Rule 16. Pre-trial Procedure: Formulating Issues

• Library: South Carolina Rules Annotated (SCBar) (2020 Ed.)

RULE 16. PRE-TRIAL PROCEDURE: FORMULATING ISSUES

(a) Pre-Trial Hearings.

In any action after the issues are joined by the actual filing and service of all pleadings, the court may in its discretion or upon motion of any party direct the attorneys for the parties to appear before it for a hearing to consider:

(1) The simplification of the issues;

(2) The necessity or desirability of amendments to the pleadings;

(3) The possibility of obtaining admissions of fact and of documents which will avoid unnecessary proof;

(4) The limitation of the number of expert witnesses;

(5) The limitation of the time allowed for discovery;

(6) The advisability of reference of issues to a master: (a) for findings to be used as evidence when the trial is to be by jury, or (b) disposition of non-jury issues;

(7) The disposition of pending motions;

(8) Such other matters as may aid in the disposition of the action.

The attorneys at such pre-trial hearing shall be prepared, as to each party, to:

(1) State the facts which can be proven whether or not alleged in the pleadings;

(2) State the questions of law involved, with citations of legal authority substantiating the party's position thereon;

(3) State with particularity all items of damages claimed and the measure of the damages;

(4) Provide copies of all relevant medical statements or records;

(5) Make good faith offers of settlement;

(6) Exchange lists of witnesses, including expert witnesses;

(7) Agree upon all facts not in controversy;

(8) Exchange lists of all exhibits proposed to be offered at trial.

(b) Pre-Trial Orders.

The court shall make a written order which recites the action, if any, taken at the hearing, the amendments allowed to the pleadings, and the agreements made by the parties as to any of the matters considered, and which limits the issues for trial to those not disposed of by admissions or agreements of counsel; and such order when entered controls the subsequent course of the action, unless modified on motion, or at the trial to prevent manifest injustice. The order may, in the court's discretion, also: (1) provide that exhibits or witnesses not listed at the hearing may not be called or admitted in evidence at the trial, unless such witness or exhibit is discovered after pre-trial hearing and promptly disclosed to opposing parties; (2) provide that all motions pending at the time of the hearing which are not presented for disposition are deemed abandoned; (3) provide that all or part of the pre-trial hearing be continued to a future time, or that...