Botts v. Sheppard
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Ruth Bermudez Montenegro (author)
Analysis
The parties filed a joint motion to extend the fact discovery cutoff by thirty days due to the sudden illness and quarantine of a key inmate witness. The court granted the motion, finding good cause, and amended the scheduling order to set the new discovery completion date as December 9, 2020.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Joint Motion to Extend the Discovery Cut-Off is granted.“Accordingly, the Joint Motion is GRANTED.” | agree with court The court correctly applied the 'good cause' standard required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4) to modify the scheduling order. The court relied on the Ninth Circuit precedent in Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc. to focus on the moving party's reasons. The facts recited in the order—that a key witness was hospitalized and quarantined for fourteen days immediately before a scheduled deposition—constitute unforeseeable circumstances that impede discovery, satisfying the good cause requirement. The extension is limited to the specific need (three depositions) and does not alter other trial dates. |
The order itself: sound — The order is procedurally correct and cites the appropriate rule and binding circuit precedent. The reasoning directly addresses the standard for modifying a scheduling order and applies it to the specific facts of the witness's illness. There are no gaps in the legal analysis or factual recitation necessary to support the decision.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 || DDPRON BOTTS, Case No.: 3:19-cv-01387-DMS-RBM Plaintift,) ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION 13 |] v. TO CONTINUE DISCOVERY CUT-OFF 14 |} CORRECTIONAL OFFICER 15 SHEPPARD, et al., 16 Defendants. Docs. 36, 37] 17 18 Before the Court is Plaintiff D’Ron Botts (“Plaintiff”) and Defendants J. Newman, 19 ||C. Legge, R. Rodriguez, F. Camacho, A. Shepherd, and D. Paramo’s (collectively 20 || “Defendants”) Joint Motion to Extend the Discovery Cut-Off (“Joint Motion”). (Doc. 37.) 21 || The parties seek a thirty-day continuance of the fact discovery cutoff due to difficulties 22 ||rescheduling the deposition of inmate witness, Gary Grubbs (“Mr. Grubbs”), and finding 23 ||mutually-agreeable dates to depose two of the Defendants. (/d. at 1-2.) The parties 24 || originally scheduled Mr. Grubbs’s deposition in advance of the original discovery cutoff 25 || date, but the night before Mr. Grubbs’s deposition, Mr. Grubbs was taken to the hospital 26 subsequently quarantined for fourteen days. (/d. at 2.) 27 This is the parties’ fourth request to continue dates. (Docs. 28, 31, 35, 37.) The 28 || August 25, 2020 Order Granting Joint Motion to Continue Trial-Related Dates required ]
1 ||fact discovery be completed by November 2020. (Doc. 36 at 2.) The instant 2 ||continuance is only needed to conduct three depositions. (Doc. 37 at 2.) The parties do 3 seek to continue any other dates. (/d. at 1.) . 4 A scheduling order may be modified only upon a showing of good cause and with 5 ||the judge’s consent. FED. R. CIV. P. 16(b)(4); see, e.g., Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, 6 || Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992) (stating, “the focus of [the good cause] inquiry is 7 upon the moving party’s reasons for seeking modification.”). Here, Mr. Grubbs’s sudden 8 ||illness and fourteen-day quarantine were unforeseeable and have impeded the parties’ 9 || ability to complete discovery. (Doc. 37 at 2.) Thus, the Court finds good cause to grant a 10 ||continuance of the discovery cut-off date. 11 Accordingly, the Joint Motion is GRANTED. The Court’s August 25, 2020 Order 12 Granting Joint Motion to Continue Trial-Related Dates (Doc. 36) is hereby AMENDED 13 follows: 14 1. All fact discovery shall be completed by all parties by December 9, 2020. 15 ||“Completed” means that all discovery under Rules 30-36 of the Federal Rules of Civil 16 || Procedure, and discovery subpoenas under Rule 45, must be initiated a sufficient period of 17 ||time in advance of the cut-off date, so that it may be completed by the cut-off date, taking 18 || into account the times for service, notice and response as set forth in the Federal Rules of 19 ||Civil Procedure. Counsel shall promptly and in good faith meet and confer with 20 ||regard to all discovery disputes in compliance with Local Rule 26.1(a). The Court 21 ||expects counsel to make every effort to resolve all disputes without court intervention 22 ||through the meet and confer process. If the parties reach an impasse on any discovery 23 ||issue, counsel shall file an appropriate motion within the time limit and procedures outlined 24 the undersigned magistrate judge’s chambers rules. A failure to comply in this regard 25 || will result in a waiver of a party’s discovery issue. Absent an order of the Court, no 26 ||stipulation continuing or altering this requirement will be recognized by the Court. 27 2. The dates and times set forth herein will not be modified except for good cause 28 ||shown.
1 3. All other dates in the Court’s August 25, 2020 Order Granting Joint Motion 2 ||to Continue Trial-Related Dates (Doc. 35) remain unchanged. 3 4. Plaintiff's counsel shall serve a copy of this order on all parties that enter this 4 || case hereafter. 5 IT IS SO ORDERED. 6 || DATE: November 10, 2020 9 4ON. RUTH BERMUDEZ MONTENEGRO UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28