Pat Gallagher

96th District Court (Tarrant County) — Standing Order in Limine (June 18, 2024): 59 matters not to be mentioned before the venire or jury without a ruling outside the jury's presence — collateral sources, insurance, settlements, unrelated claims and injuries, counsel's practice or fees, undesignated witnesses and unproduced documents, immigration status, § 18.001 affidavit limits, business-records affidavit limits

Judge J. Patrick Gallagher's ten-page Standing Order in Limine for the 96th District Court (June 18, 2024), which the court's trial instructions say governs every jury trial so that only uncovered limine matters are heard: 59 numbered subjects may not be referred to, alluded to or insinuated before the venire or jury until admissibility is determined outside the jury's presence — among them mischaracterizing opposing counsel's questions; parties' or lawyers' personal lives and politics; committing venire members on the facts; reading law to the jury before the charge is approved; golden-rule arguments; collateral-source benefits (Haygood); whether the plaintiff paid medical bills or has a letter of protection unless the provider testifies; taxation of recovery; unrelated claims, suits, injuries or accidents; subsequent remedial measures; personal habits and drug or alcohol use absent a bench showing; tax-return failures; how counsel was retained or is paid; characterizing counsel's practice; accident statistics; undesignated witnesses and unproduced documents (TRCP 193, 194); lawsuits against and income of expert witnesses; lay medical opinions; police-officer opinions before qualification; criminal convictions, incarceration, traffic citations, license suspensions and prior accidents; unadmitted documents and pleadings; parties' financial status and governmental resources; uncalled or equally available witnesses; hearsay statements of absent witnesses; employment refusals; photographs and videos before tender; discovery demands, witness-list requests and discovery disputes before the jury; negligent entrustment against governmental entities; payments, settlements and settlement offers; insurance and carrier identity, insurance-industry voir dire, 'regardless of who pays', responsibility or capability to pay a judgment; litigation costs; attorney-client communications; attorney's fees without a basis; counsel's personal opinions; comments on other witnesses' credibility; immigration status; references to limine motions; advice on the effect of answers; CPRC § 18.001 affidavits limited to reasonableness and necessity, admitted but still submitted to the jury, with controverted affidavits both excluded absent stipulation ('knock-out' view) and cross-examination rules; and Rule 902(10) business-records affidavits limited to Rule 803(6) averments while opinions and diagnoses in the attached records are admissible.