In all adversary proceedings other than those covered in BLR 7016-2 and whenever the Bankruptcy Court makes Part VII of the Bankruptcy Rules applicable in contested matters, the parties must file a proposed pretrial order in accordance with this rule, unless the Bankruptcy Judge to whom the proceeding is assigned directs that a proposed pretrial order not be filed or directs that it be prepared in a different manner.
(a) Procedure. The parties must prepare and sign a proposed consolidated pretrial order to be filed with the Bankruptcy Clerk no later than thirty days after the close of discovery. It is the responsibility of plaintiff’s counsel to contact defense counsel to arrange a date for the conference necessary to prepare the pretrial order. If issues arise on which counsel for the parties cannot agree, the areas of disagreement must be set forth in the proposed pretrial order. In those cases in which a pending motion for summary judgment exists, the time for filing the pretrial order is automatically suspended until thirty days after the Bankruptcy Court has ruled on the motion for summary judgment, unless the Bankruptcy Court orders otherwise. If counsel desire a pretrial conference, a request must be indicated on the proposed pretrial order immediately below the adversary proceeding number. Counsel will be notified if the Bankruptcy Judge determines that a pretrial conference is necessary. A case is presumed ready for trial after the pretrial order is entered unless another time is specifically set by the Bankruptcy Court.
(b) Content. Each proposed consolidated pretrial order must contain the information outlined below. No modifications or deletions shall be made without the prior permission of the Bankruptcy Judge. The proposed order must contain:
(1) A statement of any pending motions or other matters.
(2) A statement that, unless otherwise noted, discovery has been completed. Counsel will not be permitted to file any further motions to compel discovery. The parties are, however, permitted to take the depositions of any persons for the preservation of evidence and for use at trial if doing so will not delay the trial.
(3) A statement as to the correctness of the names of the parties and their capacity and as to any issue of misjoinder or non-joinder of parties.
(4) A statement as to any question of the Bankruptcy Court’s jurisdiction and the statutory basis of jurisdiction.
(5) The individual names, addresses, and telephone numbers of lead counsel for each party.
(6) A brief description, including style and case number of any pending related litigation, including any related pending adversary proceedings.
(7) An outline of plaintiff’s case, which must include:
(A) A succinct factual statement of plaintiff’s cause of action which shall neither be argumentative nor recite evidence.
(B) A separate listing of all Bankruptcy Rules and statutes as well as any other rules, regulations, statutes, ordinances, and illustrative case law relied upon by plaintiff.
(C) A separate statement for each item of damage claimed containing a brief description of the item of damage, dollar amount claimed, and citation to the law, rule, regulation, or any decision authorizing a recovery for that particular item of damage. Items of damage not identified in this manner will not be recoverable.
(8) An outline of defendant’s case, which must include:
(A) A succinct factual summary of defendant’s general, special, and affirmative defenses, which shall neither be argumentative nor recite evidence.
(B) A separate listing of all Bankruptcy Rules and statutes as well as any other rules, regulations, statutes, ordinances; and illustrative case law creating a defense relied upon by defendant.
(C) A separate statement for each item of damage claimed in a counterclaim, which must contain a brief description of the item of damage, the dollar amount claimed, and citation to the law, rule, regulation, or any decision which authorizes a recovery for that particular item of damage. Items of damage not identified in this manner are not recoverable.
(9) Any objection by the defendant to the outline of the plaintiff’s case.
(10) Any objection by the plaintiff to the outline of the defendant’s case.
(11) A listing of stipulated facts. It is the duty of counsel to cooperate fully with each other to identify all undisputed facts. A refusal to do so may result in the imposition of sanctions upon the non-cooperating counsel.
(12) A statement of the legal issues to be tried.
(13) A separate listing for each party of the witnesses (and their addresses) whom that party will or may have present at trial, including impeachment and rebuttal witnesses whose use can or should have been reasonably anticipated. A representation that a witness will be called may be relied upon by other parties unless notice is given fourteen days prior to trial to permit other parties to subpoena the witness or obtain his testimony by other means. Witnesses not included on the witness list will not be permitted to testify.
(14) Documentary and Physical Evidence:
(A) A separate, typed, serially numbered listing, beginning with 1 and without the inclusion of any alphabetical or numerical subparts, of each party’s documentary and physical evidence. Adequate space must be left on the left margin of each list for Bankruptcy Court stamping purposes. A courtesy copy of each party’s list must be submitted for use by the Bankruptcy Judge. Learned treatises which counsel expect to use at trial will not be admitted as exhibits, but must be separately listed on the party’s exhibit list.
(B) Prior to trial, counsel must affix to each exhibit stickers numbered to correspond with the party’s exhibit list. The surname of a party must be shown on the numbered sticker when there are either multiple plaintiffs or multiple defendants.
(C) A separate, typed listing of each party’s objections to the exhibits of another party. The objections must be attached to the exhibit list of the party against whom the objections are raised. Objections as to authenticity, privilege, competency, and, to the extent possible, relevancy of the exhibits must be included. Any listed document to which an objection is not raised is deemed to have been stipulated as to authenticity by the parties, and such documents will be admitted at trial without further proof of authenticity.
(D) A statement of any objections to the use at trial of copies of documentary evidence.
(E) Documentary and physical exhibits may not be submitted by counsel after filing of the pretrial order, except upon consent of all the parties or permission of the Bankruptcy Court. Exhibits so admitted must be numbered, inspected by counsel, and marked with stickers prior to trial.
(F) Counsel must familiarize themselves with all exhibits (and the numbering thereof) prior to trial. Counsel will not be afforded time during trial to examine exhibits that are or should have been listed herein.
(15) A listing of all persons whose testimony at trial will be given by deposition and designation of the portions of each person’s deposition which will be introduced. Objections not filed by the date on which the case is first scheduled for trial are deemed waived or abandoned. Extraneous and unnecessary matters, including non-essential colloquy of counsel, will not be permitted to be read into evidence.
(16) Any trial briefs which counsel may wish to file containing citations to legal authority on evidentiary questions and other legal issues. Briefs are limited to twenty-five pages unless leave to exceed the limit is granted by the Bankruptcy Court in advance. No brief will be considered that does not comply. Any brief in excess of fifteen pages must be indexed.
(17) Third-party claimants, crossclaimants and those asserting counterclaims must furnish the same information with respect to their claims; however, duplication of matters already covered is not required.
(18) Counsel are directed to submit a statement of proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law no later than the opening of trial.
(19) A statement of the date on which counsel met personally to discuss settlement, whether the Bankruptcy Court has discussed settlement with counsel, and the likelihood of settlement of the case at this time.
(20) A statement of each party’s estimate in hours of the time required to present that party’s evidence and an estimate of the total trial time.
(21) Any request for a pretrial conference prior to trial.
(22) The following paragraph must be included at the close of each proposed pretrial order above the signature line for the Bankruptcy Judge:
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the above constitutes the pretrial order for the above captioned case (__) submitted by stipulation of the parties or (__) approved by the Bankruptcy Court after conference with the parties.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the foregoing, including the attachments thereto, constitutes the pretrial order in the above case and that it supersedes the pleadings which are hereby amended to conform hereto and that this pretrial order cannot be amended except by order of the Bankruptcy Court, to prevent manifest injustice. IT IS SO ORDERED this _____ day of ____, 20__.
(23) The signatures of lead counsel for each party on the last page below the Bankruptcy Judge’s signature.