In the 2016-2018 Supreme Court Rules Committee Reports (224 N.J.L.J. 497), the committee invites comment on a number of proposed emendations and additions to our rules including upon which is the proposed addition of R.4:25-8, Motions in Limine. Almost two years ago, in an editorial entitled, Empower Courts to Rule on Expert Reports Before Trial, NJLJ 2/26/16, we called upon our Supreme Court “to direct the Civil Practice Committee to develop guidelines which, on the one hand, [will] allow a litigant to quickly bar testimony which discovery demonstrates will not survive a trial”…while, on the other hand, be mindful that “if, by reading the respective briefs, it appears that a pre-trial hearing on the motion should not be entertained, the request simply should be denied.”
The proposed rule usefully sets standard parameters for the timing and briefing of in limine motions and requires that, to the extent practicable, they be decided by the judge assigned for trial. It requires that all such motions be filed no less than 14 days before the scheduled trial date, except for good cause shown. In one respect, though, it sets a trap for unwary counsel.
