San Mateo — Pretrial Order for NON-COMPLEX Court Trials

Source: https://sanmateo.courts.ca.gov/system/files/civil/pretrial-order-non-complex-court-trials-department-2.pdf

Sparse pages use OCR; original PDF remains authoritative.

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3 SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 4 COUNTY OF SAN MATEO 5

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8 , Case No.

9 Plaintiff, Assigned for all purposes to: Hon. Mark A. McCannon10 v.

PRETRIAL ORDER NO. 111 ,

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1 To ensure that the Court, the parties, and the witnesses are prepared to begin the trial on the 2 actual date the trial is scheduled, the Court, pursuant to its inherent authority, HEREBY ORDERS 3 THAT: 4

5 TRIAL, PTC, AND MSC

6 1. Trial. The trial is scheduled for ________ at 9:00 a.m. Trial days are Monday, 7 Tuesday, and Friday. All trial counsel for each party are to appear in person. 8 2. Pretrial Conference. The Pretrial Conference (“PTC”) is scheduled for 9 ___________ at _____ a.m./p.m. Lead trial counsel must appear in person. 10 3. Mandatory Settlement Conference. The Mandatory Settlement Conference11

(“MSC”) is scheduled for _______________ at 9:00 a.m. before a judge to be determined. The12

13 judge assigned to handle the MSC will communicate with the parties to confirm the date and time

14 of the conference.

15 4. Court reporter. The Court may not be able to provide a court reporter for the 16 Pretrial Conference or Trial. Any party that wishes to have a court reporter for the Pretrial 17 Conference or Trial may bring their own reporter if the Court is unable to provide one. Before a 18 party may bring their own court reporter to a proceeding, that party MUST comply with Local19

20 Rule 2.12. Otherwise, a court reporter is WAIVED.

21 5. Location. Please note that the Court is now in Courtroom K of the South San

22 Francisco Courthouse located at 1050 Mission Road, South San Francisco, California. Any 23 hardcopy materials for the Court, including pretrial materials, should be delivered there. 24

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1 PRETRIAL DEADLINES AND REQUIREMENTS 2 6. Parties are ordered to comply with the following deadlines: 3

4 EVENT DEADLINE Meet and confer regarding pretrial conference, including 21 days before PTC 5 witness and exhibit lists, exhibits, motions in limine, and 6 deposition designations. Serve, but NOT file: 5 days before PTC 7 1. Motions in limine 8 2. Witness lists 3. Exhibit lists 9 4. Deposition designations 10 File and deliver hard copies to the court: 3 court days before 1. Joint pretrial conference statement PTC11 2. Exhibit list 12 3. Witness list 4. Deposition designations with objections and 13 responses 5. Joint binder with deposition designations and 14 objections, and highlighted transcripts (deliver, not file) 15 6. Binder with motions in limine and oppositions. 16

17 Pretrial Conference 14 days before Trial

18 Deliver three (3) sets of joint trial exhibit binders and The day of Trial 19 thumb drives to the Court.

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21 7. The parties must make every effort to resolve pretrial and trial issues early. While

22 the Court understands that trial is not entirely predictable, the parties must frontload all

23 evidentiary and legal disputes to the extent possible. Issues that surface unnecessarily on the eve 24 of trial or during trial waste the Court’s time and are strongly disfavored. With this understanding, 25 all deadlines and requirements are subject to modification at the discretion of the Court. 26

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1 MEET AND CONFER 2 8. All parties must meet and confer in person or videoconference regarding motions 3 in limine, witness lists, deposition designations, exhibit lists, exhibits, and a pretrial conference 4

5 statement, and any other issues that may arise at trial no later than 21 days before the PTC. If

6 the parties wish to meet and confer by telephone, they must obtain permission from the Court.

7 The Court expects meaningful meet and confer in accordance with the following guidelines 8 available at http://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/documents/ethics/Civility/Atty-Civility-Guide- 9 Revised_Sept-2014.pdf. 10 9. During the meet and confer, the parties must engage in a good faith effort to:11

a. Resolve any issues parties intend to raise in the motions in limine;12

13 b. Resolve any disagreements over witnesses, including deposition designations, and

14 exhibits to be introduced at trial; and

15 c. Stipulate to any relevant facts that can be incorporated into the record without 16 supporting testimony or exhibits. 17 10. Wherever possible, the parties shall stipulate to the admissibility of any exhibits. If 18 a stipulation is not possible, then the parties shall make every effort to stipulate to the19

20 authenticity and foundation for an exhibit absent a legitimate objection.

