| MOTION
CALL |
Hearings on motions, both civil and criminal, (except for emergency
motions) will be held only on Wednesday mornings. The remainder of the
week will be reserved for trials and other hearings.
The Wednesday call will commence at 9:30 a.m. for all criminal cases, 10:30 a.m. for all even-numbered civil cases, and at 11:00 a.m. for odd-numbered civil cases. Motions noticed for a given Wednesday are to be filed no later than 4:00 p.m. on the preceding Monday. Agreed or uncontested motions (e.g., leave to file pleadings, routine extensions of time) will ordinarily not require a court appearance, and the moving party should contact the minute clerk (Jackie Deanes) between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. (435-5849) Tuesday afternoon to determine whether an appearance is necessary or view the judge's web page after 4:00pm for granted motions.
Agreed motions to extend the discovery cutoff or reset a trial date
ordinarily do require a court appearance.
No discovery motion will be
heard unless a Local General Rule
37.2 statement is attached or
included in the motion.
Requests for hearings on emergency motions may be presented to the
minute clerk, or, if she is not available, to some other staff member
in Room 2286.
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| STATUS
CALLS |
Status calls will be held on Wednesday mornings at 9:30 a.m. for all criminal cases and between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. for all civil cases. The status reports will be held at approximately 3
minute intervals. The purpose of the report is to inform the court as
to whether the case is progressing satisfactorily and whether it is
time to set a date for close of discovery or a date after which the
case can be considered ready for trial on short notice. The court will
not hear argument on other questions or decide motions at the status
calls, but may set a date for argument, or set a briefing schedule,
for the resolution of any disputed matters that cannot appropriately
be decided summarily at the status call.
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| DISCOVERY
CUTOFF DATES AND TRIAL READY DATES |
Dates for completion of discovery and trial readiness are generally
agreed upon at status calls and represent our outside estimate of how
long discovery should take, assuming reasonable diligence. We have
rarely imposed a time limit that counsel did not agree to, and often
the date is suggested by counsel themselves. Extensions of discovery
cutoff dates and trial ready dates will be allowed only on written
motion setting forth in detail facts to show that, notwithstanding the
exercise of reasonable diligence, counsel have been unable to complete
the necessary discovery or other trial preparation.
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| LIMITS
ON BRIEFS AND INTERROGATORIES |
Briefs: The 15-page limit on briefs will usually be
strictly enforced, and motions to exceed the limit should be made only
for good cause, e.g., numerous complex issues. The court will request
supplemental briefing on its own motion if it believes any party has
been handicapped by the page limitation.
Interrogatories:
Except in extraordinary circumstances, the court will not require any
party to answer in excess of 25 interrogatories.
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| BOILERPLATE
"INSTRUCTIONS" |
Boilerplate "instructions" shall not be used in
interrogatories and document requests. These unduly detailed
instructions rarely accomplish anything useful and serve merely to add
unnecessarily to the cost of litigation, especially where they give
rise to disputes. Interrogatories and document requests should be
framed with clarity, so that no instructions are necessary. In the
exceptional case where instructions might be necessary, they should be
concise and specific to the problem presented by the particular
interrogatory. Boilerplate instructions may be regarded as surplusage
and need not be considered in responding to the interrogatories or
document requests.
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| PROTECTIVE
ORDERS |
The court will not enter protective orders, even if agreed, unless
they comply with the requirements of Citizens First National Bank
v. Cincinnati Insurance Co., 178 F.3d 943 (7th Cir.
1999). The order must on its face indicate that the materials to be
covered by it are trade secrets or "some other properly
demarcated category of legitimately confidential information" and
also make "explicit that either party and any interested member
of the public can challenge the secreting of particular
documents." Id. at 946.
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| PROCEDURE
IN CASES WHICH ARE SET FOR TRIAL (BOTH CIVIL AND CRIMINAL) |
Counsel with either jury or bench cases set for trial are requested
to comply with the following procedures:
1. All trial settings are intended to be firm, depending upon the
availability of the court and the trial engagements of counsel. It
is not safe to assume that the cases set ahead of yours will proceed
to trial. They may settle or have to be continued on the morning of
trial because of some unexpected development. The minute clerk will
be happy to answer your questions as to how the call appears, but
reliance upon such information will not justify a continuance.
Counsel with out-of-town witnesses or other special scheduling
problems may request appropriate consideration by presenting a
motion during the month preceding the trial date.
If for any reason you desire to change your trial date, please
present a motion as soon as the reason for the change is known to
you.
2. If the case is settled, or in a criminal case if the defendant
decides to change his plea, please notify the minute clerk without
delay so that another case can be scheduled in your place. Please do
not wait until the day of trial to inform the court the case has
previously been settled or that the defendant has previously decided
to plead guilty.
3. This court uses a very short pretrial order form in civil
cases (to the exclusion of the longer form in common use), calling
only for a listing of witnesses, exhibits and a designation of
deposition excerpts. The order will be sent to counsel after a trial
date is set.
