On December 06, 2001 a Motion,Ex Parte was filed involving a dispute between Jordan, Cheryl Lynn, Jordan, James, Thomas Dee Engineering Company, and 4520 Corp., Abblummus Global, Inc., A C And S,Inc., A.H. Voss Company, Albay Construction, Allis-Chalmers Corp. Product Liability Trust, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., American Standard, Inc., Asbestos Corp. Limited, Asbestos Corporation Ltd., Asbestos Defendants, Babcock Borsig Power Inc Ref To Db Riley Inc, Blue Diamond Corp., Borg Warner Inc., Borgwarner Inc. Fka Borg-Warner Automotive, Inc., Bragg Investment Company, Inc., Bridgestone Firestone Americas Holdings, Inc., Bridgestone Firestone,Inc., Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, Llc,, Bwd Automotive, Calaveras Cement Co., Certainteed Corporation, Chevron Products Company, Colonial Sugar Refining Company, Conocophillips Company, Consolidated Insulation, Inc., Crane Co., Crown Cork & Seal Company,Inc., Daimlerchrysler Corporation, Dana Corporation, D. Cummins Corporation, Diamond International Corp., Dillingham Construction N.A.,Inc., Dixon Boiler Works Inc, Dixon Boiler Works, Inc., Does 1-800, Dow Chemical Company, Dresser Industries Inc., D.W. Nicholson Corporation, Eaton Corporation, Elliott Company, Elliott Turbomachinery Co., Inc., Fisher Controls International, Llc, Flintkote Co., Flintkote Mines Ltd., Flowserve Us Inc, Flowserve Us Inc., Fluor Corporation, Fmc Corporation -Turbo Pump Operation, Ford Motor Company, Foster Wheeler Llc, Garlock Sealing Technologies, Ll, Gatke Corporation, General Electric Company, General Motors Corporation, General Refractories Company, Genstar Co., Genuine Parts Company, Goodrich Corporation, Grinnell Corporation, Halliburton Company, Hanson Cement, Inc., Henry Vogt Machine Co., Hercules Powder Company, Honeywell International, Inc. Fka Alliedsignal, Imo Industries Inc.,, Imo Industries, Inc., J.R.Simplot Company, J.R. Simplot Company, A Nevada Corporation,, J.T. Thorpe & Son, Inc., Kaiser Gypsum Company, Inc., Keenan Properties, Inc, Kubota Corporation, Lamons Gasket Company Dba Power Engineering &, Lear Siegler Diversified Holdings Corp., Maremont Corporation, Metalclad Insulation Corporation, Monsanto Company, Morton International, Inc. A Rohm And Haas Company, Oakfabco, Inc., Oscar E. Erickson, Inc., Owens-Illinois, Inc., Pacific Coast Building Products, Inc Dba Pacific, Parker Hannifin Corporation, Parker-Hannifin Corporation, Parsons Energy & Chemical Group, Inc., Parsons Energy & Chemicals Group Inc, Plant Insulation Company, Pnuemo Abex Corporation, As Successor, Power Engineering & Equipment Co. Inc., Quigley Company, Inc., Rapid-American Corporation, Republic Supply Company, Rheem Manufacturing Co, Rheem Manufacturing Company, Robertson-Ceco Corporation, Rosendahl Corporation, Santa Fe Braun, Inc. As Successor-In-Interest To, Sequoia Ventures, Inc., Shell Oil Company, Soo Line Railroad Company, Standard Motor Products, Stuart Radiator Core Manufacturing Co Inc, Stuart Radiator Core Manufacturing Co. Inc., Stuart-Western, Inc., Sugar City Building Materials Inc., Taylor Plumbing Supply Company, Dba Globe Plumbing, Taylor Plumbing Supply Inc., Temporary Plant Cleaners, Inc., The Budd Company, Thomas Dee Engineering Company, Thorpe Insulation Company, Tosco Corporation, Tosco Refining Company, Trimon, Inc., Union Carbide Corporation, Unocal Corporation, Viacom Inc., Successor By Merger To Cbs Corporatio, Vogt Valve Company, Waldron, Duffy, Inc., Westburne Supply, Inc., Yale Industrial Products, Inc., Zurn Industries, Inc., for ASBESTOS in the District Court of San Francisco County.
