District Court Judge
Counties: Scott County
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Contact with Chambers
• To whom may attorneys direct scheduling/logistical questions? Court Administration or my law clerk
• To whom may attorneys direct substantive questions? My law clerk (bearing in mind that my clerk probably cannot answer substantive questions!)
• Set forth your practices and procedures for scheduling motion hearings. Schedule through Court Administration, not chambers.
• Identify any type of motion for which you do not require a hearing. Most stipulated motions in civil cases (e.g., amendment to scheduling order, leave to amend pleadings, discovery).
• Do you accept telephone calls from attorneys to rule on discovery disputes that occur during depositions? Yes, If I am available, but such calls should be rare.
• How much time do you allot for motion hearings? It depends upon the motion. Few motions should require more than half an hour to argue, and most should require much less than that.
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to attending a hearing by telephone or video conference. I generally follow Minnesota Judicial Branch Policy 525. In general, criminal cases and hearings involving the taking of evidence are in person, and motion hearings are by video. I will deviate in individual cases if extraordinary circumstances exist.
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to discovery motions. I encourage the parties to agree to submit the issue to me on letter briefs followed by a telephone conference, at which I will give a preliminary ruling. The parties may file a formal motion if they don't agree with my preliminary ruling.
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to stipulations of the parties, including stipulations for protective orders. [Did not answer]
• Do you have any particular requests or procedures relating to requests to amend the scheduling order? I will generally grant them upon stipulation, unless I feel the amended time limits are unreasonable. I strongly encourage parties to stipulate to deadlines when possible.
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to default proceedings. It depends on the proceeding, as the law sometimes requires facts to be proven up at a default hearing. If not, I will generally grant a default request if all of the requirements are strictly complied with (e.g., proof of valid service).
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to handling emergency motions. I generally want to see a written pleading explaining why there is an emergency. I will decide whether to hear the matter on an emergency basis or in the ordinary course. Please be aware that things that are important are not automatically emergencies.
• If your preferences for motion hearings by remote means differ from any of your earlier answers, please describe your preferences for remote video conference hearings. [Did not answer]
• Do you want to receive paper courtesy copies of the parties' written submissions? If you do, set forth the number of courtesy copies and identify any document type you do not want to receive. I generally read the motion papers the evening before a hearing. If a motion is complicated and you believe that I might need more than an evening to review the submissions, a paper courtesy copy of the most relevant written submissions is helpful. Courtesy copies do not need to be three-hold punched. Please do not send copies of cases.
• Set forth your preferences for handling informal requests for relief using the expedited, informal non-dispositive motion process set forth in Minn. Gen. R. practice 115.04(d). [Did not answer]
Pre-Trial Procedures
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to the submissions of additional legal authority or other materials at or after oral arguments. If a case is decided after oral argument that counsel believes is relevant, you may file a letter of no more than 300 words citing the case and briefly explaining its relevance. Opposing counsel may do the same.
• Describe your preferred procedures for pretrial settlement conferences, including the timing of such conferences, persons who must attend, whether persons may attend by telephone or video conference, and how you participate in settlement discussions. I generally will not get involved in settlement in a case assigned to me or for which I will be making substantive decisions. I will generally ask another judge to handle such conferences. Clients with authority to settle the case fully and finally must be present, as I will put a settlement agreement on the record whenever possible and ask both clients to represent on the record that they have full authority to settle. Parties should attend in person, although I will consider requests to appear by videoconference if requested in advance of the conference. I generally act as a "traditional" mediator, putting each side in a separate room and visiting with each side in an effort to give both sides a realistic view of the strengths and weaknesses of their case. I generally do not have counsel give "opening statements" in the presence of the opposing party.
• Identify what technology you use in the courtroom and state whether you prefer a particular electronic format. We can easily display images from a laptop onto the courtroom display. For anything much more sophisticated than that, you should contact my law clerk to discuss its use and whether we are equipped to handle it.
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to attorney’s use of technology in the courtroom and during trial. I am open to just about anything as long as you test it before the trial to ensure it will work and have a backup plan ready to go if it doesn't. I do NOT like recesses to work out technology issues.
• Do you permit parties to bifurcate oral argument so different attorneys address different legal issues? It's not the best practice, as I might have a question during one lawyer's piece of the presentation that the lawyer is not prepared to address, but I'll permit it.
In-Person Trials
• Are you willing to provide a date certain for trial? Yes
• Set forth your practices and procedures for handling motions in limine. I issue a trial order in civil cases that sets a deadline for submitting motions in limine. They should be concise (generally no more than four or five pages of explanation for a particular issue).
• What is your schedule for a typical trial day? 9:00 to noon with a 15-minute break and 1:00 to 4:30 with a 15-minute break.
• Set forth your voir dire procedures. I'm pretty traditional. I have a set of standard questions that I go through, and then turn it over to the attorneys. I will limit the length if I think that it is getting tedious or improper, and will of course entertain objections to questions that opposing counsel believes are improper. Be aware that I used to try cases and know that lawyers often like to try to tell their story during voir dire. As a judge, I strongly prefer "plain vanilla" voir dire with the goal of getting a truly unbiased jury.
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to courtroom decorum, including movement in the courtroom, use of a podium, whether attorneys should sit or stand, and how to address witnesses. I follow the Minnesota Trial Book in the beginning of the General Rules of Practice. Please ask to approach witnesses. I'm fine with use of a podium--whatever attorneys are more comfortable with. I'm fine with attorneys sitting or standing when they question witnesses, although if you stand, you need to be loud enough to be heard by the court reporter or I may need you to sit. Witnesses are always addressed as "Mr." or "Ms." or "Dr." unless it is a child or I give permission to address them otherwise.
• Do you impose time limits with respect to opening statements and closing arguments? One hour. Just because I allow it doesn't mean you should take it!
• Identify what technology you use in the courtroom and state whether you prefer a particular electronic format. Covered earlier.
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to attorney’s use of technology in the courtroom. Covered earlier.
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to marking and using exhibits. I will generally set this out in the pretrial order. You have to file the exhibits on MNDES in my District. You're not required to use the electronic images at trial--paper is just fine, if you prefer it--but the MNDES version is now the official court record. Exhibits should always be pre-marked.
• For exhibits uploaded to the Minnesota Digital Exhibit System (MNDES), set forth your preferences regarding naming conventions for files uploaded to the system. Contact District Court Administration for their preferences. What they say goes as far as the technical aspects of uploading exhibits.
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to handling objections Pretty traditional: briefly state the objection. I will ask the other side to respond if I think it necessary--the response should be equally brief. No "speaking" objections.
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to the use of deposition testimony. As long as it's used in accordance with the civil rules, I'll allow it. I want a transcript of all the portions of the deposition that will be played for the jury, submitted in advance, preferably.
• May attorneys obtain daily transcripts during trial? If so, what procedure should attorneys follow? If you want dailies, please contact my court reporter at least two weeks before the trial.
• Set forth your practices and procedures with respect to attorney requests to contact jurors at the conclusion of trial. I am not opposed to it, but if I hear complaints from any juror about how they're treated in a post-trial contact, it's going to be a REAL problem.
• If your practice differs for trials by remote means, please describe the differences. Too numerous to mention here. Best to contact my law clerk.