Chief United States District Judge in the District of Wyoming
Chambers e-mail: WyoJudgeKHR@wyd.uscourts.gov
Chambers Phone Number: 307/433-2180
2120 Capitol Avenue
Cheyenne, WY 82001
Bench Book for Judge Kelly H. Rankin
Contact Information:
MiYon Bowden, Courtroom Deputy (307) 433-2145, miyon_bowden@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 but must be accompanied by conferral and generally must be followed by a formal 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. All pleadings (excluding sealed documents) are to be filed in CM/ECF. Sealed documents shall be delivered to the Clerk’s Office. 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 wyojudgekhr@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 granted 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.
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. U.S.D.C.L.R. 83.5(a–b). If the request for telephone or video hearing is granted, arrangements must be made in advance by contacting the Courtroom Deputy, MiYon Bowden (see above for contact information). The same process applies for the appearance of remote witnesses.
Non-dispositive motions are typically referred to the assigned Magistrate Judge. See U.S.D.C.L.R. 72.1. 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 relevant portion of the deposition to wyojudgekhr@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). Please consider the Proportionality Matrix resource linked when making discovery requests generally.
Per U.S.D.C.L.R. 26.1(e), Judge Rankin 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. Daubert challenges filed in the form of a motion in limine are improper.
Trial Procedures and Practices:
The Initial Pretrial Order (“IPT”) 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 (“FPT”) 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, and general pre-trial deadlines.
For bench trials, please see Judge Rankin’s Procedure for Presentation of Direct Testimony by Written Statement, and Guidelines for Proposed Findings and Conclusions, available through the links below.
Judge Rankin has stock jury instructions for civil and criminal cases both of which can be found using the links below. 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 such information can be dated. Contact with prospective jurors is strictly prohibited. In criminal matters, copying this information without prior court approval is strictly prohibited.
At the conclusion of each trial day, counsel shall send their witness list for the following day to opposing counsel and court reporter Jan Davis by no later than 6:00 p.m. at the email address included above.
During trial, jurors are referred to by 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 MiYon Bowden (see above for contact information) prior to trial for a tutorial session to improve evidence presentation and to verify compatibility of equipment. The courtroom also has wireless internet access. The username and password are available from Ms. Bowden.
Please notify the Court as soon as possible that a case or a pending motion has settled or been resolved and submit a motion to vacate if appropriate. This allows the Court to maintain efficiency.
Cellphones are not permitted in the courtroom, and no technology of any kind is permitted in the gallery unless special permission is obtained from the Court. See U.S.D.C.L.R. 83.3(a–b).
All parties must speak clearly and at a moderate rate of speed into a microphone for the benefit of all in attendance including the court reporter and the jury when applicable. Movement around the courtroom is restricted to the podium. A party may request permission to approach the witness, the bench, or the jury.
The Court requires attorneys to be mindful at all times of the Wyoming Rules of Professional Conduct, Fed. R. Civ. P. 11, and U.S.D.C.L.R. 84.1 when making any appearance in the federal district court.
FORMS for Judge Rankin
RULE 26(f) - CONFERENCE CHECKLIST FOR JUDGE RANKIN
Form Case Management Plan
Guidelines for Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law for Bench Trials
Draft Form of Final PreTrial Order - Jury Trial
Draft Form of Final PreTrial Order - Bench Trial
Procedure for Presentation of Direct Testimony by Written Statement
Stock Jury Instructions - Civil
Stock Jury Instructions - Criminal
Practical Guide to Proportionality