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LEWIS BRISBOIS BISGAARD & SMITH LLP CONSTANCE MCNEIL, SBN 184526 E-Mail: me il lbbslaw.com ELECTRONICALLY ELIZABETH C. SEARS, SBN 250450 E-Mail: sears@Ibbslaw.com FILED Superior Court of California, One Sansome Street, Suite 1400 County of San Francisco San Francisco, CA 94104 Tel: 415.362.2580 J Fax: 415.434.0882 GORDON PARK-LI, Clerk BY: VANESSA WU Deputy Clerk Attomneys for Defendant PLANT INSULATION COMPANY SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO 10 i JAMES JORDAN, ) CASE NO. 402113 ) 12 Plaintiff, ) 13 } ASBESTOS-RELATED 14 MOTION IN LIMINE NO. 22: } TO EXCLUDE PLAINTIFF'S COUNSEL 15 ASBESTOS DEFENDANTS, et ai., FROM EXPRESSING PERSONAL } OPINIONS, MENTIONING OR REFERRING 16 Defendants. } TO VERDICTS IN SIMILAR LITIGATION 17 Trial Date: January 20, 2009 } Action Filed: December 6, 2001 18 ) 19 Defendant PLANT INSULATION COMPANY, on behalf of all defendants, respectively moves to 20 this court im limine for an order excluding plaintiff's counsel from expressing personal opinions as in 21 parties, the competency of testimony or sufficiency of evidence, and to exclude reference to verdicts 22 similar litigation. This motion is made on the grounds that plaintiff's counsel’s opinions, and/or verdicts 23 in similar litigation, are irrelevant (Evid. Code §§210,350), would unduly prejudice defendants, and would 24 confuse and mislead the jury (Evid. Code §352). 25 WM 26 it 27 tt 28 4853-2771-9683.1 1 VERDICT... MILI TO EXCLUDE PTF'S CNEL FR EXPRSG PRSNL OPINIONS, MENTIONING, OR REFERRING TO THE PERSONAL OPINIONS OF PLAINTIFF'S COUNSEL AS TO PARTIES OR THE SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDEN CE ARE IRRELEVA NT, AND CONSTITUTE PREJUDICIAL ERROR. Statements of counsel are not evidence (BAJI No. 1.02). An attomey’s expression of personal l beliefs as to the credibility of witnesses or the value of facts constitutes prejudicial error, (People y, Roberts (1966) 65 Cal.2d 514, 520.) Counsel cannot argue facts not in evidence, or assert as facts those matters allegedly within counsel’s personal knowledge. (Brokopp v. Ford Motor Co. (1977)71 Cal.App.3d 841, 862.) Itis also error to permit counsel to express personal opinions regarding parties to the action. (Love v, Wolf (1964) 226 Cal.App.2d 378.) Defendants anticipate plaintiff’s counsel may attempt, during opening statement or summation, to 10 express personal opinions as to one or more of the defendants, certain witnesses’ credibility, or the suf- 11 ficiency of facts and evidence. Any such opinions are clearly irrelevant, do not constitute admissible evi- 12 dence, and would be highly prejudicial, to the point of reversible error. 13 i ANY REFERENCE TO VERDICTS IN SIMILAR LITIGATION SHOULD BE EXCLUDED 14 BECAUSE THEY ARE IRRELEVANT AND HIGHLY PREJUDICIAL TO DEFENDANTS. s or 15 Defendants anticipate plaintiffs counsel may also endeavor to refer to verdicts, judgment and 16 pending matters in other asbestos actions. Any such references are irrelevant to any disputed issue, 17 would be highly prejudicial to defendants, both by “poisoning the well” and creating juror bias favoring 18 plaintiff. . (1968) 19 Itis prejudicial errorto refer to verdicts in other actions. (tenchaca y. Helms Bakeries, Inc. in other actions 20 68 Cal.24 535, 544.) Asthe California Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized, verdicts verdicts 21 are irrelevant to any disputed issue at the trial ofa pending case. The only purpose for referring to 22 insimilar litigation would be to unduly prejudice defend ant by creating s plaintiffand to utilize bias favoring evidence of other litigation to establish liability in the present action. Both are improper goals. 24 1, CONCLUSION task to 25 The personal opinions of counsel have no place at trial, particularly where it is the jury’s counsel here to 26 weigh and evaluate the sufficiency of admissible evidence before it. To permit plaintiff’s or party status 27 express personal opinions on any subject— whether evidence sufficiency, witness credibility, 28 4853-2771-9683.1 2 G TO VERDICT... Mir2> TO EXCLUDE PIF'S CNSL FR EXPRSG PRSNL OPINIONS, MENTIONING, OR REFERRIN ~would work an extraordinary injustice on the defense, and would constitute reversible error. Accordingly, PLANT INSULATION COMPANY, on behalfof all defendants, respectfully requests this court order that i plaintiff's counsel is precluded from rendering any personal opinions, or making reference to verdicts, it judgments, or pending actions in similar litigation. H Dated: January 6, 2009 LEWIS BRISBOIS BISGAARD & SMITH LLP Po sd beth C. Sears Attorney for Defendant PLANT INSULATION COMPANY 10 ll 12 13 4 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4853-2771-9683.4 3 TO VERDICT... MIL 22; TO EXCLUDE PTIF'S CNSL FR EXPRSG PRSNL OPINIONS, MENTIONING, ‘OR REFERRING