- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 ROMEO & JULIETTE, INC., a No. 2:18-cv-00214-TLN-AC 11 California Corporation, 12 Plaintiff, AMENDED PRETRIAL SCHEDULING 13 v. ORDER 14 KEN WU, an individual, 15 Defendant. 16 _____________________________ 17 KEN WU, an individual, 18 Cross-Complainant, v. 19 ROMEO & JULIETTE, INC., a 20 California Corporation, 21 Cross-Defendant. 22 23 After reviewing the parties’ Joint Status Report, the Court 24 makes the following Pretrial Scheduling Order. 25 I. SERVICE OF PROCESS 26 All named Defendants have been served and no further service 27 is permitted without leave of court, good cause having been 28 shown. 1 II. ADDITIONAL PARTIES/AMENDMENTS/PLEADINGS 2 No joinder of parties or amendments to pleadings is 3 permitted without leave of court, good cause having been shown. 4 III. JURISDICTION/VENUE 5 Jurisdiction is predicated upon 42 U.S.C. § 1331 and 28 6 U.S.C. § 1367. Jurisdiction and venue are not contested. 7 IV. DISCOVERY 8 All discovery, with the exception of expert discovery, shall 9 be completed by February 9, 2021. In this context, “completed” 10 means that all discovery shall have been conducted so that all 11 depositions have been taken and any disputes relative to 12 discovery shall have been resolved by appropriate order if 13 necessary and, where discovery has been ordered, the order has 14 been obeyed. All motions to compel discovery must be noticed on 15 the magistrate judge’s calendar in accordance with the local 16 rules of this Court. 17 Any request to deviate from the Federal Rules of Civil 18 Procedure should be made to the assigned Magistrate Judge. 19 V. DISCLOSURE OF EXPERT WITNESSES 20 All counsel are to designate in writing, file with the 21 Court, and serve upon all other parties the name, address, and 22 area of expertise of each expert that they propose to tender at 23 trial not later than March 9, 2021.1 The designation shall be 24 accompanied by a written report prepared and signed by the 25 witness. The report shall comply with Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 26(a)(2)(B). 27 1 The discovery of experts will include whether any motions based on Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993) and/or Kumho Tire 28 Co. v. Carmichael, 119 S. Ct. 1167 (1999) are anticipated. 1 Within twenty (20) days after the designation of expert 2 witnesses, any party may designate a supplemental list of expert 3 witnesses who will express an opinion on a subject covered by an 4 expert designated by an adverse party. 5 The right to designate a supplemental expert for rebuttal 6 purposes only shall apply to a party who has not previously 7 disclosed an expert witness on the date set for expert witness 8 disclosure by this Pretrial Scheduling Order. 9 Failure of a party to comply with the disclosure schedule as 10 set forth above in all likelihood will preclude that party from 11 calling the expert witness at the time of trial. An expert 12 witness not appearing on the designation will not be permitted to 13 testify unless the party offering the witness demonstrates: (a) 14 that the necessity for the witness could not have been reasonably 15 anticipated at the time the list was proffered; (b) that the 16 Court and opposing counsel were promptly notified upon discovery 17 of the witness; and (c) that the witness was promptly made 18 available for deposition. 19 For purposes of this Pretrial Scheduling Order, an “expert” 20 is any person who may be used at trial to present evidence under 21 Rules 702, 703, and 705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, which 22 include both “percipient experts” (persons who, because of their 23 expertise, have rendered expert opinions in the normal course of 24 their work duties or observations pertinent to the issues in the 25 case) and “retained experts” (persons specifically designated by 26 a party to be a testifying expert for the purposes of 27 litigation). 28 Each party shall identify whether a disclosed expert is 1 percipient, retained, or both. It will be assumed that a party 2 designating a retained expert has acquired the express permission 3 of the witness to be so listed. 4 Parties designating percipient experts must state in the 5 designation who is responsible for arranging the deposition of 6 such persons. 7 All experts designated are to be fully prepared at the time 8 of designation to render an informed opinion, and give their 9 bases for their opinion, so that they will be able to give full 10 and complete testimony at any deposition taken by the opposing 11 party. Experts will not be permitted to testify at the trial as 12 to any information gathered or evaluated, or opinion formed, 13 after deposition taken subsequent to designation. 14 Counsel are instructed to complete all discovery of expert 15 witnesses in a timely manner in order to comply with the Court’s 16 deadline for filing dispositive motions. 17 VI. SUPPLEMENTAL DISCOVERY 18 Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(e), the 19 parties shall exchange any supplemental disclosures and responses 20 (including expert supplemental materials) no later than thirty 21 (30) days prior to the dispositive motion hearing date. Any 22 supplemental disclosures and responses necessary after that date 23 will require leave of Court good cause having been shown. 24 VII. MOTION HEARING SCHEDULE 25 All dispositive motions, except motions for continuances, 26 temporary restraining orders or other emergency applications, 27 shall be heard no later than July 8, 2021. 28 All purely legal issues are to be resolved by timely 1 pretrial motions. Local Rule 230 governs the calendaring and 2 procedures of civil motions with the following additions: 3 (a) The opposition and reply must be filed by 4:00 p.m. on 4 the day due; and 5 (b) When the last day for filing an opposition brief falls 6 on a legal holiday, the opposition brief shall be filed 7 on the last court day immediately preceding the legal 8 holiday. 