Free Motion in Limine - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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LAW OFFICES One Arizona Center, 400 E. Van Buren Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2202 (602) 382-6000

Dan W. Goldfine (#018788) Richard G. Erickson (#019066) SNELL & WILMER L.L.P. One Arizona Center 400 East Van Buren Street Phoenix, AZ 85004-2202 Telephone: (602) 382-6000 Facsimile: (602) 382-6070 [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Grant Woods, Esq. (#006106) GRANT WOODS, P.C. 1726 North Seventh Street Phoenix, Arizona 85006 Telephone: (602) 258-2599 Facsimile: (602) 258-5070 [email protected] Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Counterdefendants and Third Party Defendants

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Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA Meritage Homes Corporation, et al., Case No. CV-04-0384-PHX-ROS Plaintiffs, v. Ricky Lee Hancock, et al., Defendants. AND RELATED COUNTERCLAIMS AND THIRD PARTY CLAIMS Plaintiffs move to exclude all references to Plaintiffs' purported theft of American Express miles. One of the many inflammatory themes that Greg Hancock attempted to develop during discovery that was that Meritage stole his American Express miles. Defendant Greg Hancock has repeatedly claimed that the miles, which were donated to pay for soldiers to fly home from Iraq, were stolen from him ­ although he has never substantiated that claim with any evidence other than his word that American Express told
2034325.1

PLAINTIFFS' MOTION IN LIMINE RE TESTIMONY AND ARGUMENT THAT PLAINTIFFS PURPORTEDLY STOLE AMERICAN EXPRESS MILES (Assigned to the Honorable Roslyn O. Silver)

Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS

Document 520

Filed 08/23/2007

Page 1 of 3

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LAW OFFICES One Arizona Center, 400 E. Van Buren Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2202 (602) 382-6000

him that the miles were stolen. (A copy of the press release announcing the transfer of miles is attached hereto as Exhibit 1.) Absent that predicate, whatever Plaintiffs did with the miles is not relevant because such evidence does not tend to prove a fact of consequence. Fed. R. Evid. 104(b) and 401. Moreover, there is no evidence in the record to dispute that the American Express card was paid for by and an asset of Hancock Communities, which Defendant Hancock sold to Meritage as part of the $88 million deal. See Agreement of Purchase and Sale of Assets of Hancock Communities at 3, attached hereto as Exhibit 2 (provided that assets included at "cash, cash equivalents, current assets, accounts receivable and notes receivable"). Accordingly, Meritage requests an order in limine barring Defendants and their counsel from making any reference to the American Express miles. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED this 23rd day of August, 2007. SNELL & WILMER L.L.P.

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Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.

By s/ Richard G. Erickson Dan W. Goldfine Richard G. Erickson Snell & Wilmer, L.L.P. One Arizona Center 400 E. Van Buren Street Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2202 Attorneys for Meritage and

By s/ Grant Woods Grant Woods, Esq. GRANT WOODS, P.C. 1726 North Seventh Street Phoenix, Arizona 85006 Attorneys for Meritage

2034325.1

Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS

Document 520- 2 - Filed 08/23/2007

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LAW OFFICES One Arizona Center, 400 E. Van Buren Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2202 (602) 382-6000

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on August 23, 2007, I electronically transmitted the foregoing document to the Clerk's Office using the CM/ECF System for filing and transmittal of a Notice of Electronic Filing to the following CM/ECF registrants: Ivan K. Mathew Mathew & Mathew, P.C. 3300 North Central Avenue, Suite 1730 Phoenix, Arizona 85012 Attorneys for Rick Hancock, Brenda Hancock, Rick Hancock Homes, L.L.C., and RLH Development, L.L.C. Robert M. Frisbee Frisbee & Bostock, PLC 1747 East Morton Avenue Suite 108 Phoenix AZ 85020 Attorneys for Greg Hancock Kenneth J. Sherk Timothy J. Burke Fennemore Craig, P.C. 3003 N. Central Ave. Suite 2600 Phoenix, AZ 85012-2913 Attorneys for Defendant Snell & Wilmer, L.L.P. in State Court Action s/ D. Yanazzo

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2034325.1 2032431

Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.

Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS

Document 520- 3 - Filed 08/23/2007

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