.
(a) Procedure to Request Individualized Trial
The parties shall file a written agreement, using the court form titled “Agreement for
Individualized Trial and Request for Approval” available from the Clerk’s Office and on the
court’s website. Neither the agreement nor its existence shall be disclosed to the jury. The time
schedule for individualized procedures and trial shall begin on the date the agreement is
approved by the court.
(b) Termination of Agreement
The agreement may be terminated by the court upon a showing that one or more parties have not
participated in good faith with the provisions of this rule or that previously undisclosed facts
have been discovered that make it inappropriate to use the individualized trial procedure.
(c) Applicable Rules
The provisions of the Individualized Trial Agreement, as approved by the court, shall supersede
and govern over any inconsistencies or conflicts that arise between it and the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure or the Local Rules of this court. Otherwise, all Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure, Rules of Evidence, and Local Rules of this court shall apply.
(d) Initial Disclosures
If initial disclosures have not been exchanged, or if they are not yet due, the disclosures required
by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1)(A) shall be exchanged within seven (7) days after the agreement is
approved by the court.
(e) Individualized Trial Conference
Immediately upon the filing of the agreement, plaintiff shall contact the courtroom deputy for the
assigned judge and request an initial individualized trial conference. The conference shall occur
no later than thirty (30) days after the filing of the agreement unless otherwise ordered by the
court. Upon request of any party, the court may permit counsel to appear by telephone. In
addition to or instead of the individualized trial conference, the judge may require the parties to
submit a joint status report.
Civil Rules
(f) Joint Individualized Trial Statement
The parties must file a Joint Individualized Trial Statement seven (7) days before the
individualized trial conference addressing all of the following topics, unless they have already
addressed these topics in their Joint Status Report or unless otherwise ordered by the court:
(1) the date the Individualized Trial Agreement was approved by the court;
(2) all prior and pending motions, their current status, and any anticipated motions;
(3) whether there has been full and timely compliance with the initial disclosure
requirements of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26;
(4) discovery taken to date, if any, the scope of anticipated discovery, any proposed
limitations or modifications of the discovery rules, and a proposed discovery plan pursuant
to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f);
(5) whether the parties wish to engage in any form of ADR, and if so, what form;
(6) whether all parties will consent to have a magistrate judge conduct all further
proceedings including trial and entry of judgment.
(7) issues that can be narrowed by agreement or by motion, suggestions to expedite the
presentation of evidence at trial (e.g., through summaries or stipulated facts), and any
request to bifurcate issues, claims, or defenses.
(8) proposed dates for designation of experts, discovery cutoff, hearing of motions
permitted by this rule, pretrial conference, and trial;
(9) whether the case will be tried to a jury or to the court; and
(10) any other matters as may facilitate the just, speedy and inexpensive disposition of
this matter.
(g) Case Management Order
The court shall issue a case management order following the conference. Unless otherwise
ordered by the court, the order shall require the parties to exchange the documents described in
Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(3) no later than fifteen (15) days before the pretrial conference and shall
require the parties to complete all discovery no later than ninety (90) days after the
individualized trial conference. The court will attempt to resolve all motions to dismiss and
pleading issues at the individualized trial conference. The court may determine the extent, if
any, that previous case management orders on matters subject to the individualized rules shall
supersede or be combined with any previous orders.
(h) Pretrial Conference
The pretrial conference shall be held no later than one hundred fifty (150) days after the
Civil Rules
agreement is approved by the court.
(i) Discovery
Unless otherwise ordered by the court or by agreement of the parties, discovery shall be limited
to ten (10) interrogatories per party, ten (10) document requests, ten (10) requests for admission,
and fifteen (15) hours of depositions, per party. The parties may agree or the court may order
that the time for response to written discovery be shortened. Deposition time limits are inclusive
of fact witnesses and expert witnesses.
(j) Expert Witnesses
No party shall call more than one expert witness to testify, unless permitted by the court or by
agreement of the parties.
(k) Pretrial Motions
Except for dispositive motions, all pretrial motions must use the expedited procedure set forth in
