Pretrial

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The Court typically refers civil discovery motions and some settlement conferences to a Magistrate Judge. The Court follows E.D. Mich. LR 16.2, with respect to the preparation of a Joint Pretrial Order.

In addition, the Court requires the following pretrial matters in civil cases:

(1) Any nongovernmental corporate party shall file a statement with this Court identifying any parent corporation, and any entity or person owning a 10% or larger share. If this changes during the pendency of the litigation, the party shall immediately so advise the Court;

(2) Any Limited Liability Company shall file a statement identifying each member of the LLC and, in the event any member is a partnership or LLC, further identifying the individual members of those entities;

(3) All filings must conform to E.D. Mich. LR 5.1, as to same size of print in text/footnotes, number of pages, etc.;

(4) Motions for summary judgment should not be filed with the Court until discovery has concluded, absent special circumstances requesting Court permission to file any premature motion.

Additions to the witness list contained in the pretrial order may be requested for good cause. The final pretrial conference is typically held 2-6 weeks in advance of the trial date. A trial date is a trial date. The Court does not employ a trailing docket. With regard to trial date conflicts, the first trial date notice received proceeds on schedule. An attorney who has a conflict with another trial should file an immediate motion with the Court.

The Court requires that exhibits be exchanged when the attorneys meet to prepare for the Pretrial Order. Four copies of a bench book of exhibits are required on the first day of trial. Exhibits must be separated by tabbed separators. Plaintiff's exhibits to begin with 100, and defendant's exhibits to begin with 500.