Guidelines for Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Bench Trials; Procedure for Presenting Direct Testimony from Expert Witness by Written Statement in Bench Trials

=== Guidelines for Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Bench Trials ===

JUDGE SKAVDAHL=S GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSED FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW FOR BENCH TRIALS (a) Plaintiff shall first serve and file proposed findings and conclusions. Defendant shall then serve and file an answering proposal. (b) Plaintiff=s proposal shall include (1) a narrative statement of all facts proposed to be provided and (2) a concise statement of Plaintiff=s legal contentions and the authorities supporting them: (A) Plaintiff=s narrative statement of facts shall set forth in simple declarative sentences all the facts relied upon in support of Plaintiff=s claim for relief. It shall be complete in itself and shall contain no recitation of any witness= testimony or what any defendant stated or admitted in these or other proceedings, and no references to the pleadings or other documents. It may contain references in parentheses to the names of witnesses, depositions, pleadings, exhibits or other documents, but no party shall be required to admit or deny the accuracy of such references. It shall, so far as possible, contain no pejoratives, labels or legal conclusions. It shall be so constructed, in consecutively numbered paragraphs (though where appropriate a paragraph may contain more than one sentence), that the opposing parties will be able to admit or deny each separate sentence of the statement. (B) Plaintiff=s statement of legal contentions shall set forth all such contentions necessary to demonstrate the liability of Defendant. Such contentions shall be separately, clearly and concisely stated in separately numbered paragraphs. Each paragraph shall be followed by citations of authorities in support thereof. (c) Defendant=s responsive proposal shall correspond to Plaintiff=s proposal: (A) Each factual statement shall admit or deny each separate sentence contained in the narrative statement of fact of Plaintiff, except in instances where a portion of a sentence can be admitted and a portion denied. In those instances, Defendant shall state clearly the portion admitted and the portion denied. Each separate sentence of Defendant=s response shall bear the same number as the corresponding sentence in Plaintiff=s narrative statements of facts. In a separate portion of Defendant=s narrative statement of facts, Defendant shall set forth all affirmative matter of a factual nature relied upon by Defendant, constructed in the same manner as Plaintiff=s narrative statement of facts. (B) Defendant=s separate statement of proposed conclusions of law shall respond directly to Plaintiff=s legal contentions and shall contain such additional contentions of Defendant as may be necessary to demonstrate the non-liability of Defendant. Defendant=s statement of legal contentions shall be constructed in the same manner as is provided for in the similar statement of Plaintiff.

=== Procedure for Presenting Direct Testimony from Expert Witness by Written Statement in Bench Trials ===

Judge Skavdahl’s Procedure for Presenting Direct Testimony from Expert Witness by Written Statement in Bench Trials In bench trials, the parties shall prepare, exchange, and file a narrative written statement for each expert witness or any witness whose direct testimony will involve significant technical matters. These expert witness statements are not to be used for adverse parties or for witnesses whose attendance is compelled by subpoena. Expert witness statements shall be prepared and presented at trial as follows. Form of Expert Witness Statement. Counsel shall prepare a written statement setting forth in declaratory form all the facts and opinions to which that expert witness will testify. The facts and opinions shall be stated in a narrative form, not by question and answer. The statement shall contain all of that witness’s direct testimony so that a person reading it will know all the relevant facts and expert opinions to which the witness would testify on direct examination. It shall not be sworn or notarized. Presentation of Statement as Direct Examination. At trial, each expert witness shall take the stand and, under oath, adopt their expert witness statement as true and correct. The party offering that witness shall then offer the expert witness statement as an exhibit, subject to appropriate objections by the opposing party on which the Court will then rule. The witness will then be allowed, in a limited manner, to supplement his/her written statement by any additional live direct examination considered necessary by counsel. The Court expects any such supplemental direct examination to be minimal, though, because the purpose of the expert witness statement is to unambiguously set forth the expert witness’s direct examination in written form for the opposing party and Court’s careful consideration. Thereafter, cross-examination and redirect examination will proceed in the ordinary course. Exhibits. Documents to be offered as exhibits through the expert witness shall not be attached to the expert witness statement, but shall be pre-marked and exchanged along with other proposed exhibits in the usual fashion. Schedule for Exchange of Statements. The parties shall exchange and file their expert witness statements no later than fourteen (14) days prior to trial, or as otherwise scheduled in the Initial Pretrial Order.