21 EXHIBITS AND EXHIBIT LIST

22 11. Each party must prepare a list of all exhibits to be offered at trial, other than those 23 to be used for impeachment or rebuttal, for submission with one extra copy to the courtroom 24 clerk on the first day of trial. The list must identify as separate exhibits each discrete document 25 or item to be offered at trial and must include a brief description of each exhibit sufficient to 26 distinguish it from the other exhibits.27

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1 12. Exhibit lists must be exchanged by parties, at least 5 days before the PTC. 2 13. The exhibit list must be in tabular form and contain the following: 3 a. Exhibit number; 4

5 b. Brief description of the exhibit (with any bates numbers if they exist);

6 c. Sponsoring witness;

7 d. Date marked for identification (left blank); 8 e. Date admitted into evidence (left blank); and 9 f. Stipulation to admissibility. 10 No. Description Stipulation Witness Date Date11 marked admitted 12 1. Photo, Honda, bumper, 13 Yes DEF0052 14 2. Text message from 15 Defendant to Plaintiff, No 16 DEF0003 17

18 14. Each trial exhibit shall be clearly pre-marked with the trial exhibit number. The

19 defendant’s exhibit numbers shall be sequenced to begin after the plaintiff’s exhibit numbers. 20 15. Exhibits shall be numbered. NO letters may be used. The parties must agree on a 21 block of numbers to fit the needs of the case (e.g., the plaintiff has exhibits 1-100; the defendant 22 has exhibits 101-200), and make a good faith effort to avoid marking the same exhibit in their 23 respective blocks. If the exact same exhibit is marked by more than one party, then the24

25 defendant shall withdraw the duplicative exhibit (but should not renumber its portion of the

26 exhibit list). If there is any dispute over which portions of an overlapping exhibit should be

27 introduced into evidence, the parties shall meet and confer in an attempt to informally resolve 28 PRETRIAL ORDER NO. 1 4

1 the issue. If the parties are unable to informally resolve the dispute, then each party shall submit 2 its disputed exhibit with the Joint Pretrial Conference Statement and explain, in no more than 3 one double-spaced page, why the Court should use its proposed exhibit. 4

5 16. Multi-page exhibits must be paginated or bates numbered.

6 17. To avoid any party claiming “ownership” of an exhibit, all exhibits shall be 7 marked and referred to as “Trial Exhibit No. ___” – and NOT as “Plaintiff’s Exhibit” or 8 “Defendant’s Exhibit.” 9 18. Each party must provide the Court with three (3) complete set of exhibits the party 10 intends to introduce at trial in both hard copy in tabbed binders and on a thumb drive the day of 11

Trial. Each party will be expected to place the official exhibit stamp on each document; the12

13 exhibit tabs may be obtained from the courtroom clerk. The Court may require additional copies

14 of those exhibits for trial, including separate exhibit binders for each witness.

15 19. The parties must meet and confer to eliminate duplicate exhibits and stipulate 16 whenever possible to authenticity and admissibility. 17 20. Any exhibit not identified on a party’s exhibit list is subject to exclusion. In 18 exercising this discretion, the Court will consider whether the exhibit is solely being used for19

20 impeachment.

21 21. Redaction of Exhibits. If medical, personal, or consumer records are involved, the

22 parties are to delete any information that the parties agree should not come into evidence, 23 including insurance information. The proponent must then prepare clean copies of the records for 24 submission into evidence. 25

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1 WITNESS LIST 2 22. Each party must file a list of all the witnesses the party intends to call at trial with 3 the Joint Pretrial Conference Statement. 4

5 23. The witness list must be in tabular form and contain the following:

6 a. Name of the witness;

7 b. Title of the witness, if any; 8 c. Brief description of the subject matter of the witness’ anticipated testimony; and 9 d. Estimated length of the direct examination, cross-examination, and rebuttal. 10 Witness Title Testimony Time11 1. Allan, Joe Plaintiff’s father Collision 0.5 hrs12 2. Blake, John, M.D. Treating Past and future 1 hr13 neurosurgeon treatment; cost 14 3. Coi, Lawrence CHP Officer Collision 0.5 hrs15

16 DEPOSITION DESIGNATIONS 17 24. If any party wishes to designate deposition testimony in lieu of live testimony for 18 any witness, then that party must provide their proposed designations to the opposing parties at19

20 least 5 days before PTC. The parties are encouraged to resolve as many disputes over the

21 designations by stipulation as possible.

22 25. The parties must file a joint pleading with their proposed deposition designations, 23 any objections to those designations, and any responses to those objections, 3 court days before 24 PTC. Objections or responses may be no longer than one page. 25 26. The parties must also submit to the Court joint tabbed binder(s) with the proposed26 deposition designations. Each tab should represent the testimony of a single witness. The27

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1 proposed deposition designations must be highlighted in yellow with any objections bracketed 2 in red. The binders must include the pleading with the proposed designations and objections. 3 4 27. Absent good cause, the deposition testimony of each witness shall be introduced

5 only once. In other words, all deposition designations shall be presented together all at once

6 rather than as part of each party’s case.

