Estate of David Angel Villalobos Valdovinos v. Gonsalves

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 ESTATE OF DAVID ANGEL Case No.: 3:22-cv-00315-L-AHG VILLALOBOS VALDOVINOS, et al., 13 ORDER: Plaintiffs, 14 (1) GRANTING IN PART JOINT v. 15 MOTION TO EXTEND DISCOVERY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DEADLINES, and 16 Defendant. 17 (2) ISSUING FIRST AMENDED SCHEDULING ORDER 18 19 [ECF No. 31] 20 Before the Court is the parties’ joint motion extend discovery deadlines. ECF No. 31. 21 The parties seek an order from the Court extending certain case management deadlines by 22 approximately 60 days. Id. 23 Parties seeking to continue deadlines in the scheduling order must demonstrate good 24 cause. FED. R. CIV. P. 16(b)(4) (“A schedule may be modified only for good cause and with 25 the judge’s consent”); ECF No. 30 at 6 (Scheduling Order, stating that “[t]he dates [] set 26 forth herein will not be modified except for good cause shown”); see also Chmb.R. at 2 27 (stating that any request for continuance requires “[a] showing of good cause for the 28 request”). 1 “Good cause” is a non-rigorous standard that has been construed broadly across 2 procedural and statutory contexts. Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 3 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause standard focuses on the diligence of the party seeking to 4 amend the scheduling order and the reasons for seeking modification. Johnson v. Mammoth 5 Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992) (“[T]he focus of the inquiry is upon 6 the moving party’s reasons for seeking modification. . . . If that party was not diligent, the 7 inquiry should end.”) (internal citation omitted). Therefore, “a party demonstrates good 8 cause by acting diligently to meet the original deadlines set forth by the court.” Merck v. 9 Swift Transp. Co., No. CV-16-01103-PHX-ROS, 2018 WL 4492362, at *2 (D. Ariz. Sept. 10 19, 2018). 11 Here, the parties have represented to the Court that they have been working 12 diligently to abide by the Court’s Scheduling Order (ECF No. 30). ECF No. 31. The parties 13 represent that they have exchanged voluminous documents and written discovery. Id. at 2. 14 However, depositions have been stalled by various scheduling difficulties, including the 15 witness’s holiday travel and Plaintiffs’ counsel’s six-week jury trial. Id. The parties are 16 also experiencing difficulty obtaining the autopsy report from the Medical Examiner’s 17 Office, which has delayed counsel’s ability to evaluate whether additional depositions are 18 necessary. Id. Thus, the parties seek an order from the Court extending the fact discovery 19 cutoff, expert designation deadlines, expert disclosure deadlines, expert discovery cutoff, 20 and pretrial motion filing deadline by approximately 60 days. Id. at 3. 21 The Court appreciates the parties’ thorough motion and that that parties are working 22 together, and finds good cause to GRANT IN PART1 the motion. ECF No. 31. The Court 23 issues the following First Amended Scheduling Order: 24 / / 25 26 27 1 Though the parties requested that “all other dates and deadlines set forth in the Scheduling Order remain unchanged[,]” (ECF No. 31 at 3), in light of the modified pretrial motion 28 1 1. The parties must review and familiarize themselves with the Civil Local Rules 2 of this District (“Local Rules”), the Electronic Case Filing Administrative Policies and 3 Procedures (“CM/ECF Manual”), the Standing Order for Civil Cases issued by the Hon. 4 M. James Lorenz (“Standing Order”), and the undersigned Magistrate Judge’s Chambers 5 Rules (“Chambers Rules”), all of which are posted on this District’s website. 6 Discovery 7 2. All fact discovery shall be completed by all parties no later than 8 April 25, 2023. “Completed” means that all discovery under Rules 30-36 of the Federal 9 Rules of Civil Procedure, and discovery subpoenas under Rule 45, must be initiated a 10 sufficient period of time in advance of the cut-off date, so that it may be completed by 11 the cut-off date, taking into account the times for service, notice and response as set forth 12 in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Counsel shall promptly and in good faith meet 13 and confer with regard to all discovery disputes in compliance with Local Rule 14 26.1(a). A failure to comply in this regard will result in a waiver of a party’s discovery 15 issue. Absent an order of the court, no stipulation continuing or altering this 16 requirement will be recognized by the court. The Court expects counsel to make every 17 effort to resolve all disputes without court intervention through the meet and confer 18 process. If the parties reach an impasse on any discovery issue, the movant must e-mail 19 chambers at efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov no later than 45 days after the date of 20 service of the written discovery response that is in dispute, seeking a telephonic conference 21 with the Court to discuss the discovery dispute. The email must include: (1) at least three 22 proposed times mutually agreed upon by the parties for the telephonic conference; (2) a 23 neutral statement of the dispute; and (3) one sentence describing (not arguing) each parties’ 24 position. The movant must copy opposing counsel on the email. No discovery motion may 25 be filed until the Court has conducted its pre-motion telephonic conference, unless the 26 movant has obtained leave of Court. All parties are ordered to read and to fully comply 27 with the Chambers Rules of Magistrate Judge Allison H. Goddard. 28 / / 1 3. No later than May 30, 2023, the parties shall designate their respective experts 2 in writing. The parties must identify any person who may be used at trial to present 3 evidence pursuant to Rules 702, 703 or 705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. This 4 requirement is not limited to retained experts. The date for exchange of rebuttal experts 5 shall be no later than June 28, 2023. The written designations shall include the name, 6 address and telephone number of each expert and a reasonable summary of the testimony 7 the expert is expected to provide. The list shall also include the normal rates the expert 8 charges for deposition and trial testimony. 