Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company v. Lexington Insurance Company

Opinion

THE HONORABLE BARBARA J. ROTHSTEIN

WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON

COMPANY, Case No. 2:21-cv-00616-BJR Plaintiff, JOINT MOTION AND ORDER TO VACATE TRIAL DATE AND RELATED v. DATES PENDING DECISION ON PENDING MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY BCS INSURANCE COMPANY, JUDGMENT Defendant. I. INTRODUCTION/RELIEF REQUESTED Plaintiff Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company (“ASIC”) and Defendant BCS Insurance Company (“BCSI”) (collectively “Parties”) by and through their respective attorneys, bring this joint motion pursuant to LCR 10(g) and respectfully request that this Court modify its January 6, 2022 Order to vacate the December 8, 2022 bench trial and related dates pending decisions on the Parties’ pending motions for summary judgment filed on August 8, 2022 and fully briefed as of September 12, 2022. II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In its Order of January 6, 2022, this Court set the trial date in this matter for December 8, 2022. Dkt. 89. Since that time, the Parties completed discovery and moved for summary judgment on August 8, 2022. Those motions were fully briefed as of September 12, 2022. Given that deadlines related to the December 8, 2022 trial date will begin passing imminently, the Parties believe that it is in the interest of judicial economy that the trial date be vacated pending decisions on the pending dispositive motions. III. GOOD CAUSE IS ESTABLISHED Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b) provides that “a schedule shall not be modified except upon a showing of good cause and by leave of the district judge. . . .” A party moving to amend a schedule should show that the deadlines presented cannot reasonably be met despite the diligence of the party seeking an extension. Pfeiffer v. Eagle Mfg. Co., 137 F.R.D. 352, 355 (D. Kan. 1991); Wright & Miller, 6A Federal Practice & Procedure, § 1522.1, p. 230-31 (citing Advisory Committee notes to 1983 Amendment to Rule 16); ICU Med., Inc. v. Rymed Tech., Inc., 674 F. Supp. 2d 574, 577 (D. Del. 2009). Courts should grant extensions when the moving party can show that it has worked diligently to position the case for trial or for disposition by motion. Here, the Parties have been diligent in moving this matter to resolution. They have completed discovery and filed their motions for summary judgment on the deadline set in the scheduling order. The Parties believe that the pending motions will resolve all, or nearly all, of the issues remaining in the case and that preparing for and proceeding to trial without the benefit of this Court’s orders on the motions for summary judgment will be inefficient and a waste of the Parties’ resources and judicial resources. Should trial remain necessary after the resolution of the motions for summary judgment, the decisions on the motions will allow the parties to narrow their trial preparation, pre-trial filings, witnesses, and exhibits to only those issues not resolved by summary judgment. The Parties request that if the pending dispositive motions do not resolve all remaining issues, that they be required to submit a joint status report within thirty (30) days of the issuance of the Order on the pending dispositive motions and to participate in a status conference, if requested by the Court, to reset the trial date and related dates. For the foregoing reasons, the Parties ask that the trial date and related dates be vacated. A proposed Order follows.

Dated: September 20, 2022 SHEPPARD, MULLIN, RICHTER & HAMPTON LLP

By /s/Robert J. Guite Robert J. Guite, WSBA No. 25753 INTACT U.S. COVERAGE LITIGATION GROUP

Sara L. Menton, admitted Pro Hac Vice Emmitt L. DuBose III, admitted Pro Hac Vice Attorneys for Plaintiff Atlantic Specialty Insurance Company

Dated: September 20, 2022

By s/Marc Pearlman Marc Pearlman, admitted Pro Hac Vice Attorneys for Defendant BCS Insurance Company ORDER

IT IS SO ORDERED. The December 8, 2022 trial date and related dates set forth in the January 6, 2022 Order (Dkt. 89) are VACATED. To the extent that the pending motions for summary judgment do not resolve all remaining issues in this case, the Parties shall submit a further joint status report within 10 days of the Court’s Order on the pending motions for summary judgment. DATED this 26th day of October, 2022.

A B arbara Jacobs Rothstein U.S. District Court Judge

Presented by:

By /s/ Robert J. Guite Robert J. Guite, WSBA No. 25753 Attorneys for Atlantic Specialty Ins. Co.