Lindsay McCarthy v. Lincoln National Life Insurance Company
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Allison H. Goddard (author)
Analysis
The parties filed a joint motion to extend the deadline to notify the court of a discovery dispute by approximately one month to allow for further meet and confer efforts. The court granted the motion, finding good cause, and set a new deadline of October 21, 2026, for raising the disputes.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Joint Motion to Extend Deadline to Notify Court of Discovery Dispute granted“Good cause appearing, the Court GRANTS the parties’ motion to extend the discovery dispute deadline.” | agree with court The court correctly applied the 'good cause' standard under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b) and the local chamber rules. The parties represented that they were acting diligently to resolve the dispute through meet and confer, which satisfies the requirement for extending a deadline. The extension is reasonable in scope (30 days) and purpose (to avoid unnecessary judicial intervention). |
The order itself: sound — The order is procedurally sound. It correctly identifies the applicable standard (good cause), cites appropriate authority (Rule 6(b), 9th Circuit precedent on good cause/diligence), and applies the facts (parties' representation of diligent meet and confer efforts) to the standard. The result is defensible and follows from the law cited.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 LINDSAY MCCARTHY, Case No.: 3:25-cv-03213-BTM-AHG 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING JOINT 13 v. MOTION TO EXTEND DEADLINE TO NOTIFY COURT OF 14 LINCOLN NATIONAL LIFE DISCOVERY DISPUTE INSURANCE COMPANY, 15 Defendant. [ECF No. 31] 16 17 18 19 Before the Court is the parties’ joint motion to continue the deadline notify the Court 20 of a discovery dispute. ECF No. 31. The parties seek an order from the Court extending 21 their deadline to raise a discovery dispute by approximately one month. Id. 22 Parties seeking to continue deadlines set forth by the Court must demonstrate good 23 cause. FED. R. CIV. P. 6(b) (“When an act may or must be done within a specified time, the 24 court may, for good cause, extend the time”); Chmb.R. at 2 (stating that any request for 25 continuance requires “[a] showing of good cause for the request”). “Good cause” is a non- 26 rigorous standard that has been construed broadly across procedural and statutory contexts. 27 Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause 28 standard focuses on the diligence of the party seeking to amend the scheduling order and | reasons for seeking modification. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 2 609 (9th Cir. 1992) (“[T]he focus of the inquiry is upon the moving party’s reasons 3 ||for seeking modification. . . . If that party was not diligent, the inquiry should end.’’) 4 || Gnternal citation omitted). Therefore, “‘a party demonstrates good cause by acting diligently 5 meet the original deadlines set forth by the court.” Merck v. Swift Transp. Co., No. CV- 6 || 16-01103-PHX-ROS, 2018 WL 4492362, at *2 (D. Ariz. Sept. 19, 2018). 7 Here, the parties represent to the Court that they need more time to meet and confer 8 ||regarding Defendant’s responses to Plaintiff's second set of Interrogatories and Requests 9 Production. ECF No. 31. Specifically, the parties need more time to investigate the 10 |/issues raised. /d. at 2. The parties explain that they seek to “work[] out an amicable 11 |/resolution of the issues to obviate the need for court intervention.” Jd. As such, the parties 12 ||request an approximate 30-day extension, to October 21, 2026, to raise the discovery 13 || disputes with the Court. /d. 14 The Court appreciates that the parties are working together to resolve their disputes 15 || without judicial intervention. Good cause appearing, the Court GRANTS the parties’ 16 || motion to extend the discovery dispute deadline. ECF No. 31. Thus, the parties must bring 17 discovery disputes related to Plaintiff’s second set of Interrogatories and Requests for 18 Production to the Court’s attention in the manner described in Paragraph 2 of the 19 || Scheduling Order, (see ECF No. 23 at 2), no later than October 21, 2026. 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 Dated: September 19, 2026 _ Siow. Xion Honorable Allison H. Goddard 23 United States Magistrate Judge 24 25 26 27 28