United States Senior District Judge for the District of Wyoming
JUDGE NANCY D. FREUDENTHAL
United States Senior District Judge for the District of Wyoming
Chambers e-mail: WyoJudgeNDF@wyd.uscourts.gov
Chambers Phone Number: (307) 433-2190
2120 Capitol Avenue, Courtroom No. 1
Cheyenne, WY 82001
For FORMS AND STANDARDS for Judge Freudenthal Cases, please see the links at the end of this page.
Bench Book for Senior Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal
Contact Information:
Kellie Erickson, Judicial Assistant (307) 433-2190, kellie_erickson@wyd.uscourts.gov
Samuel Blackington, Term Law Clerk (307) 433-2193, samuel_blackington@wyd.uscourts.gov
Philip Voron, Term Law Clerk (307) 433-2192, philip_voron@wyd.uscourts.gov
Abby Logan, Courtroom Deputy (307) 433-2129, abby_logan@wyd.uscourts.gov
Jan Davis, Court Reporter (307) 433-2154, jbd.davis@gmail.com
Telephone calls and emails to chambers regarding scheduling and procedural matters are permitted. For scheduling issues in particular, Judge Freudenthal prefers counsel contact chambers by telephone or email to address any request to change the date set for a hearing, rather than filing a motion. For all emails relating to any matter, please show a copy was sent simultaneously to all counsel. For all phone calls relating to any matter, please obtain permission, prior to contacting chambers, from opposing counsel or all counsel should conference together before calling. Please help us avoid ex parte contacts.
We do not accept material sent via fax. We also discourage courtesy copies mailed or delivered to the clerk's office. Please email courtesy copies in Word format, or scan, OCR and email documents to wyojudgendf@wyd.uscourts.gov. All pleadings (excluding sealed documents) are to be filed in CM/ECF. Sealed documents shall be delivered to the Clerk's Office, and a courtesy copy may be delivered to chambers. Chambers receives the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) for all documents filed in CM/ECF and retrieves documents 24-48 hours after filing.
Mailing address: 2120 Capitol Ave., Room 2242, Cheyenne, WY 82001.
Pretrial Matters:
This federal district is committed to full utilization of its magistrate judges. Consent to trial by a magistrate judge should be fairly and appropriately considered by counsel.
All motions should be accompanied by a proposed order. A courtesy copy of the proposed order must be emailed in Word format to Chambers at wyojudgendf@wyd.uscourts.gov. All emails to Chambers must include all parties’ counsel of record.
Motions to dismiss will not be set for a hearing absent a request for setting. If a hearing is granted on a motion, unless otherwise approved, each side will be assigned thirty minutes for oral argument. If there are multiple plaintiffs or defendants, the attorneys are responsible for conferring to arrange a sharing of that thirty-minute time. If rebuttal time is requested, it must be reserved out of the plaintiff’s thirty-minute time at the beginning of argument.
Judge Freudenthal conducts her own initial pretrial conferences. Counsel and unrepresented parties must meet to confer regarding the matters identified in the Rule 26(f) Conference Checklist available through the link above. In lieu of the written discovery plan required in U.S.D.C.L.R. 16.1(a)(2), counsel shall finalize and file a joint case management report in the form available through the link below. Counsel shall file the case management report and email a Word version of the report to the Chambers email address. At the IPT conference, counsel should be prepared to discuss any issues in the Conference Checklist or in the report. Counsel should bring their calendars (if the IPT conference is held in person, please advise the CSO that you need to bring your internet-capable device to the Judge's conference room and this will be permitted). If a location other than Cheyenne is requested for trial (such as Casper or Jackson), counsel should confer and be prepared to address this matter with the Court at the initial pretrial conference.
For employment cases alleging adverse action, counsel shall review Judge Freudenthal’s General Order 2012-05 regarding Discovery Protocols for Employment Law Cases, available through the link below.
For cases with a dispositive motion filing date, Judge Freudenthal typically schedules a status conference about a month before the dispositive motion filing date. Counsel should be prepared to discuss the status of claims, whether any claims have or will be abandoned, any expected dispositive motion, whether a hearing is still desired for the anticipated filing or whether counsel wish to have the matter decided on briefs (if so, a reply brief will be permitted), and the status of settlement efforts. Counsel is encouraged to consider the benefit of mediation and/or settlement conference well before the status conference to avoid disruption of the schedule set in the case.
Except motions to dismiss, case-dispositive motions will typically be decided after a hearing. The times for each side’s argument are as noted above. Judge Freudenthal is usually prepared to pose specific questions to counsel at motion hearings and often issues a tentative ruling, so counsel should not repeat contents of memoranda. Telephone and video hearings are available only if the notice or order setting them specifically so states or the Court grants leave. The parties must confer in advance and promptly file a motion demonstrating unusual circumstances at least three business days before the hearing. If the request for telephone or video hearing is granted, arrangements must be made in advance by contacting the Courtroom Deputy, Abby Logan (see above for contact information).
