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 reference to Suzanne Hilton in opening statement, in closing argument and during testimonial evidence. Without details or evidentiary support, Defendants have asserted that Meritage engaged in improper conduct with respect to Ms. Hilton but has never identified any such evidence. See Frisbee October 12, 2006 Letter to the Court (Item # 388); Order at 1:20 to 2:4 (noting the lack of evidence of improper conduct by or involving Ms. Hilton) (Oct. 16, 2006) (Item # 393). Therefore, Federal (Assigned to the Honorable Roslyn O. Silver) PLAINTIFFS' MOTION IN LIMINE RE TESTIMONY AND ARGUMENT ABOUT SUZANNE HILTON

Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS

Document 505

Filed 08/08/2007

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

Rules of Evidence 104(a) and 401 bar its use in any context. Moreover, even if Defendants were able to identify evidence of "improper conduct," which is a condition precedent to determining relevance, such evidence does not tend to prove any fact of consequence in the instant case and is therefore inadmissible. Fed. R. Evid. 401. After all, how would such purported improper conduct tend to prove or disprove whether Defendants committed any wrongdoing? Certainly, it would not justify Defendants

usurping a corporate opportunity or breaching his contractual duties to Meritage. Further, given that Ms. Hilton is the wife of the CEO of Meritage, any reference to her will result in unfair prejudice to Meritage. Fed. R. Evid. 403. Accordingly, Meritage requests an order in limine barring Defendants and their counsel from making any reference to Ms. Hilton. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED this 8th day of August, 2007. SNELL & WILMER L.L.P.

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Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.

By s/ Dan W. Goldfine 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

Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS

Document 505- 2 - Filed 08/08/2007

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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 8, 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/ Jessica Araujo

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2030767

Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.

Case 2:04-cv-00384-ROS

Document 505- 3 - Filed 08/08/2007

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