Initial Status Report; Estimated Patent Case Schedule; Final Pretrial Order – Civil; Sample HIPAA Order; Settlement Conference Procedures

=== Initial Status Report ===

INITIAL STATUS REPORT This case has been assigned to the calendar of District Judge Mary M. Rowland. The parties are directed to meet pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(f) and hold a planning conference. At least five business days (unless otherwise ordered) before the initial status conference, counsel shall confer, prepare, and file a joint status report, not to exceed five pages. If defense counsel has not yet filed an appearance, plaintiff’s counsel should prepare the status report. The report shall provide the following information in the following format: I. Nature of the Case Identify the attorneys of record for each party. Note the lead A. trial attorney and any local counsel. B. State the basis for federal jurisdiction. If federal question, identify all federal statutes on which such jurisdiction is based. If based on diversity, specify citizenship or domicile of all parties, and whether the parties agree that the amount in controversy exceeds the required threshold. Note: Parties should review Seventh Circuit case law about the difference between “residence” and “citizenship” for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. Further, if any party is an unincorporated association, partnership or a limited liability company and the basis of jurisdiction is diversity, counsel must identify the name and citizenship(s) of each and every partner/member of each such entity. C. Briefly describe the nature of the claims asserted in the complaint and the counterclaims and/or third-party claims and/or affirmative defenses. D. Describe the relief sought by the plaintiff(s). E. State the major legal and factual issues anticipated in the case. F. List the names of any parties who have not yet been served. If Plaintiff has failed to complete service of process on all defendants, then counsel must describe the efforts to perfect service to date, and provide an estimate for completion of service consistent with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4. G. Propose a date by which plaintiff(s) must amend pleadings and/or add parties. 1 II. Discovery and Pending Motions A. Describe the general type of discovery needed. B. C. D. E. Provide dates for: (1) Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures; (2) issuing the first- set of written discovery requests; (3) fact discovery completion. At this time, do the parties anticipate there will be expert discovery? Briefly describe any currently pending motions or anticipated motions. State whether the parties agree to service of pleadings and other papers by electronic means under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5(b)(2)(E). III. Trial A. State whether there has been a jury demand. B. Provide the date by which the parties anticipate being ready for trial. C. Estimate the length of trial. IV. Consent and Settlement Discussions The court strongly encourages parties to consent to the jurisdiction A. of the Magistrate Judge. State whether all parties unanimously consent to proceed before the Magistrate Judge. B. State whether any settlement discussions have occurred and the status of any settlement discussions. (Do not provide any particulars of any demands or offers that have been made.) State whether the parties request a settlement conference at this C. time. 2

=== Final Pretrial Order – Civil ===

JUDGE MARY M. ROWLAND 219 South Dearborn Street Chicago, IL 60604 Courtroom: 1225 Courtroom Deputy: Dawn Moreno (Rm. 1226) [email protected] (312) 435-5857 FINAL PRETRIAL ORDER FOR CIVIL CASES BEFORE JUDGE ROWLAND The parties are required to submit certain materials in advance of the final pretrial conference and the trial. Parties should closely review and comply with this Standing Order. To the extent these guidelines differ from those contained in Local Rule 16.1, parties should defer to Judge Rowland’s requirements. I. SCHEDULE In each case, the Court will set specific dates, however, generally the schedule prior to the trial date will proceed as follows: (a) motions in limine and Daubert motions due 4 weeks prior to trial; (b) responses to motions in limine and Daubert motions due 3 weeks prior to trial; (c) pretrial order, proposed voir dire, and proposed jury instructions due 3 weeks prior to trial; and (d) the final pretrial conference will be held 2 weeks pri- or to trial. Deadlines may be varied only by the Court. II. JOINT PROPOSED FINAL PRETRIAL ORDER The parties shall jointly prepare and submit a final pretrial order containing the fol- lowing: 1. Jurisdiction. A statement of the basis alleged for the Court’s jurisdiction and, if jurisdiction is disputed, the nature and basis of the dispute. 