7 28. Any witness who is not identified on a party’s witness list or any deposition 8 testimony that has not been submitted to the Court is subject to exclusion in the reasonable 9 exercise of the Court’s discretion. 10 MOTIONS IN LIMINE 11 12 29. The parties shall meet and confer no later than twenty-one (21) days before the PTC

13 to determine whether any evidentiary issues may be resolved by stipulation. No party may file a

14 motion in limine (“MIL”) without first making a good faith effort to resolve/narrow the

15 evidentiary issue with the opposing party. 16 30. Parties are remined that the proper purpose of MILs is to ensure the jury is not 17 exposed to inadmissible evidence; thus the MILs are not as useful in court trials. 18 31. MILs not to be filed. Administrative and other motions not seeking to exclude19

20 specific evidence, e.g., excluding witnesses from the courtroom, requesting 24 hours’ notice of

21 calling a witness, a review of demonstrative exhibits to be used at opening or closing, excluding

22 speculative evidence, excluding evidence not produced in discovery (when that is the sole reason 23 offered), should not be subject of an MIL. An MIL which argues that “no evidence on an issue 24 should be introduced because there is no evidence on the issue” or because “there is other 25 evidence that conflicts with the evidence sought to be suppressed” are not proper MILs. A “judge 26 generally should not be weighing the evidence on a motion in limine.” Kinda v. Carpenter (2016)27

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1 247 Cal. App. 4th 1268, 1282, citing R & B Auto Ctr., Inc. v. Farmers Grp., Inc. (2006) 140 Cal. 2 App. 4th 327, 371 (MILs “may not be used to resolve factual issues”). 3 4 32. MILs seeking to preclude evidence must specify it. “Motions in limine are properly

5 used to determine whether specific evidence should be admitted or precluded.” R & B Auto Ctr.,

6 Inc. v. Farmers Grp., Inc. (2006) 140 Cal. App. 4th 327, 371; Ulloa v. McMillin Real Est. &

7 Mortg., Inc. (2007) 149 Cal. App. 4th 333, 338 (“particular items of evidence”); Schweitzer v. 8 Westminster Invs., Inc. (2007) 157 Cal. App. 4th 1195, 1214 (“specific objection to particular 9 evidence”); see also Evid. C. § 353 (objections must be “specific” to be preserved). 10 33. MILs must be served 5 days before the PTC.11 12 34. MILs and their oppositions must be e-filed with the Clerk’ Office no later three (3)

13 court days before the PTC. No replies will be permitted without leave of the Court.

14 35. Each party must submit a tabbed binder with its MILs in numerical order with the 15 opposition immediately behind the motion within the same tab. The MIL and its opposition must 16 be separated by a colored sheet of paper. The binders must be submitted to the Court with the 17 Joint Pretrial Conference Statement. 18 36. Each MIL should address a single, separate topic and shall be limited to five (5)19

20 pages in length unless otherwise permitted by the Court. Each motion should be clearly identified

21 as “__________’s MIL No. ___ Re: ____________,” with the blanks filled in as appropriate.

22 37. Each opposition is also limited to five (5) pages unless otherwise permitted by the 23 Court. 24 38. Each party must also submit a hard copy and a Word version of all proposed orders. 25 Each proposed order must provide enough specificity that a witness will be able to understand 26 what testimony is prohibited.27

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1 39. The motions will be heard at the PTC or at such other time as the Court may direct. 2 JOINT PRETRIAL CONFERENCE STATEMENT 3 4 1. The parties shall file a Joint Pretrial Conference Statement at least 14 days before the

5 PTC that contains:

6 a. Substance of the Action: A brief description of the parties, the claims and defenses

7 that remain to be decided, and the operative pleading, including the date of filing, 8 that raises these claims and defenses. 9 b. Relief Requested: A detailed statement of all requested relief that itemizes all 10 elements of damages claimed. 11

c. Undisputed Facts: A plain and concise statement of all relevant facts to which the12

13 parties will stipulate for incorporation into the record without supporting testimony

14 or exhibits or that are undisputed.

15 d. Settlement Discussions: A brief description of the efforts the parties have made to 16 settle and whether the parties believe that further negotiations are likely to be 17 productive and what, if anything, would facilitate settlement. 18 e. Estimate of Trial Length: An estimate of the number hours needed for the19

20 presentation of each party’s case.

21 f. Miscellaneous: Any other matters that will facilitate the just, speedy, and efficient

22 resolution of the case. 23 2. The parties shall include the following documents in accordance with this order 24 with their Joint Pretrial Conference Statement: 25 a. Witness list 26 27 b. Deposition designations, with objections, and responses

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1 c. Exhibit list 2 d. Binder(s) containing the parties’ deposition designations, with the testimony to be 3 introduced highlighted in yellow and any objections bracketed in red; and 4

5 e. Binder(s) container each party’s motions in limine, any oppositions, and any

6 supporting declarations or requests for judicial notice in support of or opposition to

7 the motions. 8 3. The parties shall also email the witness lists, exhibit lists, and proposed orders in 9 Word format to the Court. 10 PRETRIAL CONFERENCE 11 12 4. A Pretrial Conference will occur at least 14 days before the Trial Date. Lead trial

13 counsel for each party must attend in person.

14 5. At the Pretrial Conference, each party must be prepared to argue and discuss: 15 a. Motions in limine; 16 b. Witnesses, including proposed deposition designations; 17 c. Exhibits; 18 d. Stipulations; and19

20 e. Any other issues relating to the trial.

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22 IT IS SO ORDERED. 23

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25 DATED: November 26, 2025 HON. MARK A. MCCANNON26 JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT 27

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