Abraham Trial Volume V of Viii
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Volume V of VIII 996 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS 2 AMARILLO DIVISION 3 ABRAHAM & VENEKLASEN JOINT § 4 VENTURE, ABRAHAM EQUINE, § INC., and JASON ABRAHAM, § 5 § Plaintiffs, § 6 § VS. § CASE NO. 2:12-CV-103-J 7 § AMERICAN QUARTER HORSE § 8 ASSOCIATION, § § 9 Defendant. § 10 ============================================================= 11 CIVIL TRIAL BY JURY 12 13 JULY 23, 2013 14 VOLUME V OF VIII 15 16 (Pages 996 - 1239) 17 ============================================================= 18 19 On the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 20 26th, 29th, and 30th days of July 2013, a Civil Trial by Jury 21 in the above-entitled and numbered cause came on to be heard 22 before the Honorable Mary Lou Robinson, United States District 23 Judge for the Northern District of Texas, presiding and a jury. 24 25 Proceedings reported by mechanical stenography; transcript produced by computer. Stacy Mayes Morrison Official Court Reporter T r i a l I n d e x 997 1 VOLUME V (PAGES 996 - 1239) 2 3 PROCEEDINGS FOR JULY 23, 2013 4 PAGE 5 CAPTION............................................................. 996 6 TRIAL INDEX......................................................... 997 7 EXHIBIT INDEX....................................................... 998 8 APPEARANCES......................................................... 999 9 PROCEEDINGS FOR JULY 23, 2013....................................... 1000 10 COURT'S INSTRUCTIONS TO JURY ON TAKING NOTES ....................... 1000 11 12 13 PLAINTIFFS' EVIDENCE (CONTINUED) 14 WITNESSES: DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS VOIR DIRE 15 CHRISTOPHER PFLAUM 1002 1011 1028 16 (CONTINUED) 17 18 ABRAHAM EQUINE, INC. RESTS.......................................... 1039 19 ABRAHAM & VENEKLASEN JOINT VENTURE RESTS............................ 1039 20 JASON ABRAHAM RESTS................................................. 1039 21 DEFENDANT'S JUDGMENT AS A MATTER OF LAW............................. 1039 22 DEFENDANT'S MOTION OVERRULED........................................ 1040 23 24 25 Stacy Mayes Morrison Official Court Reporter T r i a l I n d e x 998 1 VOLUME V (CONTINUED) 2 (PAGES 996 - 1239) 3 4 5 DEFENDANT'S EVIDENCE 6 WITNESSES: DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS VOIR DIRE 7 FRANK MERRILL 1040 1102 1133 1134 8 1136 9 JOAN SCHROEDER 1145 1163 1166 1168 1171 1171 10 JEFF TEBOW 1173 1211 1230 1236 11 12 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE.............................................. 1239 13 14 15 16 17 IDENTIFICATION OF PLAINTIFFS' EXHIBITS 18 NO. DESCRIPTION OFFERED ADMITTED 19 20 145 TOP TWENTY SALES REPORT FOR THE 2011QUARTER HORSE YEARLING SALE HELD AT HERITAGE PLACE 1235 1236 21 146 TOP TWENTY SALES REPORT FOR THE 2010 WINTER 22 MIXED SALE HELD AT HERITAGE, JANUARY 14-16, 2010 1235 1236 23 147 CHART MS. STONE DREW FROM MR. TEBOW'S 24 TESTIMONY 1235 1235 25 Stacy Mayes Morrison Official Court Reporter Appearances 999 1 A-P-P-E-A-R-A-N-C-E-S 2 3 FOR PLAINTIFF, ABRAHAM & MS. NANCY J. STONE VENEKLASEN JOINT VENTURE: Law Office of Nancy J. Stone 4 Attorney at Law 320 S. Polk St., Suite 820 5 Amarillo, Texas 79101 6 FOR PLAINTIFF, ABRAHAM MR. SAMUEL L. STEIN 7 EQUINE, INC.: Law Office of Sam L. Stein, PLLC Attorney at Law 8 305 S. Grand Avenue P.O. Box 223 9 Cherokee, Oklahoma 73728 10 FOR PLAINTIFF, JASON MR. RONALD D. NICKUM 11 ABRAHAM: Law Office of Ronald D. Nickum Attorney at Law 12 P.O. Box 1889 Amarillo, Texas 79105-1889 13 AND 14 MR. BRIAN E. ROBISON 15 GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER, LLP Attorneys at Law 16 2100 McKinney Ave., Suite 1100 Dallas, Texas 75201 17 18 FOR THE DEFENDANT: MR. W. WADE ARNOLD and 19 MR. MICHAEL H. LOFTIN and MS. AUTUM LEIGH WHITE 20 Underwood Law Firm Attorneys at Law 21 500 S. Taylor, Suite 1200 Amarillo, Texas 79101 22 23 COURT REPORTER: MS. STACY MAYES MORRISON 24 Official Court Reporter 205 E. 5th, LB #F13263 25 Amarillo, Texas 79101 (806) 672-6219 Stacy Mayes Morrison Official Court Reporter Discussion on Jury Taking Notes (Out of Jury's Presence) 1000 1 PROCEEDINGS FOR JULY 23, 2013 2 (The following took place in open court with all parties 3 present, but without the jury.) 4 MORNING SESSION 5 THE COURT: Some of the jurors have inquired about 6 whether -- after they're in recess when they're in the jury 7 room, if they can make notes on what they've heard during the 8 trial. 