ExamWorks, LLC v. Baldini

District Court, E.D. California·Decided December 2, 2020·No. 2:20-cv-00920·Unknown

Opinion

1 ROBERT S. SHWARTS (STATE BAR NO. 196803) rshwarts@orrick.com 2 CATHERINE Y. LUI (STATE BAR NO. 239648) clui@orrick.com 3 NATHAN SHAFFER (STATE BAR NO. 282015) nshaffer@orrick.com 4 ORRICK, HERRINGTON & SUTCLIFFE LLP The Orrick Building 5 405 Howard Street San Francisco, CA 94105-2669 6 Telephone: +1 415 773 5700 Facsimile: +1 415 773 5759 7 Attorneys for Plaintiff 8 ExamWorks, LLC

9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 SACRAMENTO DIVISION 12 13 EXAMWORKS, a Delaware limited liability Case No. 2:20-CV-00920-KJM-DB company, 14 SECOND STIPULATION/ Plaintiff, STATEMENT OF NON-OPPOSITION 15 AND ORDER TO AMEND RULE 16 v. 16 SCHEDULING ORDER DUE TO TODD BALDINI, an individual, ABYGAIL THIRD PARTY DISCOVERY 17 BIRD, an individual, LAWRENCE STUART GIRARD, an individual, PAMELLA TEJADA, Judge: Hon. Kimberly J. Mueller 18 an individual, ROE CORPORATION, and Place: Courtroom 3, 15th floor DOES 1 through 10, 19 Defendants. 20

