Pretrial Conference in the United States
Meeting called by a judge to prepare a case for trial. A pretrial conference occurs just prior to trial and is called at the discretion of the court. The conference participants include the judge and attorneys for the parties. Conferences are designed to eliminate or narrow the questions that need to be tried. The idea is to produce some agreement on at least some of the fact questions. Agreement on such a question of fact is called a stipulation. If several issues can be stipulated, the trial need examine only the remaining contested questions. The point(s) of agreement and disagreement that emerge from a pretrial conference are embraced in an order that governs the remaining proceedings in the case. The conference thus serves to aid in the disposition of a case by focusing the trial on the fewest and narrowest items.
See Also
Analysis and Relevance
Pretrial conferences used to be devices through which a trial judge could try to facilitate settlement of a case. Such an objective is no longer realistic. As a result of discovery, most cases that might settle do so before the time pretrial conferences are normally convened. This makes the removal of extraneous issues a primary objective of the conference. The conference also serves to reduce the element of surprise. To that end, witness lists and other documents not produced in discovery are exchanged. The conference, thus, is a device by which complete disclosure can occur. This minimizes the number of issues still needing court attention and may bring to light information that prompts settlement. Either of these consequences is of value to the court and probably the parties.
Notes and References
- Definition of Pretrial Conference from the American Law Dictionary, 1991, California
Pretrial Conference Definition in the context of the Federal Court System
A meeting of the judge and lawyers to plan the trial, to discuss which matters should be presented to the jury, to review proposed evidence and witnesses, and to set a trial schedule. Typically, the judge and the parties also discuss the possibility of settling of the case.
Pretrial Conference
This section examines the Pretrial Conference subject in its related phase of trial. In some cases, other key elements related to trials, such as personal injury, business, and criminal litigation, are also addressed.
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