Judge: Mark H. Epstein, Case: SC128914, Date: 2023-01-03 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: SC128914    Hearing Date: January 3, 2023    Dept: R

This matter is here for an FSC.  The court has received the following documents: (1) Joint Witness List filed 12/23/22 (reflects 9 witnesses and 22 hours of direct and cross combined); (2) Plaintiff’s Exhibit List filed 11/13/19 (106 exhibits but no indication to defendant’s position; no list from defendant); (3) Plaintiff’s Proposed Jury Instructions filed 6/26/19 (all CACI instructions; no indication of whether defendant objects or any instructions suggested by the defense); (4) Plaintiff’s Statement of the Case filed 6/26/19 (no indication of defendant’s position); (5) Plaintiff’s Special Verdict Form (no indication whether defendant objects).  The court has also received defendant’s motions in limine and plaintiff’s oppositions.

The case is NOT READY FOR TRIAL.  The exhibit list does not comply with the instructions on the court’s web site.  The jury instructions bear no input from the defense, as is true of the statement of the case and verdict form.  There is no deposition chart, which is acceptable if no party intends to use deposition testimony other than for impeachment.  There is no trial brief, but they are optional.  There is no jury questionnaire, but that is acceptable if neither party wants one.  There is no updated trial estimate, although based on the witness list it appears that this is a 5-6 day trial.  The statement of the case is not a joint one.

This is not the first FSC where there has been a problem.  On March 14, 2022, the court noted the problems with the parties’ trial preparation.  The court will discuss with the parties why it is that they cannot seem to follow the court’s instructions.  The court has a couple of issues.  The court was very clear that the parties needed to meet and confer about the FSC materials.  That is a mutual responsibility imposed on plaintiff and defendant.  While plaintiff has filed unilateral materials, the court does not know what efforts, if any, were made by plaintiff or defendant to prepare the FSC materials.  The court will want to know if either party initiated or tried to initiate the joint discussions and when.  To some degree, the court notes that plaintiff at least sent of plaintiff’s position based on the November 13, 2019 and June 26, 2019 materials but the court does not know what, if any, follow up there has been over the last three years.  Defendant filed Motions in Limine back in 2019, but the court has no idea what happened.  But for the witness list, the court would have assumed that the case was abandoned.  The court still believes that neither party has any interest in prosecuting or defendant the action.