1 2. Case Statement. A concise joint statement of the case, which includes the names of the parties and the attorneys who will be representing them at trial; the nature of the case; the claims, counterclaims and cross-claims; and the de- fenses raised to those claims. In a jury trial, this statement will be read by the Court to the jury during voir dire. 3. Relief Sought. An itemization of damages and other relief sought. 4. Trial Attorneys. A list of the attorneys trying the case, including business ad- dresses and telephone numbers. 5. Estimate of Trial Time. A statement of whether the case will be a bench trial or jury trial, and a realistic estimate of the length of the trial. In a jury trial, the parties should specify the number of jurors the parties recommend be selected (subject to Rule 48(a . 6. Stipulations. In numbered paragraphs, set forth any stipulations and uncon- tested facts, as well as any stipulations regarding the presentation or admissibil- ity of evidence. 7. Witness Lists. Separate lists for plaintiff and defendant providing the names and addresses of witnesses, including experts, divided into the following three categories: (a) witnesses who will be called to testify at trial; (b) witnesses who may be called to testify at trial; and (c) witnesses whose testimony will be pre- sented by deposition or other prior testimony (indicating whether the presenta- tion will be by transcript or video). In a jury trial, these lists will be read to the jury during voir dire. All expert witnesses who will or may be called must be included on the witness list. All objections to the calling of any witnesses, and the reasons for the objections, must be stated in the pretrial order. For wit- nesses who will be presented by deposition or other prior testimony, the pretrial order must include the following information for each such witness: (a) the tes- timony that each side seeks to present, by page and line; (b) a concise statement of objections to any testimony and the basis for the objections; and (c) a concise statement of the asserted basis of admissibility. Any witness not listed in the pretrial order will be precluded from testifying absent a showing of good cause, except that each party reserves the right to call such rebuttal witnesses (who are not presently identifiable as rebuttal witnesses) as may be necessary. 8. Exhibit Lists. Lists of the trial exhibits (including demonstratives, summaries or other specially prepared exhibits), which are to be prepared in the following manner: A list of any joint exhibits, which states: (a) the exhibit number for the document (preceded by “JX”); (b) the date of the document; and (c) a brief de- scription of the document. Separate lists of plaintiff’s and defendant’s exhibits, which each state: (a) the exhibit number of the document (preceded by “PX” for plaintiff’s exhibits and “DX” for defendant’s exhibits); (b) the date of the docu- ment; (c) a brief description of the document; (d) whether there is an objection to 2 admission of the document and, if so, a concise statement of the basis for the ob- jection (e.g., Rule 402 - relevance; Rule 403 - undue prejudice or confusion); and (e) a concise statement of the asserted basis of admissibility. a. At least one week before the pretrial conference, the parties must submit an exhibit binder containing copies of the objected-to exhibits. After the pretrial conference and rulings on exhibits, parties must submit to the Court on two thumb drives the final, pre-marked exhibits along with ex- hibit lists. b. If, due to unforeseen circumstances during trial a party wishes to intro- duce an exhibit not previously listed, notice should be given as soon as possible to the opposing side and to the Court so that any objections can be discussed. Absent abuse of this process, an exhibit will not be deemed inadmissible simply because it was not included on the original exhibit list, provided the exhibit/document was earlier produced to the opposing side during discovery. 9. List of motions in limine: each party must provide a list summarizing its mo- tions in limine. 10. Proposed Findings and Conclusions. In a bench trial, proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The parties shall confer about and submit any agreed proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. Each party also shall submit its separate proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. 