Heggen v. Heavenly Valley Ltd. Partnership ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 ----oo0oo---- 11 12 ADAM HEGGEN, NO. 2:21-cv-00107 WBS DB 13 Plaintiff, 14 v. 15 HEAVENLY VALLEY, Limited Partnership; and DOES 1 to 16 10, inclusive, 17 Defendant. 18 19 ----oo0oo---- 20 STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) ORDER 21 After reviewing the parties’ Joint Status Report, the 22 court hereby vacates the Status (Pretrial Scheduling) Conference 23 scheduled for May 10, 2021, and makes the following findings and 24 orders without needing to consult with the parties any further. 25 I. SERVICE OF PROCESS 26 All defendants have been served, and no further service 27 is permitted without leave of court, good cause having been shown 28 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b). 1 II. JOINDER OF PARTIES/AMENDMENTS 2 No further joinder of parties or amendments to 3 pleadings will be permitted except with leave of court, good 4 cause having been shown under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5 16(b). See Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604 6 (9th Cir. 1992). 7 III. JURISDICTION/VENUE 8 Jurisdiction is predicated upon the Class Action 9 Fairness Act (“CAFA”), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332(d), because this is a 10 putative class action in which the amount in controversy exceeds 11 $5,000,000 and at least one member of the putative class is a 12 citizen of a different state than the defendant. Venue is 13 undisputed and hereby found to be proper. 14 IV. DISCOVERY 15 The parties agree to serve the initial disclosures 16 required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(1) on or before 17 May 24, 2021. 18 The parties shall disclose experts and produce reports 19 in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2) by no 20 later than October 17, 2022. With regard to expert testimony 21 intended solely for rebuttal, those experts shall be disclosed 22 and reports produced in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil 23 Procedure 26(a)(2) on or before November 14, 2022. 24 The parties represent that they are currently involved 25 in informal settlement negotiations. Defendant contends that 26 discovery should be stayed until “thirty (30) days following 27 unsuccessful settlement discussions.” Plaintiff disagrees that 28 any stay is necessary. 1 The court sees no reason to stay discovery while 2 settlement negotiations are pending. The parties may agree to 3 refrain from propounding discovery requests if they feel that 4 they would interfere with negotiations. The standard proposed by 5 defendant would also be difficult to enforce, as it may not be 6 entirely clear when informal settlement negotiations have become 7 “unsuccessful” rather than still ongoing. 8 Defendant further urges the court to bifurcate 9 discovery into three phases. Plaintiff argues that no 10 bifurcation or limitation on discovery is necessary. The court 11 agrees with plaintiff that separate discovery phases are 12 unnecessary. 13 Accordingly, all discovery, including depositions for 14 preservation of testimony, is left open, save and except that it 15 shall be so conducted as to be completed by December 12, 2022. 16 The word “completed” means that all discovery shall have been 17 conducted so that all depositions have been taken and any 18 disputes relevant to discovery shall have been resolved by 19 appropriate order if necessary and, where discovery has been 20 ordered, the order has been obeyed. All motions to compel 21 discovery must be noticed on the magistrate judge’s calendar in 22 accordance with the local rules of this court and so that such 23 motions may be heard (and any resulting orders obeyed) not later 24 than December 12, 2022. 25 V. MOTION HEARING SCHEDULE 26 Because the parties agree that the court should set a 27 deadline by which plaintiff must file his motion for class 28 certification (or by which defendant must file a motion to 1 affirmatively preclude class certification), the court will order 2 that any such motion be filed on or before March 28, 2022. The 3 parties further agree that the Opposition to any such motion 4 shall be filed six weeks later, on or before May 9, 2022. Any 5 Reply shall be filed by May 31, 2022. The hearing on any such 6 motion shall be held on June 13, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. in Courtroom 7 No. 5. 8 All other motions, except motions for continuances, 9 temporary restraining orders, or other emergency applications, 10 shall be filed on or before January 23, 2023. All motions shall 11 be noticed for the next available hearing date. Counsel are 12 cautioned to refer to the local rules regarding the requirements 13 for noticing and opposing such motions on the court’s regularly 14 scheduled law and motion calendar. 15 VI. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE 16 The Final Pretrial Conference is set for April 10, 17 2023, at 1:30 p.m. in Courtroom No. 5. The conference shall be 18 attended by at least one of the attorneys who will conduct the 19 trial for each of the parties and by any unrepresented parties. 20 Counsel for all parties are to be fully prepared for 21 trial at the time of the Pretrial Conference, with no matters 22 remaining to be accomplished except production of witnesses for 23 oral testimony. Counsel shall file separate pretrial statements, 24 and are referred to Local Rules 281 and 282 relating to the 25 contents of and time for filing those statements. In addition to 26 those subjects listed in Local Rule 281(b), the parties are to 27 provide the court with: (1) a plain, concise statement which 28 identifies every non-discovery motion which has been made to the 1 court, and its resolution; (2) a list of the remaining claims as 2 against each defendant; and (3) the estimated number of trial 3 days. 4 In providing the plain, concise statements of 5 undisputed facts and disputed factual issues contemplated by 6 Local Rule 281(b)(3)-(4), the parties shall emphasize the claims 7 that remain at issue, and any remaining affirmatively pled 8 defenses thereto. If the case is to be tried to a jury, the 9 parties shall also prepare a succinct statement of the case, 10 which is appropriate for the court to read to the jury. 11 VII. TRIAL SETTING 12 The jury trial is set for June 6, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. The 13 parties estimate that the trial will 3-5 court days if no class 14 is certified, and several weeks if a class is certified. 15 VIII. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 16 A Settlement Conference will be set at the time of the 17 Pretrial Conference. All parties should be prepared to advise 18 the court whether they will stipulate to the trial judge acting 19 as settlement judge and waive disqualification by virtue thereof. 20 Counsel are instructed to have a principal with full 21 settlement authority present at the Settlement Conference or to 22 be fully authorized to settle the matter on any terms. At least 23 seven calendar days before the Settlement Conference counsel for 24 each party shall submit a confidential Settlement Conference 25 Statement for review by the settlement judge. If the settlement 26 judge is not the trial judge, the Settlement Conference 27 Statements shall not be filed and will not otherwise be disclosed 28 to the trial judge. 1 IX. MODIFICATIONS TO SCHEDULING ORDER 2 Any requests to modify the dates or terms of this 3 Scheduling Order, except requests to change the date of the 4 trial, may be heard and decided by the assigned Magistrate Judge. 5 All requests to change the trial date shall be heard and decided 6 only by the undersigned judge. 7 IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 | Dated: May 5, 2021 pete □ ak. Ad. KE 9 WILLIAM B. SHUBB Lo UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28