Non-dispositive motions are typically referred to the Magistrate Judge. Counsel is reminded to follow any procedures required by the Magistrate Judges related to the filing of non-dispositive motions.
If expedited treatment of a motion is desired, counsel should secure consent of counsel to an expedited schedule or move for an expedited schedule, and submit a proposed order for expedited treatment.
If a motion includes a reference to a deposition, please email the deposition to wyojudgendf@wyd.uscourts.gov in E-Transcript viewer format or a fully searchable pdf.
Please do not file discovery notices (e.g., notices of deposition, notice of service of interrogatories, etc.) in CM/ECF. See U.S.D.C.L.R. 26.1(d)(1).
Per U.S.D.C.L.R. 26.1(e), Judge Freudenthal requires all parties file expert witness reports and supplemental or amended expert witness reports in CM/ECF. Allegations that designations are faulty or fail to satisfy Daubert and its progeny should be brought by motion in a timely fashion. Do not wait and file such objections in the form of a motion in limine near trial.
Trial Procedures and Practices:
The IPT order will set a deadline for the parties to email to Chambers a joint, draft final pretrial order before the final pretrial conference. The forms for the IPT Order and Final Pretrial Order can be found using the links below. The IPT and FPT Orders provide information on such trial matters as jury instructions, voir dire, motions in limine, and exhibit and witness lists. Judge Freudenthal also has a set of “Final Pretrial and Trial Pointers” which counsel should review, available through the links below.
For bench trials, please see Judge Freudenthal’s Procedure for Presentation of Direct Testimony by Written Statement, and Guidelines for Proposed Findings and Conclusions, available through the links below.
Judge Freudenthal has stock jury instructions for civil and criminal cases as well as stock voir dire, both of which can be found using the links below. Absent extraordinary circumstances, Judge Freudenthal does not use a jury questionnaire separate from the general one sent by the jury administrator. Counsel will typically receive the list of individuals summoned for jury selection on the Wednesday before the trial begins from the jury administrator. This list will include basic information on the prospective jurors, although counsel should be cautioned that frequently such information can be dated. Contact with prospective jurors is strictly prohibited.
On the first day of a jury trial, counsel shall report to Chambers at 8:30 a.m.
During trial, Judge Freudenthal uses juror numbers to protect juror confidentiality. Counsel may not refer to jurors on the record by their name, but must use the jurors' assigned numbers.
An electronic evidence presentation system is available for use, and counsel is strongly encouraged to make use of this system. We encourage counsel to contact the Courtroom Deputy Abby Logan (see above for contact information) for a tutorial session to improve evidence presentation and to check for compatibility of equipment. The courtroom also has wireless internet access. The username and password are available from Ms. Logan.
FORMS AND ADDITIONAL STANDARDS FOR ALL CASES BEFORE JUDGE FREUDENTHAL - WYOMING and NEW MEXICO
SOCIAL SECURITY COMPLAINT
COUNSEL: PLEASE READ THIS TO SEE HOW TO CREATE THE BEST TRANSCRIPT POSSIBLE!
RULE 26(f) - CONFERENCE CHECKLIST FOR JUDGE FREUDENTHAL
FORM OF CASE MANAGEMENT PLAN
DISCOVERY PROTOCOLS FOR EMPLOYMENT LAW CASES
PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PROPORTIONALITY
STIPULATED ORDER REGARDING NON-WAIVER OF ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE AND WORK PRODUCT PROTECTION
FINAL PRETRIAL AND TRIAL POINTERS
GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSED FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW FOR BENCH TRIALS
PROCEDURE FOR PRESENTATION OF DIRECT TESTIMONY BY WRITTEN STATEMENT
VOIR DIRE QUESTIONS (CIVIL)
VOIR DIRE QUESTIONS (CRIMINAL)
CIVIL JURY INSTRUCTIONS
CRIMINAL INSTRUCTIONS
FORMS for Judge Freudenthal - WYOMING
FORM OF INITIAL PRETRIAL ORDER - BENCH TRIAL
FORM OF INITIAL PRETRIAL ORDER - JURY TRIAL
DRAFT FORM OF FINAL PRETRIAL ORDER - BENCH TRIAL
DRAFT FORM OF FINAL PRETRIAL ORDER - JURY TRIAL
FORMS for Judge Freudenthal - NEW MEXICO
JOINT FINAL PRETRIAL FORM - BENCH
JOINT FINAL PRETRIAL FORM - JURY