9 4. No later than July 18, 2023, each party shall comply with Rule 26(a)(2)(A) 10 and (B) disclosure provisions. This disclosure requirement applies to all persons retained 11 or specially employed to provide expert testimony, or whose duties as a party's employee 12 regularly involve giving expert testimony. Except as provided in the paragraph below, 13 any party that fails to make these disclosures shall not, absent substantial 14 justification, be permitted to use the undisclosed evidence or testimony at any hearing 15 or at trial. In addition, the court may impose sanctions as permitted by Rule 37(c). 16 5. No later than August 15, 2023, the parties shall supplement their disclosures 17 regarding contradictory or rebuttal evidence under Rule 26(a)(2)(D). 18 6. All expert discovery shall be completed by all parties no later than 19 September 12, 2023. The parties shall comply with the same procedures set forth in the 20 paragraph governing fact discovery. 21 7. Failure to comply with this section or any other discovery order of the court 22 may result in Rule 37 sanctions, including preclusion of expert or other designated 23 evidence. 24 Motion Briefing 25 8. Except for motions in limine, all pretrial motions must be filed no later than 26 October 10, 2023. As provided herein and in the Standing Order, certain motions, 27 including motions for class certification, must be filed well before this date. 28 9. Counsel for the moving party must obtain a motion hearing date from the law 1 clerk of the judge who will hear the motion. The period of time between the date of 2 requesting a motion date and the hearing date typically exceeds 30 days. Failure to make 3 a timely request for a motion date may result in the motion not being heard. 4 10. Motion briefing must comply with all applicable Rules, Local Rules, Standing 5 Order, Chambers Rules and court orders. 6 Mandatory Settlement Conference 7 11. A Mandatory Settlement Conference shall be conducted on 8 December 6, 2023 at 9:30 a.m. before Magistrate Judge Allison H. Goddard. Upon due 9 consideration, the Mandatory Settlement Conference will occur via videoconference. 10 Plaintiff must serve on Defendant a written settlement proposal, which must include a 11 specific demand amount, no later than November 15, 2023. The defendant must respond 12 to the plaintiff in writing with a specific offer amount prior to the Meet and Confer 13 discussion. The parties should not file or otherwise copy the Court on these exchanges. 14 Rather, the parties must include their written settlement proposals in their respective 15 Settlement Conference Statements to the Court. Counsel for the parties must meet and 16 confer in person or by phone no later than November 22, 2023. Each party must prepare 17 a Settlement Conference Statement, which will be served on opposing counsel and lodged 18 with the Court no later than November 29, 2023. The Statement must be lodged in .pdf 19 format via email to efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov (not filed). The substance of the 20 Settlement Conference Statement must comply fully with Judge Goddard’s Mandatory 21 Settlement Conference Rules (located on the court website at 22 https://www.casd.uscourts.gov/Judges/goddard/docs/Goddard%20Mandatory%20Settlem 23 ent%20Conference%20Rules.pdf). Each party may also prepare an optional Confidential 24 Settlement Letter for the Court’s review only, to be lodged with the Court no later than 25 November 29, 2023. The Letter must be lodged in .pdf format via email to 26 efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov (not filed). Should a party choose to prepare a Letter, 27 the substance of the Settlement Conference Letter must comply fully with Judge Goddard’s 28 Mandatory Settlement Conference Rules. All parties are ordered to read and to fully 1 comply with the Chambers Rules and Mandatory Settlement Conference Rules of 2 Magistrate Judge Allison H. Goddard. 3 Final Pretrial Conference 4 12. Memoranda of Contentions of Fact and Law are not required and will not be 5 accepted. 6 13. No later than January 16, 2024, counsel shall comply with Rule 26(a)(3) pre- 7 trial disclosure requirements. Failure to comply could result in evidence preclusion or 8 other Rule 37 sanctions. 9 14. No later than January 22, 2024, counsel shall meet and take the action 10 required by Local Rule 16.1(f)(4) with a view to enter into stipulations and agreements to 11 simplify issues for trial. Counsel shall exchange copies and/or display all exhibits other 12 than those to be used for impeachment. The exhibits shall be prepared in accordance with 13 Local Rule 16.1(f)(4)(c). Counsel shall note any objections they have to other parties’ Rule 14 26(a)(3) pretrial disclosures. Counsel shall cooperate in the preparation of the proposed 15 final pretrial conference order. 16 15. Counsel for plaintiff is responsible for preparing the proposed final pretrial 17 conference order and arranging the meetings of counsel pursuant to Local Rule 16.1(f). No 18 later than January 29, 2024, plaintiff’s counsel must provide opposing counsel with the 19 draft proposed final pretrial order for review and approval. Opposing counsel must 20 communicate promptly with plaintiff’s counsel concerning any objections to form or 21 content. Both sides shall attempt promptly to resolve their differences, if any, concerning 22 the proposed order. 23 16. The proposed final pretrial conference order, including objections to Rule 24 26(a)(3) pretrial disclosures, shall be served and lodged with Judge Lorenz no later than 25 February 5, 2024, and shall comply with Local Rule 16.1(f)(6). 26 17. The Final Pretrial Conference is scheduled on the calendar of the Honorable 27 M. James Lorenz on February 12, 2024 at 11:00 a.m.. Trial briefs are not required for 28 cases tried to the jury. Leave to file a trial brief for a jury trial must be obtained from 1 || Judge Lorenz at the Final Pretrial Conference. 2 Additional Provisions 3 18. Upon parties' request, a post-trial settlement conference before a Magistrate 4 || Judge may be held within 30 days of verdict. 5 19. The dates and times set forth herein will not be modified except for good cause 6 || shown. 7 8 IT IS SO ORDERED. 9 || Dated: February 3, 2023 10 _Abiomt. Xl Honorable Allison H. Goddard 11 United States Magistrate Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28