Varghis v. Apple Inc

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: May 15, 2020
• Docket: 2:19-cv-01136
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

TheHonorableJamesL.Robart 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITEDSTATES DISTRICTCOURT 7 FOR THEWESTERNDISTRICTOFWASHINGTON ATSEATTLE 8 NINAVARGHIS,individual, 9 10 Plaintiff, NO.2:19-CV-1136-JLR 11 vs. STIPULATEDMOTIONTOAMEND MINUTEORDER SETTINGTRIALDATE 12 APPLEINC.,aCaliforniacorporation, ANDRELATEDDATES 13 Defendant. Noteon Motion Calendar: 14 May14,2020 15 I. INTRODUCTION 16 Plaintiff Nina Varghis and Defendant Apple Inc., by and through their respective 17 attorneys of record, respectfully submit this Stipulated Motion to Amend the Minute Order 18 Setting Trial Date and Related Dates entered on August 26, 2019 (Dkt. No. 11) pursuant to LCR 19 7(d)(1) and 10(g). The Parties agree that additional time is necessary to properly prepare this 20 matterfortrial. 21 The Parties stipulate to a continuance of the trial date from January 11, 2021, to May 3, 22 2021, or if that date is not available, to a later date of the Court’s choosing. The Parties stipulate 23 to continue related deadlines for expert disclosures, discovery motions, discovery completion, 24 dispositive motions, and trial-related deadlines in accordance with the continued trial date. The 25 Betts STIPULATEDMOTIONTOAMEND Patterson MINUTEORDER SETTINGTRIALDATE Mines 1 Parties stipulate to maintain the deadlines for joining additional parties and for amending the 2 pleadings as set forthintheAugust 26,2019MinuteOrder. 3 II. STATEMENT OFFACTS 4 On November 2, 2018, Plaintiff filed a Complaint against Defendant in King County 5 SuperiorCourt. SeePlaintiff’s Complaint,Dkt.No.2-1at pp.4-6. OnJune28,2019,theParties 6 stipulated to a trial continuance in state court to allow additional time for discovery and potential 7 resolution. StipulatedMotionandOrderAmendingCaseSchedule,Dkt. No.2-1at pp.28-32. 8 On July 23, 2019, Defendant removed the matter to this Court. Dkt. No. 1. This Court 9 issued a Minute Order Setting Trial Date and Related Dates, scheduling trial for January 11, 10 2021. Dkt. No. 11. Under the Minute Order, expert disclosures are due on July 15, 2020, and 11 discovery must be completed by September 14, 2020. Id. Dispositive motions are due for filing 12 byOctober13,2020. Id. 13 III. LEGAL STANDARD 14 The Court has discretion to control the sequence and timing of discovery and to impose 15 limitations orconditionsonthat discovery,includingexpert discovery. See Bell AtlanticCorp. v. 16 Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 593 n.13 (2007); FRCP 26(a)(2)(D). A scheduling order may be 17 modifieduponashowing ofgoodcause. FRCP 16(b)(4). 18 The most important factor in determining whether to modify a scheduling order is 19 whether the party seeking the modification diligently worked to meet the initial deadline. FRCP 20 16 advisory committee’s note to 1983 amendment; Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 21 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992) (“Rule 16(b)’s ‘good cause’ standard primarily considers the 22 diligence of the party seeking the amendment.”); see also In re W. States Wholesale Natural Gas 23 Antitrust Litig., 715 F.3d 716, 737 (9th Cir. 2013) (citing Johnson and holding that while the 24 court may take into account prejudice, the primary consideration is diligence). “The district 25 Betts STIPULATEDMOTIONTOAMEND Patterson MINUTEORDER SETTINGTRIALDATE Mines 1 court may modify the pretrial schedule if it cannot reasonably be met despite the diligence of the 2 partyseekingthe extension.” Johnson,975F.2d at 609(citations omitted). 3 IV. ARGUMENT 4 The Parties have proceeded diligently but believe that additional time is necessary to 5 complete discovery and prepare for the case for trial in light of recent events outside of the 6 Parties’control. 