Hsu v. Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company

Opinion

Honorable Thomas S. Zilly WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON TSUNG H HSU, C20-88 TSZ Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING v. STIPULATED MOTION FOR LEAVE TO CONDUCT INSURANCE COMPANY, AFTER DISCOVERY CUTOFF Defendant. On this day came before the Court the parties’ Stipulated Motion to conduct expert depositions after the current discovery cutoff. In support of their motion, the parties state that they wish to conduct expert depositions after the discovery cutoff so that they can incorporate their experts’ disclosures into those depositions. “A schedule may be modified only for good cause and with the judge’s consent.” Fed. R.Civ. P. 16(b)(4); see also LCR 16(b)(5) (“A schedule may be modified only for good cause and with the judge’s consent.”). The decision to modify a scheduling order is within the broad discretion of the district court. See Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 607 (9th Cir. 1992). Rule 16(b)’s “good cause” standard primarily considers the diligence of the party seeking the amendment. If a party has acted diligently yet cannot reasonably meet scheduling dates or deadlines, a court may allow modification of the schedule. The Court finds that good cause exists to grant leave for the parties to conduct expert depositions after the discovery cutoff. The parties have resolved all discovery matters thus far by agreement and without intervention of the Court, with further agreement now made between the parties as to deposition cost responsibility and accommodation for holding depositions remotely. Permitting the parties to conduct expert depositions after exchanging expert disclosures will allow them to incorporate expert disclosures into expert depositions. This serves the interests of justice and efficiency articulated in Fed. R. Civ. P. 1 and LCR 1(a), and safeguards the Court’s trial schedule by keeping the other case scheduling dates in place. Accordingly, after careful consideration of the Motion, the Court GRANTS the Motion for good cause shown. IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, that the case schedule shall be amended as follows: DATED this 8th day of January, 2021. A ________________________________ Thomas S. Zilly United States District Judge DATED this 7th day of January, 2021. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP Roy Law Group Attorneys for Defendant Attorneys for Plaintiff By s/ Sarah Cox By s/ Jesse Cowell Sarah E. Cox, WSBA #46703 Jesse Cowell, WSBA #50725 James Howard, WSBA #37259 1000 SW Broadway, Ste. 900 920 Fifth Ave., Ste. 3300 Portland, OR 97205 Seattle, WA 98104-1610 (503)206-4313 (206)622-3150 jesse@roylawgroup.com (206)757-7700 sarahcox@dwt.com jameshoward@dwt.com