Lackman v. Blazin Wings, Inc.

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 CASSANDRA LACKMAN, Case No.: 20cv1256-BEN-AHG

12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING JOINT 13 v. MOTION TO EXTEND THE DISCOVERY DEADLINE AND 14 BLAZIN WINGS, INC., et al., OTHER RELATED DEADLINES 15 Defendants. [ECF No. 27] 16

17 18 On January 15, 2021, the parties filed a Joint Motion to Extend the Discovery 19 Deadline and Other Related Deadlines. ECF No. 27. Therein, they request that the Court 20 extend the deadline for the completion of fact discovery by 60 days and other related 21 deadlines by 35 days. Id. at 3. The parties represent that due to the pandemic, they have 22 experienced delays in receiving records from medical providers and those in the food 23 service industry. Id. As a result, they will not have sufficient time to review critical records 24 in advance of taking depositions. Id. 25 Under Fed. R. Civ. P 16(b)(4), “[a] schedule may be modified only for good cause 26 and with the judge’s consent.” “Good cause” is a non-rigorous standard that has been 27 construed broadly across procedural and statutory contexts. Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, 28 Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause standard focuses on the diligence 1 of the party seeking to amend the scheduling order and the reasons for seeking 2 modification. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992). 3 “[T]he court may modify the schedule on a showing of good cause if it cannot reasonably 4 be met despite the diligence of the party seeking the extension.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 16, advisory 5 committee’s notes to 1983 amendment. Therefore, “a party demonstrates good cause by 6 acting diligently to meet the original deadlines set forth by the court.” Merck v. Swift 7 Transportation Co., No. CV-16-01103-PHX-ROS, 2018 WL 4492362, at *2 (D. Ariz. 8 Sept. 19, 2018). 9 Upon due consideration, the Court finds the parties have shown good cause and 10 hereby GRANTS the joint motion. The Court hereby AMENDS the scheduling order as 11 follows: 12 1. All fact discovery shall be completed by all parties by April 9, 2021. 13 “Completed” means that all discovery under Rules 30-36 of the Federal Rules of Civil 14 Procedure, and discovery subpoenas under Rule 45, must be initiated a sufficient period of 15 time in advance of the cut-off date, so that it may be completed by the cut-off date, taking 16 into account the times for service, notice and response as set forth in the Federal Rules of 17 Civil Procedure. Counsel shall promptly and in good faith meet and confer with 18 regard to all discovery disputes in compliance with Local Rule 26.1(a). A failure to 19 comply in this regard will result in a waiver of a party’s discovery issue. Absent an 20 order of the court, no stipulation continuing or altering this requirement will be 21 recognized by the court. The Court expects counsel to make every effort to resolve all 22 disputes without court intervention through the meet and confer process. If the parties 23 reach an impasse on any discovery issue, the movant must e-mail chambers at 24 efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov no later than 45 days after the date of service of the 25 written discovery response that is in dispute, seeking a telephonic conference with the 26 Court to discuss the discovery dispute. The email must include: (1) at least three proposed 27 times mutually agreed upon by the parties for the telephonic conference; (2) a neutral 28 statement of the dispute; and (3) one sentence describing (not arguing) each parties’ 1 position. The movant must copy opposing counsel on the email. No discovery motion may 2 be filed until the Court has conducted its pre-motion telephonic conference, unless the 3 movant has obtained leave of Court. All parties are ordered to read and to fully comply 4 with the Chambers Rules of Magistrate Judge Allison H. Goddard. 5 2. The parties shall designate their respective experts in writing by 6 April 13, 2021. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(A), the parties must 7 identify any person who may be used at trial to present evidence pursuant to Rules 702, 8 703 or 705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. This requirement is not limited to retained 9 experts. The date for exchange of rebuttal experts shall be by May 14, 2021. The written 10 designations shall include the name, address and telephone number of the expert and a 11 reasonable summary of the testimony the expert is expected to provide. The list shall also 12 include the normal rates the expert charges for deposition and trial testimony. 13 3. By April 13, 2021, each party shall comply with the disclosure provisions in 14 Rule 26(a)(2)(A) and (B) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This disclosure 15 requirement applies to all persons retained or specially employed to provide expert 16 testimony, or whose duties as an employee of the party regularly involve the giving of 17 expert testimony. Except as provided in the paragraph below, any party that fails to 18 make these disclosures shall not, absent substantial justification, be permitted to use 19 evidence or testimony not disclosed at any hearing or at the time of trial. In addition, 20 the Court may impose sanctions as permitted by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 21 37(c). 22 4. Any party shall supplement its disclosure regarding contradictory or rebuttal 23 evidence under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(D) and 26(e) by May 14, 2021. 24 5. All expert discovery shall be completed by all parties by June 14, 2021. The 25 parties shall comply with the same procedures set forth in the paragraph governing fact 26 discovery. Failure to comply with this section or any other discovery order of the court 27 may result in the sanctions provided for in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37, including a 28 prohibition on the introduction of experts or other designated matters in evidence. 1 6. All other pretrial motions must be filed by July 16, 2021. Counsel for the 2 ||moving party must obtain a motion hearing date from the law clerk of the judge who will 3 ||hear the motion. The period of time between the date you request a motion date and the 4 hearing date may vary from one district judge to another. Please plan accordingly. Failure 5 ||to make a timely request for a motion date may result in the motion not being heard. 6 || Deadlines for filing motions in limine will be set by the district judge at the final Pretrial 7 || Conference. 8 All other dates and deadlines shall remain as previously set. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 Dated: January 19, 2021 _ Siow. Xion Honorable Allison H. Goddard 12 United States Magistrate Judge 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28