7 This is the first continuance of the trial date requested by the Parties since removal to this 8 Court, and the second trial continuance during the pendency of this lawsuit. This continuance is 9 requested to allow the Parties additional time to complete discovery and to provide sufficient 10 time for further settlement discussion and mediation of this matter as a result of the impact of the 11 COVID-19pandemicon efforts toconduct discoveryoverthelast twomonths. 12 At the time of this filing, the Parties have engaged in discovery, including but not limited 13 to propounding interrogatories and document requests, seeking medical records, and taking 14 plaintiff’s deposition. The Parties agree that additional time is needed for discovery, including 15 taking the depositions of plaintiff’s treating physicians, expert discovery, and potential 16 resolution, all of which unexpectedly have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While 17 Defendant has scheduled thedepositionofoneof Plaintiff’s treatingphysicians, theParties likely 18 will needto continuethe sameinlight of the extendedshelter-in-placeordertoend ofMay2020. 19 Further, Defendant has not been able to serve Plaintiff’s second treating physician and continues 20 toattempt todoso despitethedifficulties thepandemichas raised. This fact witness discoveryis 21 necessarytopreparethe Parties’expert discovery. 22 The Parties further agree that continuing this matter is in the best interests of the Parties, 23 andthis Court,as it mayallowtheopportunityfor this mattertoresolveratherthanresult intrial. 24 25 Betts STIPULATEDMOTIONTOAMEND Patterson MINUTEORDER SETTINGTRIALDATE Mines V. CONCLUSION 1 Based on the foregoing, it is further stipulated and requested that this Court amend the 2 MinuteOrderSettingTrial DateandRelatedDates accordingly. 3 DATEDthis 14th dayofMay2020. 4 LOPEZ& FANTEL, INC.P.S. BETTS,PATTERSON& MINES,P.S. 5 6 By s/ Carl A.TaylorLopez By /s Christopher W.Tompkins 7 Carl A.TaylorLopez,WSBA#6215 By /s Natasha A.Khachatourians Lopez& Fantel, Inc.P.S. ChristopherW.Tompkins,WSBA#11686 8 2292W.CommodoreWay,Suite200 NatashaA. Khachatourians,WSBA#42685 9 Seattle,WA 98199 Betts, Patterson & Mines, P.S. Telephone: (206)322-5200 OneConventionPlace,Suite1400 10 E-mail: clopez@lopezfantel.com 701PikeStreet AttorneyforPlaintiff SeattleWA 98101-3927 11 Telephone: (206)292-9988 E-mail: ctompkins@bpmlaw.com 12 E-mail: nkhachatourians@bpmlaw.com 13 Attorneys forDefendant Apple Inc. SCHIFFHARDINLLP 14 15 By s/ StevenE.Swaney 16 StevenE.Swaney,CABar#221437 AdmittedProHacVice 17 SchiffHardin LLP 4EmbarcaderoCenter,Suite1350 18 SanFrancisco,CA94111 19 Telephone: (415)901-8700 E-mail: sswaney@schiffhardin.com 20 AttorneyforDefendant Apple Inc. 21 22 23 24 25 Betts STIPULATEDMOTIONTOAMEND Patterson MINUTEORDER SETTINGTRIALDATE Mines TheHonorableJamesL.Robart 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITEDSTATES DISTRICTCOURT 7 FOR THEWESTERN DISTRICTOFWASHINGTON ATSEATTLE 8 9 NINAVARGHIS,individual, NO. 2:19-CV-1136-JLR 10 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING STIPULATED MOTION TO AMEND MINUTE 11 vs. ORDER SETTING TRIAL DATE AND RELATED DATES 12 APPLEINC.,aCaliforniacorporation, 13 Note on Motion Calendar: Defendant. May 14, 2020 14 THIS MATTER having come before the undersigned upon the foregoing stipulation of 15 theParties, andthis Court havingbeenfullyadvised; 16 IT IS HEREBYORDEREDthat thetrial dateinthis matteris continuedfrom January11, 17 2021, to __A_u_g_u_s_t_ 2_3_,_ 2_0_2_1________. A new case schedule shall be issued conforming to the 18 newtrial date. 19 DONE IN OPENCOURTthis _1_5_th__dayof___M__a_y_______________2020. 20 A 21 __________________________________ James L.Robart 22 UnitedStates District Judge 23 24 25 ORDER GRANTINGSTIPULATED MOTIONTO AMEND MINUTEORDER