Counsel should confer together before trial in a genuine effort
to stipulate to facts and narrow the issues to those which are
actually contested. At a minimum, counsel should stipulate to the
foundation for all exhibits whose authenticity is not questioned.
Trial time should not be wasted on unnecessary foundation testimony.
4. All exhibits should be marked prior to the session of the
trial at which they are to be introduced. No trial time will be used
for this purpose.
5. In criminal cases, counsel for the government are requested to
turn over to defense counsel prior to each court session all
material properly producible under Section 3500 for the witnesses
who will testify at that session. This should be done far enough in
advance of the session so that defense counsel can familiarize
themselves with the material, thereby eliminating the necessity of
taking court time to do this. If there is any question about what
should be produced, counsel should raise the matter and obtain a
ruling prior to the court session.
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ADDITIONAL
PROCEDURES IN JURY TRIALS
(BOTH CIVIL AND CRIMINAL) |
1. Sidebar conferences will be kept to the barest possible minimum.
This court agrees with Standard 5.9 of the Standards suggested by the
American Bar Association Advisory Committee on the Judge's Function
(1972):
"The trial judge should be alert to the distracting effect on
the jury during the taking of evidence of frequent bench conferences
between counsel and the judge out of the hearing of the jury, and
should postpone the requested conference to the next recess except
when an immediate conference appears necessary to avoid
prejudice."
2. In advance of each trial session, counsel for the party going
forward at that session should show opposing counsel the exhibits to
be offered at the session. The opponent shall indicate those exhibits
to which there is no objection, and the court will admit them when
offered at the session. Those exhibits to which there is an objection
shall be presented to the court for ruling before the opening of the
session. If possible, the court will rule on the objection then,
thereby eliminating the necessity for a sidebar conference when the
exhibit is offered.
3. It is the practice of this court to send the written
instructions to the jury. In tendering requested instructions, please
use the IPI format, submitting an unmarked original of each requested
instruction along with a copy marked to show the number of the
instruction, the party submitting it, and any citations in support of
the instruction.
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| TRIAL
COUNSEL: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY |
Your compliance with the following requests will be greatly
appreciated:
(1) Please be on time for each court session. Trial engagements
take precedence over any other business. If you have matters in
other courtrooms, arrange in advance to have them continued or have
an associate handle them for you.
(2) Court time may not be used for marking exhibits. This must be
done in advance of the court session.
(3) Please stand whenever you address the court. This includes
the making of objections.
(4) Stand a respectful distance from the jury at all times.
(5) In your opening statement to the jury, do not argue the case
and do not discuss law. Confine yourself to a concise summary of the
important facts. Do not describe in detail what particular witnesses
will say. Unless the case is unusually complex, 15 to 20 minutes per
party should be sufficient.
(6) Please stand when you question witnesses. (Counsel with
physical disabilities will be excused from this requirement.) Do not
pace about the courtroom when questioning witnesses. This distracts
the jury and wastes time.
(7) If you intend to question a witness about a group of
documents, avoid delay by having all the documents with you when you
start the examination.
(8) Do not greet or introduce yourself to adverse witnesses.
Commence your cross-examination without preliminaries.
(9) When you object in the presence of the jury, make your
objection short and to the point. Do not argue the objection in the
presence of the jury, and do not argue with the ruling of the court
in the presence of the jury. Such matters may be raised at the first
recess and will not be waived by waiting until the recess.
(10) Do not face or otherwise appear to address yourself to
jurors when questioning a witness.
(11) The jury should hear the instructions on the law of the case
from the court, an impartial source. In your final argument, you may
tell the jury what you believe the substance of the court's
instruction on a particular subject will be, but do not give the
appearance of reading any instruction the court intends to give.
(12) Do not ask the court in the presence of the jury to declare
that a witness is qualified as an expert or qualified to express an
expert opinion.
(13) It is not necessary to request leave of court to approach a
witness to show the witness an exhibit.
(14) Do not ask for a recess before cross-examination. If the
direct examination should end at about the time the court would
recess anyway, e.g., lunch time, a recess will be taken.
Otherwise, be prepared to commence cross-examination immediately
upon conclusion of the direct.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
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INSTRUCTIONS
TO COUNSEL RE JURY SELECTION
IN CIVIL CASES |
This court uses the "strike" method of jury selection.
The advantage to the parties is that they are able to examine the
entire venire before exercising any peremptory challenges. The system
works as follows:
In a civil case, we usually send for about 20 jurors. Counsel will
be furnished a list of the jurors, numbered 1 through 20, or whatever
number is sent from the jury room. After a general interrogation by
the court to determine whether there are any obvious challenges for
cause, the jurors' names are called consecutively from the list, until
all names have been called. The first seven jurors called are seated,
in the order called, in the first row of the jury box. The next seven
jurors called are seated in the second row of the jury box in the same
manner. The remaining jurors are seated row by row in the spectator
section of the courtroom.