11. Settlement discussions: parties should report whether any recent settlement discussions have occurred and the prospect of settlement before trial begins. Instructions for Compiling and Submitting the Pretrial Order: Plaintiff’s counsel must prepare the initial draft of the pretrial order and provide a draft to de- fendant’s counsel by no later than twenty-one (21) calendar days before the date the pretrial order is due to be filed. Defendant’s counsel must respond in writing to the draft by no later than fourteen (14) calendar days before the pretrial order is due. The parties are required to meet and confer to discuss their respective drafts, and should attempt to reach agreement to the maximum extent possible. It is then the responsibil- ity of the plaintiff’s counsel – with full cooperation from defendant’s counsel – to assem- ble the pretrial order and file it. The Proposed Pretrial Order must be e-mailed in Word format to: [email protected]. The Proposed Pretrial Order must also be filed on the docket with a cover page with the case caption and the title "Proposed Pretrial Order." In CM/ECF, the filer should select “Other Filings” and then “Other Documents,” and choosing the Proposed Pretrial Order event. 3 III. MOTIONS IN LIMINE The parties shall meet and confer on all motions in limine before filing them. Mo- tions in limine and supporting memoranda must be filed separately from the pretrial order as separate docket entries. To the extent reasonable, parties should file multiple motions in one filing (or a few consolidated filings) to reduce the number of filings. Un- less otherwise ordered, responses are due one week after the motion’s filing, and no re- plies may be filed without leave of court. Judge Rowland discourages the filing of “boilerplate” motions in limine or motions that address matters not in dispute. Any motion in limine filed by a party must be ac- companied by a statement that the party has conferred with the opposing party and has determined that the matter upon which a ruling is sought is actually in dispute – that is, that the opposing party actually intends to offer the evidence that the movant seeks to exclude. If the meet-and-confer process results in agreement that certain matters are inadmissible, that agreement should be memorialized in a stipulation to be provided in the pretrial order or at the final pretrial conference. IV. PROPOSED VOIR DIRE AND JURY INSTRUCTIONS In a jury trial, proposed voir dire questions and jury instructions are not to be in- cluded in the Proposed Pretrial Order, but are to be separately filed. The proposed voir dire and jury instructions are to be prepared and submitted according to the following schedule, which may be varied only by Court order: Proposed Voir Dire. The Court’s standard voir dire questions can be obtained from the Judge’s courtroom deputy. The parties must exchange any proposed variations or additions to these general voir dire questions and must meet and confer to attempt to resolve any disagreements about the questions. The parties must file a joint document that includes both (a) each party’s proposed voir dire questions, and (b) each party’s ob- jections, if any, to the voir dire questions proposed by other parties. Jury Instructions and Verdict Forms. The parties must meet and confer in order to attempt to agree on jury instructions and the verdict forms. The parties should compile and set forth the complete text of all proposed instructions and identify: the proponent of the instruction, the Seventh Circuit Pattern Instruction if applicable, the legal authority for the instruction, and whether there is an objection to the instruction. If an instruction is disputed, the proponent of the instruction should concisely explain the basis for the instruction, if more explanation is required beyond the identified legal authority. Moreover, if an instruction is disputed, the objecting party must concisely state the grounds for the objection, as well as any proposed modification or alternative. The same principles apply to proposed verdict forms. Joint documents of proposed voir dire, jury instructions and verdict forms must be filed on the docket and also submitted in Word format to Judge Rowland’s proposed or- der mailbox ([email protected]). 4 V. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE The purpose of the final pretrial conference will be to avoid surprises and to simplify the trial. At the conference, the Court will address any pending motions in limine, ob- jections to witnesses and exhibits, contested jury instructions, trial procedures, and scheduling matters. Lead trial counsel fully prepared and with authority to discuss all aspects of the case must attend. VI. TRIAL BRIEFS, EVIDENCE PRESENTATION, AND EXHIBITS Trial briefs may be required in bench trials. In a jury trial, the Court will not accept trial briefs without leave of Court. At least three weeks prior to trial, the parties shall contact the Court’s systems de- partment (312-435-6045) to coordinate any specific evidence presentation needs. Finally, parties should familiarize themselves with the Court’s Jury Evidence Re- cording System (JERS) protocol. Attorney Instructions are available here: https://www.ilnd.uscourts.gov/_assets/_documents/_forms/_courtroomtech/JERS_Attorn ey_Instructions.pdf. In addition, parties are advised that at the close of evidence at tri- al they will be expected to file a final exhibit list on the docket. ENTER: MARY M. ROWLAND United States District Judge Dated: 4/24/23 5