Judge: Mark H. Epstein, Case: 20STCV03819, Date: 2023-01-09 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 20STCV03819    Hearing Date: January 9, 2023    Dept: R

The matter is here for an FSC.  The court has received some FSC papers, mostly filed on 1/4/23, but some filed 1/6/23.  On 1/4/23, the court received the following: (1) Joint Jury Questionnaire; (2) Defendant’s Verdict Form; (3) Plaintiff’s Proposed Jury Instructions; (4) Plaintiff’s Proposed Statement of the Case; (5) Defendant’s Proposed Statement of the Case; (6) Joint Deposition Chart, all labeled “TBD”; (7) Joint Witness List with 7 witnesses and 18 hours of direct testimony and 7 hours of cross, but oddly plaintiff has waived cross-examination of the defendant and other witnesses; (8) Joint Exhibit List with 30 exhibits, 28 of which are not stipulated as to authenticity and none of which are agreed to be admissible; (9) Joint Updated Trial Estimate of 5 days.

On January 6, 2023, the Court received the following documents: (1) Defendant’s Additional Jury Questionnaire Questions; (2) Plaintiff’s Verdict Form; (3) Defendant’s Proposed Special Jury Instructions.

The court doubts that the parties have met and conferred.  The witness list is obviously not complete; the court has strong doubts that the parties have truly met and conferred as to exhibits.  The parties need to meet and confer further regarding the verdict forms (which are not all that dissimilar) and short statement of the case.  The deposition chart is plainly not complete, as “TBD” is not a designation. 

While the court appreciates that the parties did make some effort to complete the FSC materials, the case is plainly NOT READY FOR TRIAL.  Therefore, the trial date is VACATED.  The court will discuss a new trial date with the parties.  The court will rule on the in limine motion when the case is ready for trial.  No new in limine motions may be filed unless they are based on events that post date today.