Homefed Village III Master, LLC v. Otay Landfill, Inc.

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 HOMEFED VILLAGE III MASTER, Case No.: 20-cv-00784-L-JLB LLC, 12 ORDER: Plaintiff, 13 v. (1) GRANTING IN PART JOINT 14 MOTION TO EXTEND OTAY LANDFILL, INC., et al., 15 SCHEDULING ORDER Defendants. DEADLINES; AND 16

17 (2) ISSUING AMENDED SCHEDULING ORDER 18

19 [ECF Nos. 53; 68]

20 21 22 Before the Court is a Joint Motion to Extend Scheduling Order Deadlines, wherein 23 the parties request to extend all remaining dates and deadlines in the Scheduling Order. 24 (ECF No. 68.) After consulting with counsel of record during a telephonic Status 25 Conference on February 1, 2022, and for the reasons set forth in the joint motion, the Court 26 finds that good cause exists for some of the parties’ requests. Accordingly, the parties’ 27 joint motion (ECF No. 68) is GRANTED IN PART, and the operative Scheduling Order 28 (ECF No. 53) is amended as follows: 1 1. The parties shall complete the previously noticed depositions of Gary McCue 2 (as an individual, as a 30(b)(6) designee for Homefed, and as Homefed’s affirmative and 3 rebuttal expert), Daniel Johnson (OLI’s expert), Mark Cejas (Homefed’s expert), TRC’s 4 30(b)(6) designee, Sin Senh (LKQ’s expert), and Gregory Douglas (LKQ’s expert) by 5 April 4, 2022. 6 2. All other pretrial motions must be filed by May 5, 2022. Counsel for the 7 moving party must obtain a motion hearing date from the law clerk of the judge who will 8 hear the motion. The time between the date you request a motion date and the hearing date 9 may vary from one district judge to another. Please plan accordingly. Failure to make a 10 timely request for a motion date may result in the motion not being heard. Motions in 11 limine are to be filed as directed by the Court. 12 3. The Mandatory Settlement Conference (“MSC”) currently scheduled for 13 February 23, 2022, is hereby RESET to May 4, 2022, at 9:00 AM in Judge Burkhardt’s 14 chambers, Edward J. Schwartz U.S. Courthouse, 221 West Broadway, Suite 5140, San 15 Diego, California 92101. Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 16.3, all party representatives and 16 claims adjusters for insured defendants with full and unlimited authority1 to negotiate and 17 enter into a binding settlement, as well as the principal attorney(s) responsible for the 18 litigation, must be present and legally and factually prepared to discuss and resolve the case 19 at the MSC. In the case of an entity, an authorized representative of the entity who is not 20 retained outside counsel must be present and must have discretionary authority to commit 21

22 1 “Full authority to settle” means that the individuals at the settlement conference must 23 be authorized to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement 24 terms acceptable to the parties. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp., 871 F.2d 648 (7th Cir. 1989). The person needs to have “unfettered discretion and authority” to 25 change the settlement position of a party. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l., Inc., 216 F.R.D. 481, 26 485–86 (D. Ariz. 2003). The purpose of requiring a person with unlimited settlement authority to attend the conference includes that the person’s view of the case may be altered 27 during the face to face conference. Id. at 486. A limited or a sum certain of authority is 28 not adequate. Nick v. Morgan’s Foods, Inc., 270 F.3d 590, 595–97 (8th Cir. 2001). 1 the entity to pay an amount up to the amount of the Plaintiff’s prayer (excluding punitive 2 damages prayers). The purpose of this requirement is to have representatives present who 3 can settle the case during the course of the conference without consulting a superior. 4 Failure to attend the MSC or obtain proper excuse will be considered grounds 5 for sanctions. 6 No later than 21 days before the MSC, the parties shall exchange formal settlement 7 proposals, as required by § III.A. of Judge Burkhardt’s Civil Chambers Rules. No later 8 than 14 days before the MSC, the parties shall meet and confer in person or telephonically, 9 as required by § III.B. of Judge Burkhardt’s Civil Chambers Rules. 10 4. No later than April 27, 2022, the parties shall lodge confidential MSC 11 statements with Judge Burkhardt’s chambers via e-mail at 12 efile_Burkhardt@casd.uscourts.gov. The parties’ MSC statements shall comply with 13 § III.C. of Judge Burkhardt’s Civil Chambers Rules. 14 5. The parties must comply with case management orders set by the Court. 15 6. The Court will not modify the dates and times set forth in this Order except 16 for good cause shown. 17 7. Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 7.1(h), briefs or memoranda in support of or in 18 opposition to any pending motion must not exceed twenty-five (25) pages in length without 19 leave of a district court judge. Reply memorandum must not exceed ten (10) pages without 20 leave of a district court judge. Briefs and memoranda exceeding ten (10) pages in length 21 must have a table of contents and a table of authorities cited. 22 8. The remainder of the parties’ Joint Motion to Extend Scheduling Order 23 Deadlines (ECF No. 68) is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. The parties are directed 24 to leave a joint voicemail with Judge Burkhardt’s Chambers, no later than 48 hours after 25 receiving a ruling from District Judge M. James Lorenz on Defendant LKQ’s Motion for 26 Leave to File Amended Answer to Assert Crossclaims, informing the Court on whether 27 they plan to refile their joint motion to extend scheduling order deadlines. 28 /// 1 9. Plaintiffs counsel must serve a copy of this Order on all parties that later enter 2 || this case. 3 Dated: February 4, 2022 4 pb bande 5 n. Jill L. Burkhardt 6 ited States Magistrate Judge 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28