By: Derek Hawkins//May 9, 2016//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: Clifton Morgan v. City of Chicago
Case No.: 14-3307
Officials: WOOD, Chief Judge, and EASTERBROOK and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges.
Focus: Equal Protection Clause – Motion for New Trial
Motion for new trial denied as appellant not deprived of a fair trial.
“There is no requirement that a district court hold a pretrial conference, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(a), and courts have “broad powers to determine the proper method of preparing a case for trial,” Mizwicki v. Helwig, 196 F.3d 828, 833 (7th Cir. 1999) (noting that a “court’s discretionary order should not be disturbed on review unless it is clear that no reasonable person would rule as the district court judge did”). We see no basis in the record for questioning the court’s decision to forego a pretrial conference. With regard to the court’s deferral of its motions in limine rulings until trial, we cannot accept Mr. Morgan’s argument that this decision created an atmosphere of “trial by surprise.”61 Indeed, a district court has continuing discretion throughout the proceedings to alter earlier rulings even when it rules on motions in limine before trial. See Perry v. City of Chicago, 733 F.3d 248, 252 (7th Cir. 2013). The district court’s resolution of these pretrial issues fits comfortably within its broad discretion on such matters and did not render Mr. Morgan’s trial unfair.”
Affirmed