Hannah v. Leon Guerrero

Opinion

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2 1 JUL1 6 I fQ'1

3 OLE ,BURT PY.

4 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT 5 OF GUAM

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7 MAY D.F. HANNAH, ) Civil Case No. CV 1651-10

8 Plaintiff, DECISION & ORDER

9 vS. )

10 LUCILLE FLORES LEON GUERRERO, ) 11 IGNACIO R. LEON GUERRERO, ALFRED ) F. LEON GUERRERO, MARK D. LEON )

12 GUERRERO, BRIAN F. LEON GUERRERO )

and DOES I-IX, )

13 Defendants.

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16 INTR ODUC TION 17 Pursuant to Rule 7.1 of the Local Rules of the Superior Court of Guam, the issue of 18 entry of a scheduling order was placed under advisement by the Honorable Judge Michael J.

19 Bordallo on May 26, 2014. Defendants were represented by Attorney Jacqueline Taitano 20 Terlaje. Plaintiff was represented by Attorney James M. Maher. After having carefully 21

22 received and reviewed the papers, arguments and the file herein, the Court hereby orders

23 compliance with the following scheduling order. 24 BACKGROUND

25 The instant claim arises out of Plaintiff's July 11, 2011, First Amended Complaint. In 26 her complaint, she asserts cases of action for, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, deceit, quiet title 27

28 and conversion. On July 25, 2013, the Court entered an order denying Defendants'. motion to

I compel and setting a 30-day deadline for responding to all non-expert fact discovery

2 propounded by the Parties. On April 17, 2014, nearly eight months after the entry of the 3 Court's order, the Parties met to discuss outstanding discovery issues.

4 On May 12, 2014, Defendants filed a paper entitled, Mutual Disagreement of 5 6 Scheduling Order. In it they assert they have made a good faith effort but are unable to agree

7 upon a scheduling order and discovery plan. Attached to Defendants' paper is a copy of the 8 Parties' proposed scheduling orders.

9 On May 20, 2014, Plaintiff filed a paper entitled, Objection to Defendant's Proposed 10 Scheduling Order and Discovery Plan. In her objection Plaintiff asserts and argues Defendants'

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12 failure to show sufficient cause for extending discovery. Citing rule 16.5(a) of the Court's

13 local rules, Plaintiff argues that Defendants must demonstrate extraordinary and compelling 14 circumstances and specifically describe an identifiable need.

15 DISCUSSION

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17 Rule 16 of the Guam Rules of Civil Procedure regulates the entry of scheduling orders in

18 any action pending before a court. Guam R. Civ. P. 16(a). It grants a court the discretion to 19 direct the expedited disposition of an action, control protracted case management, discourage 20 wasteful pretrial activities, require thorough pretrial preparation and facilitate settlement. Id.

21 Guam R. Civ. P. 16(a). It further allows the entry of an order that limits and establishes 22

23 deadlines for the: joiner of parties, filing of motions, amendment of pleadings, completion of

24 discovery and establishes dates for a final pretrial conference and trial. Id. (b). Once such an 25 order has entered the rule further requires that prior to its amendment there be a showing of 26 good cause. Id.

27 Rule 16.5 of the Superior Court of Gu am's Local Rules regulates the extension of

I deadlines fixed in a scheduling order. Super. Ct. Guam R. 16.5(a). It requires that a second 2 request to extend a discovery deadline be supported by extraordinary and compelling 3 circumstances. Id.

4 In this case, Defendants in their noticing paper make no assertion that would satisfy a 5 6 finding good cause or compelling circumstance. Defendants' proposed scheduling order

7 indicates that off-island witness testimony may impact the scheduling of a trial , however, they 8 do not use this assertion to support a request to enlarge a deadline. Defendants further indicate 9 that they intend to file a motion to enlarge time for discovery but a review of the Court's file 10 11 reveals no such filing.

12 Under the above standard and in consideration of the length of time this matter has been

13 pending, and the Guam Supreme Court's Administrative Rules 006-001 and 13-003, the Court 14 finds the entry of the following dates and deadlines necessary to a resolution of this matter:

15 1. The discovery cutoff period in this matter has expired and shall not be extended absent a 16

17 showing of compelling circumstance;

18 2. The deadline for dispositive motions in this matter has expired; 19 3. A Pretrial Conference in this matter is set for /144r/ J , 2014, at 20 4 m.;

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4. The Parties' pretrial materials, discovery materials, witness lists, designations , and exhibit 22

23 lists shall be filed 28 days prior to the trial set in this matter;

24 5. A five day trial by a jury of six is set to commence on November , 2014, at 25 /: 31) , in. 26 II

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C ONC LUSION

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Based on the foregoing, the Court orders the Parties' compliance with the above

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deadlines.

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6 SO ORDERED, this /G of �,Tc.y 2014.

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14 SERVICE VIA COURT BOX I acknowledge that a copy of the 15 original hereto was placed in the court box of:

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