Federal Civil Procedure-Federal Rule 16-Definition of Issues by the Pre-Trial Judge

Plaintiff instituted a civil antitrust suit against defendant in 1956. After numerous pre-trial conferences, the parties reached agreement as to the definition of only some of the issues. On other issues, however, the parties tendered different versions and were unable to reach an agreement. In a progress memorandum, the court issued a pre-trial order adopting defendant's version of the issues and rejecting the version proposed by plaintiff.

The court reasoned that, under Federal Rule 16, it has the authority to adopt the formulation of issues proposed by one of the parties even though the other party is not in complete agreement with that formulation. Life Music, Inc. v. Broadcast Music, Inc., 81 F.R.D. 8 (S.D.N.Y. 1962).