A Fort Worth federal judge denied an unopposed motion to continue an in-person jury trial on Thursday morning despite one of the plaintiff’s own lawyers currently testing positive for COVID-19.
The public record shows that during the hearing, which was in-person, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor set the case for trial on Dec. 16. The case involves a breach of contract dispute between plaintiff Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company and defendant Deere & Company, more widely known as John Deere.
In light of a recent order, the case is the only in-person jury trial that is scheduled in the Northern District of Texas for the remainder of 2020.
On Nov. 19, NDTX Chief Judge Barbara Lynn issued an order that halted all in-person jury trials across the district until the new year. In her order, she made an exception for the case before Judge O’Connor. The reasons for the exception have not been made public.
Judge Lynn’s order coincided with similar orders in the Western District of Texas and Southern District of Texas that postponed jury trials, as well as temporary closures of some courthouses in the Eastern District of Texas after multiple people — including more than a dozen participants of an in-person trial — tested positive for COVID-19.
According to court documents, William Sebesta is the lawyer for Nationwide who is currently positive for COVID-19. Sebesta and Randall Poelma, who both practice at Houston law firm Doyen Sebesta & Poelma, are Nationwide’s local counsel in the case. Nationwide’s other lawyers are based in Minnesota.
Nationwide’s unopposed motion to continue, which was filed Tuesday, cited several other reasons the trial should be delayed, including:
- Multiple witnesses and attorneys will have to travel from Iowa, Minnesota and other parts of Texas — “all locations with current rising COVID-19 positive cases;”
- One of the witnesses has already been exposed to COVID-19;
- Some of Nationwide’s live witnesses are part of the vulnerable population that, if tested positive, is more at-risk of more severe cases of COVID-19;
- A recent executive order issued by Minnesota’s governor requires anyone traveling out-of-state to self-quarantine for at least two weeks, “which would include the Christmas holiday;” and
- The case was exempted from Judge Lynn’s order “without any specific explanation.”
In response, Judge O’Connor set an in-person hearing on the matter for this morning. The hearing remained in-person despite both parties’ request to appear by telephone.
The judge did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Minneapolis lawyer Dave Taylor, who is lead counsel for Nationwide, told The Texas Lawbook that the ruling “is what it is” and that his side is “working with the court’s order,” but that the plaintiff is “looking into its options” with respect to any legal options it might pursue.
In the meantime, Taylor said there is a possibility that parts of the case may be tried remotely or that it might get tried before a magistrate judge, “which would allow us to try [the case] next spring or possibly at a time that might be more convenient and safe to do so.”
Taylor did not handle today’s hearing and said he couldn’t comment on whether Judge O’Connor provided any reasoning for wanting to move forward with the jury trial, but he said he thinks “it’s a scheduling issue.”
Lawyers for the defense, Ben Zennecker and Chris Blackerby of Germer Beaman & Brown’s Austin office, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
The case is 4:19-cv-425 in the Fort Worth Division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.