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1. GENERAL PROCESS
This case has been
assigned for trial before a jury in the Meriden Superior Court. In order
to move the case along as quickly as possible, the following orders are
made in this case in addition to the orders about trial management. See
Practice Book Section 14-14. If you do not follow these orders on time,
any request or motion that you make may be denied unless otherwise
required by law.
2. MOTIONS
FILED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CASE OR AT THE BEGINNING OF A PART OF THE
CASE (MOTIONS IN LIMINE)
The parties shall file
motions in limine with the court to tell the court of all legal and
evidentiary issues that are known to the parties and that are important
to the case. All motions in limine must be filed with the court before
the beginning of the process by which the jury is selected. Where
it is possible and appropriate, a hearing on all motions that have not
been decided will be scheduled and decided by the court before proof is
first shown to the court, unless the court thinks it is appropriate to
wait to decide the motion during the trial. For each motion that another
party does not agree with, a written objection which explains the
authority for that objection, must be filed with the court.
3. WITNESSES
On the day that the
process by which a jury is selected begins, each party must give the
court and the other parties a list of the names of the witnesses that
will be requested by that party to testify at trial and must give a
short summary of what each witness will testify about. No other
witnesses may be called by a party without the court’s permission. The
court will not permit other witnesses to testify unless a good reason is
given to the court.
4. EXHIBITS (ITEMS
THAT HAVE BEEN OR WILL BE GIVEN TO THE COURT AS PROOF OR FOR EXAMPLE)
So that the trial will
not be slowed down, the parties must meet with the clerk and label
(pre-mark) all items (exhibits) they may give to the court as proof
(evidence). The parties must appear at 9:00 a.m. on the first day that
proof will be considered to label their exhibits. Before the first time
that proof will be shown to the court, counsel for both parties must
notify the court of any objections the parties have to the exhibits to
be given to the court by the other party so that the court, may, if
possible, make a decision on those objections in advance. Exhibits which
are not objected to by the other party must be given to the court as the
trial moves ahead so that those exhibits will be properly recorded and
will become a part of the case.
5. TESTIMONY OF A
WITNESS THAT IS TAKEN OUTSIDE OF COURT (DEPOSITIONS)
For any testimony that is
received by taking a deposition that may be used or filed as evidence
during the trial:
A. Counsel must
bring the original sealed copy of the transcript (written record) of the
deposition into court for the court to open and examine, if necessary,
when the witness testifies;
B. Counsel should
give the court copies of any transcript of depositions to be
given to the court as evidence at trial;
C. All references
to the testimony found in the transcript of depositions must refer to
the page and line numbers where the testimony can be found.
6. ISSUES THAT
CAN BE IDENTIFIED THAT WILL HELP THE TRIAL MOVE ALONG
(IDENTIFIABLE TRIAL MANAGEMENT ISSUES)
A. For each day
the trial is held, the parties must, no later than the break taken by
the court after the lunch break, give the court advance notice of all
problems that concern evidence, scheduling or other matters and issues
the parties expect to happen the next day. The parties must give the
court a legal memorandum or tell the court of all other authority that
counsel may tell the court of to assist the court in resolving the
problems that the court was notified of.
B. Before and
during presentation of evidence the time that proof is being shown to
the court, counsel must communicate with each other to
develop agreements about the facts in the case where there is
no real disagreement.
C.
Parties must file an extra copy of each pleading, motion or exhibit that
can be copied that is filed with the court or shown as proof.
7. REQUEST TO CHARGE
(REQUESTS THAT THE JURY BE NOTIFIED ABOUT THE LAW)
A.
The parties must file, no later than the first day that proof is shown
to the court, requests to tell
the jury the important (requests to charge the jury) legal claims in this case, specifically, the legal
reasons for the action and any defenses to those legal reasons, which party is
required to prove the facts of the case, and the
effect of statutory provisions
on the case, etc.;
B.
Additional requests to charge the jury based on the proof (evidence)
shown at trial may be
filed by either party until all the proof (evidence) has been shown to
the court;
C.
All requests to charge the jury must follow the Practice Book
requirements fully. Each request
must contain a reference to the legal authority for the request and the evidence to which the legal
rules would apply. If any request to charge
contains exact quotations
from the authorities that are referenced, the quotations
must be noted with quotation
marks and labeled with the appropriate reference.
Comments by one party on
the written requests to charge of another party must
contain a reference to the
legal authority that is the support for the comment.
8. QUESTIONS AND
FORMS THAT RELATE TO THE JURY’S DECISION
The parties must file
proposed questions and forms that relate to the jury’s decision no later
than the first day that proof is shown to the court. Revised questions
may be submitted through the last day that proof is shown to the court.
9. PROVIDING THE
COURT WITH COPIES
Parties must provide the
court with a computer file copy of all requests to charge, proposed
questions (interrogatories), and proposed verdict forms in Word or
WordPerfect format, by providing a copy on disk or by sending a copy by
e-mail to the judges’ secretary (janice.journell-duquette@jud.ct.gov)
or to any other e-mail address provided by the court.
10. REASONS WHY A PARTY
DOES NOT HAVE TO FOLLOW THESE ORDERS
Reasons why a party does
not have to follow these orders must be approved by the court on
case-by-case basis.
So ordered.
The Judges of the Meriden
Superior Court
THIS ORDER WAS GIVEN TO
THE PARTIES AT THE TRIAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE ON
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