AMENDED STATUS (Pre-trial Scheduling) ORDER

JOHN A. MENDEZ, District Judge.

After review of the Joint Status Report, the court makes the following order:

SERVICE OF PROCESS

All parties defendant to this lawsuit have been served and no further service will be permitted except with leave of court, good cause having been shown.

FINAL PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCE

The final pre-trial conference is set for May 8, 2015 at 11:00 a.m. In each instance an attorney who will try the case for a given party shall attend the final pretrial conference on behalf of that party; provided, however, that if by reason of illness or other unavoidable circumstance the trial attorney is unable to attend, the attorney who attends in place of the trial attorney shall have equal familiarity with the case and equal authorization to make commitments on behalf of the client. All pro se parties must attend the pre-trial conference.

Counsel for all parties and all pro se parties are to be fully prepared for trial at the time of the pre-trial conference, with no matters remaining to be accomplished except production of witnesses for oral testimony. The parties shall file with the court, no later than seven days prior to the final pre-trial conference, a joint pre-trial statement.

Also at the time of filing the Joint Pretrial Statement, counsel are requested to e-mail the Joint Pretrial Statement and any attachments in Word format to Judge Mendez's assistant, Jane Klingelhoets at: jklingelhoets.uscourts.gov.

Where the parties are unable to agree as to what legal or factual issues are properly before the court for trial, they should nevertheless list all issues asserted by any of the parties and indicate by appropriate footnotes the disputes concerning such issues. The provisions of Local Rule 281 shall, however, apply with respect to the matters to be included in the joint pre-trial statement. Failure to comply with Local Rule 281, as modified herein, may be grounds for sanctions.

The parties are reminded that pursuant to Local Rule 281(b)(10) and (11) they are required to list in the final pre-trial statement all witnesses and exhibits they propose to offer at trial, no matter for what purpose. These lists shall not be contained in the body of the final pre-trial statement itself, but shall be attached as separate documents so that the court may attach them as an addendum to the final pre-trial order. The final pre-trial order will contain a stringent standard for the offering at trial of witnesses and exhibits not listed in the final pre-trial order, and the parties are cautioned that the standard will be strictly applied. On the other hand, the listing of exhibits or witnesses that a party does not intend to offer will be viewed as an abuse of the court's processes.

The parties are also reminded that pursuant to Rule 16, Fed. R. Civ. P., it will be their duty at the final pre-trial conference to aid the court in: (a) formulation and simplification of issues and the elimination of frivolous claims or defenses; (b) settling of facts which should properly be admitted; and (c) the avoidance of unnecessary proof and cumulative evidence. Counsel must cooperatively prepare the joint pre-trial statement and participate in good faith at the final pre-trial conference with these aims in mind. A failure to do so may result in the imposition of sanctions which may include monetary sanctions, orders precluding proof, elimination of claims or defenses, or such other sanctions as the court deems appropriate.

TRIAL SETTING

Jury trial in this matter is set for June 22, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. The parties estimate a trial length of approximately 5 days.

SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE

No Settlement Conference is currently scheduled. If the parties wish to have a settlement conference, one will be scheduled at the final pretrial conference or at an earlier time upon request of the parties.

OBJECTIONS TO STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) ORDER

This Status Order will become final without further Order of Court unless objection is lodged within seven (7) days of the date of the filing of this Order.

IT IS SO ORDERED.