During jury trials, please be respectful of my desire to keep the jury busy all day. Each day, I will be available one half hour preceding the arrival of the jury. This is a good time to bring to my attention any problems you expect may arise during the course of the day. It is also a good time to make proffers or otherwise preserve the record. I expect the jury to be in the courtroom listening to evidence and argument the entire day. For those reasons, requests for sidebars are discouraged.

Courtroom Technology
Counsel are directed to make an appointment with the courtroom deputy prior to their trial or hearing to become familiar with the availability, operation and compatibility of the courtroom technology systems, should they wish to use them. Failure to do so may result in the equipment not being available for use.

Closing Cases
The court will close civil cases for statistical purposes after the entry of a final judgment following a jury verdict, court decision, or stipulation of the parties. This will not affect the disposition of post-trial motions or the assessment of fees and costs as appropriate.

Criminal
Absent extraordinary circumstances, the court will not consider motions or memoranda that are not filed at least seven business days before sentencing hearing.

The parties are not excused from the status conference unless the plea agreement has been executed, the change-of-plea hearing has been scheduled, and a notice of cancellation of the status conference has been docketed before the status conference date. If a plea is not accepted for whatever reason after the status conference, counsel must be prepared to go to trial and should not expect the failure of the plea to be grounds for a continuance.

Deposition Testimony
Parties must file with the court color-coded copies of deposition transcripts (preferably mini-script versions) reflecting, in different highlighted colors, the deposition excerpts each party has designated to be read at trial, with objections noted in the margin, five days before the beginning of the trial term. Parties should submit unresolved objections to video-recorded depositions to the court 10 days before the trial term.

Fair Labor Standards Act Cases
The court will no longer require the parties to file a case management report. The court will issue a scheduling order after the defendant appears in the case.

Laptop Connection Instructions
Learn about basic and division-specific laptop connection instructions.

Miscellaneous
The parties must use the standard form for case management reports. The court provides the form with an Initial Order shortly after the case is filed.

When filing motions electronically with the clerk, a party need not provide the judge’s staff with separate courtesy copies. If, however, a motion exceeds 25 pages in length (including exhibits and attachments). a courtesy copy is required. It need not be provided simultaneously but should be submitted promptly and may be provided via United States mail or other reliable delivery service. However, if a motion is filed in open court, a separate copy should be provided to the judge for review.

Mediation is required in most cases and should be completed four to six months before the trial term. The parties can stipulate to a mediator in their case management report. If they fail to do so, the court will appoint a mediator.

On motion, the court will issue a separate order for use of cell phones and laptop computers or any other special equipment the parties deem necessary. This motion may be filed at the final pretrial conference.

Judge Dalton prefers Westlaw citations over LexisNexis.

Notice of Unavailability of Counsel
This court's rules do not provide for filing a Notice of Unavailability as a method to avoid abiding by deadlines and schedules established by the court or to extend the time for responding to motions. Counsel may notify opposing counsel of his or her unavailability and request that his or her schedule be accommodated. With respect to deadlines for filing documents with the court, attending hearings, or otherwise, counsel must file a motion for an enlargement of time or a continuance of a hearing or deposition date as appropriate. It is impractical for the court to search the docket of each case for notices of unavailability before setting hearings and response deadlines. Accordingly, counsel may not rely upon the filing of the notice as a basis to excuse his or her appearance before the court or to comply with a deadline established by the court or governing rules of procedures.

Pretrial Conference
Judge Dalton normally conducts a final pretrial conference in each civil case about three weeks before trial. He will hear motions in limine at the conference. Pretrial conferences are usually scheduled at 10:00 a.m. on the third Thursday of each month.

Scheduling Order
Ordinarily, the court will enter a scheduling order within 14 days of the filing of the case management report. The court will not conduct a preliminary pretrial conference unless the parties request one or the court deems it necessary. Preliminary pretrial conferences are normally conducted by the magistrate judge assigned to the case.

Witness Rooms
There are witness rooms located at the front of the courtroom.

Litigants and witnesses are expected to conduct themselves with reserve and courtesy and, when appearing in court, must dress appropriately to preserve the dignity of the court. Proper attire includes, at minimum, shirt and tie for men and similarly appropriate attire for women. No shorts, jeans, polo shirts, or sneakers.

Ten days before trial, the parties must exchange a list of exhibits they intend to introduce in evidence at trial. Benchbooks containing the exhibits must be supplied to the court (these are the original exhibits that include the appropriate colored exhibit tags stapled to the upper-right-hand corner of the first page; tags can be found in the forms section of this webpage) and for the judge and witness box at the outset of the trial, together with an index and matrix reflecting any objections. The bench and witness sets do not need exhibits tags; however, counsel shall use number tabs to tab-out the exhibits for quick reference. All exhibits that are not objected to will be introduced and admitted at the outset of that party's case as joint exhibits.

To avoid duplication of exhibits and prevent confusion in the record, the parties are encouraged to submit all stipulated exhibits as joint exhibits in a single list rather than individually marked by each party. For example, if medical records or contract documents are being stipulated into evidence, they should be marked as a joint exhibit and not listed separately by both (all) parties. Each party's exhibit list would then include only those additional exhibits to which objections have been asserted, with the specific objection noted on the exhibit tag.

See Judge Dalton's preferences on pre-marking of exhibits, preparation of exhibit lists, and substitution of exhibits.

Since December 1, 2016, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has required that the electronic record include all exhibits admitted into evidence at trial or at an evidentiary hearing. Counsel should be prepared to submit in PDF format on a CD/DVD or flash drive all exhibits marked for identification and/or admitted during trial/hearing to the courtroom deputy no later than seven days following the conclusion of the trial or hearing. Each exhibit is to be saved as a separate document, not to exceed 10 megabytes in size. If necessary to meet the size limitation, documents may be separated into subparts, such as Exhibit 1-1, 1-2, etc. Counsel will be required to submit a certification that all parties have reviewed the submission and agree to its authenticity (form attached).

Lawyers are encouraged to be familiar with the American College of Trial Lawyers' Codes of Pretrial and Trial Conduct and to conduct themselves accordingly.

The court will conduct the jury voir dire, giving due consideration to questions proposed by the parties. The court may permit counsel for each party to briefly supplement its voir dire examination. See Judge Dalton's civil and criminal jury selection procedures.

The court will normally be in session from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. each day with one hour and 15 minutes for lunch. However, this schedule may change as circumstances require.

Ten days before trial, the parties must exchange a list of witnesses they will definitely call at trial (the A list), and a list of those witnesses they might call at trial (the B list). By the conclusion of the proceedings each day, the party presenting its case must advise the opposing party and the court of the witnesses it intends to call the following day.