9 Failure to comply with Local Rule 230(c), as modified by 10 this order, may be deemed consent to the motion and the court may 11 dispose of the motion summarily. Further, failure to timely 12 oppose a summary judgment motion2 may result in the granting of 13 that motion if the movant shifts the burden to the nonmovant to 14 demonstrate that a genuine issue of material fact remains for 15 trial. 16 The Court places a page limit for points and authorities 17 (exclusive of exhibits and other supporting documentation) of 18 twenty (20) pages on all initial moving papers, twenty (20) pages 19 on oppositions, and ten (10) pages for replies. All requests for 20 page limit increases must be made in writing to the Court setting 21 forth any and all reasons for any increase in page limit at least 22 fourteen (14) days prior to the filing of the motion. 23 For the Court’s convenience, citations to Supreme Court 24 cases should include parallel citations to the Supreme Court 25 Reporter. 26 The parties are reminded that a motion in limine is a 27 2 The Court urges any party that contemplates bringing a motion for summary judgment or who must oppose a motion for summary judgment to review Local Rule 28 260. 1 pretrial procedural device designed to address the admissibility 2 of evidence. The Court will look with disfavor upon 3 dispositional motions presented in the guise of motions in 4 limine. 5 The parties are cautioned that failure to raise a 6 dispositive legal issue that could have been tendered to the 7 court by proper pretrial motion prior to the dispositive motion 8 cut-off date may constitute waiver of such issue. 9 VIII. TRIAL SETTING 10 The parties are ordered to file a Joint Notice of Trial 11 Readiness not later than thirty (30) days after receiving this 12 Court’s ruling(s) on the last filed dispositive motion(s). If 13 the parties do not intend to file dispositive motions, the 14 parties are ordered to file a Joint Notice of Trial Readiness not 15 later than one hundred twenty (120) days after the close of 16 discovery and the notice must include statements of intent to 17 forgo the filing of dispositive motions. 18 The parties are to set forth in their Notice of Trial 19 Readiness, the appropriateness of special procedures, their 20 estimated trial length, any request for a jury, their 21 availability for trial, and if the parties are willing to attend 22 a settlement conference. The parties’ Notice of Trial Readiness 23 Statement shall also estimate how many court days each party will 24 require to present its case, including opening statements and 25 closing arguments. The parties’ estimate shall include time 26 necessary for jury selection, time necessary to finalize jury 27 instructions and instruct the jury. 28 After review of the parties’ Joint Notice of Trial 1 Readiness, the Court will issue an order that sets forth dates 2 for a Final Pretrial Conference and Trial. 3 IX. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 4 The parties may request a settlement conference prior to the 5 Final Pretrial Conference if they feel it would lead to the 6 possible resolution of the case. In the event a settlement 7 conference date is requested, the parties shall file said request 8 jointly, in writing. The request must state whether the parties 9 waive disqualification, pursuant to Local Rule 270(b), before a 10 settlement judgment can be assigned to the case. Absent the 11 parties’ affirmatively requesting that the assigned Judge or 12 Magistrate Judge participate in the settlement conference AND 13 waiver, pursuant to Local Rule 270(b), a settlement judge will be 14 randomly assigned to the case. 15 In the event a settlement conference is set by the Court, 16 counsel are instructed to have a principal with full settlement 17 authority present at the Settlement Conference or to be fully 18 authorized to settle the matter on any terms. At least seven (7) 19 calendar days before the settlement conference, counsel for each 20 party shall submit to the chambers of the settlement judge a 21 confidential Settlement Conference Statement. Such statements 22 are neither to be filed with the Clerk nor served on opposing 23 counsel. Each party, however, shall serve notice on all other 24 parties that the statement has been submitted. If the settlement 25 judge is not the trial judge, the Settlement Conference Statement 26 shall not be disclosed to the trial judge. 27 /// 28 /// 1 X. COURTESY COPIES 2 No party shall submit paper courtesy copies of pleadings or 3 exhibits to the Court unless expressly ordered to do so. 4 XI. VOLUNTARY DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROGRAM 5 Pursuant to Local Rule 271, parties may stipulate at any 6 stage in the proceedings to refer the action, in whole or in 7 part, to the Voluntary Dispute Resolution Program. 8 XII. MODIFICATION OF PRETRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER 9 The parties are reminded that pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the 10 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Pretrial Scheduling Order 11 shall not be modified except by leave of court upon a showing of 12 good cause. Agreement by the parties pursuant to stipulation 13 alone to modify the Pretrial Scheduling Order does not constitute 14 good cause. Except in extraordinary circumstances, 15 unavailability of witnesses or counsel will not constitute good 16 cause. 17 XIII. OBJECTIONS TO PRETRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER 18 This Pretrial Scheduling Order will become final without 19 further order of the Court unless objections are filed within 20 fourteen (14) days of service of this Order. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. 22 DATED: March 12, 2020 23 24 25 26 27 28
Document Info
Docket Number: 2:18-cv-00214
Filed Date: 3/13/2020
Precedential Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 6/19/2024