Final Pretrial Orders
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Final pretrial orders shall contain all of the required items set forth in the final pretrial order appended to the standing order establishing pretrial procedure adopted pursuant to Local Rule 16.1, as well as: (1) one set of jury instructions, verdict forms and special interrogatories, if any, from each party; (2) an agreed statement or statements by each party of the contested issues of fact and law and a statement or statements of contested issues of fact or law not agreed to; and (3) waivers of any claims or defenses that have been abandoned by any party. For non-jury trials, the Court also requires the following: (1) a trial brief from each party; (2) proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law from each party; and (3) a joint statement of stipulated or agreed proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, if any.
Requirements for Jury Instructions
As noted, the parties shall submit one set of numbered proposed jury instructions with the pretrial order. If the instruction is agreed between the parties, it shall be labeled “Agreed Proposed Instruction 1,” and so on. To the extent a particular instruction is not agreed, the Plaintiff’s proposed instruction (so designated) shall be included first with the Defendant’s objection (so designated) immediately following. Any proposed instructions that are not agreed must include, at the bottom of the instruction, citations to authority (i.e., pattern jury instruction, case law, etc.) supporting that party’s version. If one party wants to include an instruction that does not have a counterpart from the other party but is objected to, that party shall include the proposed instruction (so designated) with authority and insert in the appropriate place in the proposed set of instructions and label it. For example, if the parties’ first five instructions are agreed, then the defendant wants to add an instruction that the plaintiff believes is unnecessary, the defendant shall insert “Defendant’s Proposed Instruction 5A.” On the following page, labeled “Plaintiff’s Objection to Defendant’s Proposed Instruction 5A,” the plaintiff shall include the basis for its objection. The next instruction, if agreed, would be labeled “Agreed Proposed Instruction 6,” and so on.
On the first day of trial, the parties shall submit to the Court’s proposed-order inbox a Word version of the proposed instructions. Please note that it is the parties’ responsibility to ensure they have access to the necessary equipment (either at the courthouse or elsewhere) to make the necessary changes to the instructions after the jury-instruction conference with the Court. Further, after the jury-instruction conference has occurred and the parties have made the agreed-upon revisions, the parties shall submit a revised Word version of the final instructions to the Court’s proposed-order inbox.
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