28 1 Plaintiff ExamWorks, LLC (“ExamWorks”) respectfully submits the following second 2 stipulation and proposed order, requesting the Court continue the deadline for joinder of third 3 party and fact discovery deadline as to third-parties Integrated Pain Management (“IPM”) and 4 William George (collectively “IPM Parties”) only. Currently, the deadline for joinder of 5 additional parties is December 10, 2020 and fact discovery closes on December 28, 2020. ECF 6 No. 104; ECF No. 87. As to third parties other than the IPM Parties and as to the parties in this 7 action, ExamWorks does not request any continuance for joinder or fact discovery. However, the 8 IPM Parties and ExamWorks entered into an extensive forensic inspection protocol, which will 9 not be completed by December 10, 2020. Accordingly, ExamWorks requests a 35-day 10 continuance of the joinder deadline from December 10 to January 14, 2021 and a 17-day 11 continuance of the fact discovery cut-off from December 28 to January 14, 2021 to allow 12 ExamWorks to complete discovery and settlement negotiations with the IPM Parties in order to 13 avoid, to the extent possible, adding additional parties to this lawsuit. As a result of the requested 14 continuance as to the IPM Parties, ExamWorks also requests that the deadlines associated with 15 expert discovery and the hearing of dispositve motions as to all parties are also continued 30 16 additional days. 17 Previously, the Court granted the parties’ stipulation and proposed order to amend the 18 scheduling order to continue the joinder deadlines as to third parties until December 10, 2020. 19 ECF No. 104. Since the Court’s entry of the stipulation, ExamWorks has diligently pursued 20 discovery as to the third parties. ExamWorks anticipates meeting the December 10 joinder 21 deadline as to third parties Dr. Steven Feinberg, Dunamis Alliance, James Tuthill, and Trisha 22 Tuthill. However, as to the IPM Parties, ExamWorks requires additional time. ExamWorks 23 entered into a lengthy forensic inspection protocol with the IPM Parties, which directed a jointly- 24 retained forensic neutral to preserve, collect, and produce documents, provide forensic opinions, 25 and remediate ExamWorks’ confidential documents. There have been unanticipated technical 26 issues with the completion of the forensic protocol, which will require additional time for the 27 protocol to complete. As a result, ExamWorks will not have the benefit of a completed forensic 28 inspection before the December 10 joinder deadline; ExamWorks will also be unable to depose 1 the IPM Parties prior to the joinder deadline. The IPM Parties and ExamWorks are working 2 together in good faith to complete the forensic inspection efficiently, but ExamWorks require a 3 short continuance to allow: (i) the forensic neutral to complete the forensic inspection and 4 production of documents; (ii) ExamWorks sufficient time to review the produced documents and 5 the forensic neutral’s reports, and complete the depositions of the IPM Parties; and (iii) to provide 6 sufficient time for the IPM Parties and ExamWorks to see if a potential resolution may be reached 7 without having to add the IPM Parties to the litigation. 8 The requested continuance of the joinder and fact discovery deadlines are to the IPM 9 Parties only. ExamWorks is not requesting a continuance as to the joinder deadline or as to fact 10 discovery cut-off for any other party or third parties other than the IPM Parties. However, due to 11 the requested continuance of deadlines related to the IPM Parties, ExamWorks further requests 12 that the expert discovery and dispositve motion hearing deadlines currently set in the case 13 schedule are continued by 30 days since the discovery of the IPM Parties will likely impact the 14 disclosure of expert opinions. 15 Defendants Todd Baldini, L. Stuart Girard, and Abygail Bird stipulate to the relief 16 requested. 17 Defendant Pamella Tejada does not oppose ExamWorks’ requested relief but takes no 18 position with respect to the contents of this motion or the representations made herein. 19 A. Background 20 This action arises out of Defendants’ prior employment with ExamWorks. In Spring 21 2020, Defendants Girard and Tejada resigned from ExamWorks. In the course of investigating 22 their departures, ExamWorks came to believe that they had taken significant information related 23 to ExamWorks’ business, including information that ExamWorks considers to be its trade secrets. 24 Defendants Baldini’s and Bird’s employment was terminated shortly thereafter. This action was 25 filed on May 4, 2020 (ECF No. 1), and on May 8, 2020, the Court granted ExamWorks’ motion 26 and issued a Temporary Restraining Order and Order to Show Cause and ordered expedited 27 discovery (ECF No. 17). On June 3, 2020, the Court granted ExamWorks’ motion for 28 Preliminary Injunction. ECF No. 45. 1 In connection with the Rule 16 scheduling conference held on August 20, 2020, 2 ExamWorks alerted the Court that ExamWorks planned to take third-party discovery of certain 3 business entities affiliated with Defendants. ECF No. 86 (Jnt. Rpt.) at 8. ExamWorks contends 4 that the relevant third parties, including Steven Feinberg, James Tuthill, William George, Trisha 5 Tuthill, Dunamis Alliance LLC (“Dunamis”), and/or IPM were all connected in one way or 6 another with Defendants’ departure from ExamWorks and were connected to a scheme to 7 misappropriate ExamWorks’ trade secrets. See also ECF No. 39 (Supp. Br.) at 2–5 (setting forth 8 ExamWork’s position and evidence that the identified third parties were connected with a venture 9 planned by Defendants). A significant purpose of taking third-party discovery was to determine 10 what, if any, ExamWorks information was misappropriated by third parties so that it could be 11 returned to ExamWorks. Suppl. Decl. of Catherine Y. Lui (“Suppl. Lui Decl.”), filed 12 concurrently herewith, ¶ 2. 13 B. ExamWorks Diligently Pursued Information from Third Parties. 14 As discussed in the parties’ first Stipulation and Proposed Order to Amend Scheduling 15 Order (hereinafter “First Stipulation”), ECF No. 100, ExamWorks diligently pursued third party 16 discovery from Dunamis, the Tuthills, Dr. Feinberg, and the IPM Parties. ExamWorks 17 incorporates by reference pages two through four of its First Stipulation as if stated herein. See 18 ECF No. 100 at 2-4. As to Dr. Feinberg, Dunamis, and the Tuthills, ExamWorks anticipates that 19 it will be able to meet the December 10 joinder deadline to complete discovery and finish the 20 evaluation of whether it will join these third parties to the action. Suppl. Lui Decl. ¶ 3.

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