Ingegno v. Pruco Life Insurance Company

Opinion

JAMES PETER INGEGNO and JERRY Case No.: 20cv385-H(KSC) HAMMOND, ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND Plaintiff, DENYING IN PART JOINT v. MOTION TO CONTINUE DEADLINES [Doc. No. 33.] THE PRUCO LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY,

Defendants.

Before the Court is the parties’ Joint Motion to Continue Deadlines. [Doc. No. 33.] In this Joint Motion, the parties seek a continuance of all dates and deadlines in the Scheduling Order filed on November 3, 2020 [Doc. No. 31] for 60 days. There are several reasons for the request. First, the offices of plaintiffs’ counsel were closed for the holidays. Second, plaintiffs reside in Mexico and Arizona. Third, plaintiffs’ ability to complete an investigation in Mexico to check the veracity of defendant’s investigative report has been impacted by COVID-19. Fourth, plaintiffs object to conducting depositions remotely via Zoom. Fifth, plaintiffs’ counsel will be out of the office the week of January 16, 2021 to move his mother to assisted living. [Doc. No. 33, at pp. 3-4.] / / / Based on the information provided in the parties’ Joint Motion, the Court finds there is good cause for a 30-day extension of the fact discovery deadline from March 5, to April 5, 2021. However, the parties have not established good cause for a 60-day extension as to all other dates and deadlines in the current Scheduling Order. Because of the COVID-19 public health emergency, depositions via Zoom and other remote means have become a necessary and regular occurrence in legal proceedings. See e.g., Swenson vy. GEICO Cas. Co., 336 F.R.D. 206 D. Nev. 2020) (acknowledging that “courts within the Ninth Circuit routinely highlight remote depositions as an effective and appropriate means to keep cases moving forward } notwithstanding pandemic-related restrictions”); Grano v. Sodexo Management, Inc., 335 F.R.D. 411 (S.D. Cal. 2020) (stating that “attorneys all over the country are having to adjust to conducting depositions via videoconference”). Accordingly, the parties are ordered to meet and confer to develop appropriate protocols for depositions in this case to be conducted remotely and to submit a proposed order to the Court no later than January 25, 2020. See, e.g., Al Otro Lado v. Wolf, Case No. 17-cv-02366-BAS-KSC (S.D. Cal. May 7, 2020) (Stipulated Protective Order re Remote Deposition Protocols). Dated: January 13, 2021 YX) Mfficae _———_ Hori. Karen S. Crawford United States Magistrate Judge