9 Now, I do not think that's advisable, because 10 there's the likelihood of their discussing the case early in 11 the case and deliberating, but I propose to tell them that 12 they can take notes in the courtroom so long as they do not 13 refer to them in the presence of the other jurors and do not 14 discuss them with the other jurors until they're finally 15 deliberating. 16 Is there any objection to that procedure? 17 MR. LOFTIN: No objection from Defendant, Your 18 Honor. 19 MR. NICKUM: No objection. 20 THE COURT: You can bring the jury in. And we'll 21 have notepads for them, so -- 22 MS. STONE: And they'll -- Judge, will they leave 23 their notepads -- they'll leave their notes here at night? Is 24 that what I understand? 25 THE COURT: Pardon me? Stacy Mayes Morrison Official Court Reporter Court's Instructions to Jury On Taking Notes 1001 1 MS. STONE: They'll leave their notes. They won't 2 take them with them when they leave the courthouse? 3 THE COURT: Are you asking that that be done? 4 MS. STONE: Yes, Your Honor. 5 THE COURT: Is that -- 6 MR. LOFTIN: I think that would be fine, Your Honor. 7 Ms. Stone is just asking if they not take their notes out of 8 the -- away from the courthouse. 9 THE COURT: Don't take them out of the courtroom? 10 MR. LOFTIN: I think that's a good idea. 11 THE COURT: All right. Bring the jury in. 12 (The jury returned to the courtroom, and the following 13 took place in open court with the jury and all parties 14 present.) 15 COURT'S INSTRUCTIONS TO JURY ON TAKING NOTES 16 THE COURT: Well, you can go ahead and take the 17 stand. 18 It's my understanding that some of the jurors had 19 inquired about whether they could make notes during recess as 20 an aid to remembering the testimony. The answer to that 21 question is no, but you can take notes during the trial itself 22 so long as you do not take the notes up to the jury room. 23 Now, remember, you cannot discuss any part of the 24 case even when you're all together in the jury room until the 25 case is all over. So you can take notes, but you must leave Stacy Mayes Morrison Official Court Reporter Christopher Pflaum (Cross--Mr. Loftin) (Defendant AQHA) 1002 1 the notes in your seat in the courtroom when you go upstairs. 2 And the clerk has notes in case -- notepads in case someone 3 wants to take notes. 4 (Courtroom clerk hands out notepads to jury.) 5 THE COURT: Now, I'll give you further instructions 6 when you finally get the charge, and, of course, you can -- at 7 that time when you go to the jury room to deliberate, you can 8 take your notepad with you, but do not rely on what another 9 person has put on their notepads at that time. 10 So, as I say, you can take notes in the courtroom, 11 leave them in the courtroom when you go upstairs. Do not 12 discuss the case or what's in your notes when you are in the 13 jury room until you finally deliberate. 14 You may proceed. 15 MR. LOFTIN: May it please the Court, Counsel? 16 CHRISTOPHER PFLAUM (CONTINUED), 17 having been previously duly sworn, testified as follows: 18 CROSS EXAMINATION (RESUMED) 19 BY MR. LOFTIN: 20 Q. Let me begin by apologizing for a misstatement I made 21 yesterday. The $4,000 horse that won the Rainbow Derby last 22 weekend was, in fact, sold as a stallion, but later gelded. 23 So as a race winner, he was a gelding, and I referred to him 24 as a stallion, and I apologize for that. 25 I'd like to talk to you about the three-million-dollar Stacy Mayes Morrison Official Court Reporter Christopher Pflaum (Cross--Mr. Loftin) (Defendant AQHA) 1003 1 mistake. 2 A. Yes, sir. 3 MR. LOFTIN: Rhonda, if you don't mind, would you 4 pull up Exhibits No. -- Plaintiffs' Exhibits 137 and 138 that 5 were admitted in evidence yesterday. 6 Q. (By Mr. Loftin) Now, the mistake of $3,000,000 is 7 actually more than the claimed damages on Plaintiffs' 8 Exhibit 137, correct? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Okay. Now, you began working on this case shortly after 11 the lawsuit was filed in April of last year? 12 A. Yeah. About then, yes. 13 Q. Okay. And part of what you did was, in November of last 14 year, you prepared a rather lengthy report explaining your 15 opinions and the basis for them so that we, the Defendant, 16 could understand your opinions and the basis for them, correct? 17 A. Correct. 18 Q. And one of things you discussed in that first report was 19 damages, what damages are the Plaintiffs claiming, correct? 20 A. Yes. 21 Q. And one of the elements of damages in particular that you 22 discussed was the semen sales or stud fees. I can -- those 23 two terms mean the same thing, don't they? 24 A. They do. 25 Q. Okay. I think I'll use stud fees. Okay? Stacy Mayes Morrison Official Court Reporter Christopher Pflaum (Cross--Mr.