When all jurors are seated, the court then conducts an individual
examination of each juror. If there are any excuses for cause, that
seat simply becomes vacant; the jurors do not move over to fill in
chairs that are vacated. When the court completes its examination,
counsel for the parties are given an opportunity to ask any additional
questions they deem necessary concerning the backgrounds and
qualifications of the jurors. When all interrogation is completed, the
jurors are excused for 10 to 15 minutes, during which time counsel
exercise their peremptory challenges by placing a check mark beside
the name of each juror they wish to excuse. If there are any
challenges for cause, this is the time to make them, out of the
presence of any jurors who may have remained in the courtroom.
In the usual civil case, 8 jurors will be selected. There are no
"alternates." All jurors still serving at the time the case
is submitted to the jury will participate in the deliberations and the
verdict. (See Fed. R. Civ. P. 48, as amended effective December 1,
1991.) Normally, each side will have 3 peremptory challenges. 28 U.S.C.
§ 1870. At the conclusion of the recess, each side hands its marked
list to the minute clerk. The court then compares the two lists and
determines the names of the first 8 jurors whose names have not been
"struck." They constitute the jury.
It is important for counsel to make tentative decisions about
peremptory challenges as the interrogation of the jurors proceeds. The
10 or 15 minute recess at the end will be more than adequate to review
tentative choices and to make final decisions, but counsel may find
themselves rushed if they start thinking about the matter for the
first time only after the recess is called. The court will insist upon
the marked lists being turned in at the conclusion of the recess, and
any party failing to turn in the list at the required time will simply
waive peremptory challenges. Again, counsel who have made use of the
interrogation period to evaluate the jurors will have no trouble. Bear
in mind that this system gives counsel far more time to consider the
matter of challenges than does the traditional system of choosing
jurors in panels, which requires that irrevocable choices be made at
the end of each panel without knowing anything about the members of
the venire who had not yet been examined.
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| INSTRUCTIONS TO COUNSEL RE JURY SELECTION
IN CRIMINAL CASES |
This court uses the "strike" method of jury selection. The advantage to the parties is that they are able to examine the entire venire before exercising any peremptory challenges. The system works as follows:
In a criminal case, we usually send for about 34 jurors. Counsel will be furnished a list of the jurors, numbered 1 through 34, or whatever number is sent from the jury room. After a general interrogation by the court to determine whether there are any obvious challenges for cause, the jurors' names are called consecutively from the list, until all names have been called. The first seven jurors called are seated in the first row of the jury box. The next seven jurors called are seated in the second row of the jury box in the same manner. The remaining jurors are seated row by row in the spectator section of the courtroom.
When all jurors are seated, the court then conducts an individual examination of each juror. If there are any excuses for cause, that seat simply becomes vacant; the jurors do not move over to fill in spots that are vacated. When the court completes its examination, counsel for the government and counsel for the defense are given an opportunity to ask any additional questions they deem necessary concerning the backgrounds and qualifications of the jurors. When all interrogation is completed, the jurors are excused for about 15 minutes, during which time counsel exercise their peremptory challenges by placing a check mark beside the name of each juror they wish to excuse. The government may excuse 6 jurors (7 if there are one or more alternates), and the defense may excuse 10 jurors (11 if there are one or more alternates). If there are any challenges for cause, this is the time to make them, out of the presence of any jurors who may have remained in the courtroom. At the conclusion of the recess, each side hands its marked list to the minute clerk. The court then compares the two lists and determines the names of the first 12 jurors whose names have not been "struck." They constitute the regular jurors. The 13th and 14th names which have not been struck would be the number 1 and number 2 alternates.
It is important for counsel to make tentative decisions about peremptory challenges as the interrogation of the jurors proceeds. The 15 minute recess at the end will be more than adequate to review tentative choices and to make final decisions, but counsel may find themselves rushed if they start thinking about the matter for the first time only after the recess is called. The court will insist upon the marked lists being turned in at the conclusion of the recess, and any party failing to turn in the list at the required time will simply waive peremptory challenges. Again, counsel who have made use of the interrogation period to evaluate the jurors will have no trouble. Bear in mind that this system gives counsel far more time to consider the matter of challenges than does the traditional system of choosing jurors in panels, which requires that irrevocable choices be made at the end of each panel without knowing anything about the members of the venire who have not yet been examined.
If in reviewing the lists, we should notice any possible Batson problems, we will alert counsel to them and hold a conference out of hearing of the jurors. If counsel anticipates any Batson issues, they should feel free to bring them up during the recess.
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| Submitting a Proposed Order, Agreed or Otherwise, for Electronic Entry by the Judge |
Proposed Orders are technically not to be "filed." Rather, they are to be "submitted" to the judge to consider, to modify, if appropriate, and to enter electronically. For example, proposed orders such as stipulated protective orders require court approval before actually being given full effect. To prevent confusion, such proposed orders must be attached to an e-mail sent to the e-mail address of the assigned judge, Proposed_Order_Grady@ilnd.uscourts.gov The subject line of the e-mail must include the case number and name, the docket number of the corresponding motion, if any, and the title of the order that is proposed as indicated on the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF). All such documents must be submitted to the court in a format compatible with WordPerfect, which is a "Save As" option in most word processing software. Such proposed orders should also be served on all parties. |
