Brown

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 Gayle W. Brown, No. 2:19-cev-01921-KJM-AC Plaintiff, ORDER Vv. Simpson Strong-Tie Co., Inc., et al., 1S Defendants. 16 This matter is before the court on defendants’ motion to bifurcate and to exclude evidence. Mot., ECF No. 92. Specifically, defendants seek to bifurcate the jury trial on the issue of punitive damages and to exclude evidence regarding the financial condition of defendant Simpson Strong- Tie Company (Simpson). According to defendants, the motions are unopposed. /d. at 1. For the reasons below, the motions are denied without prejudice. The court denies defendants’ motion to bifurcate. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42(b) 23 permits the separate trial of one or more issues “[f]or convenience, to avoid prejudice, or to expedite and economize.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 42(b). On the one hand, the rule “confers broad 25 discretion upon the district court to…