Crabtree v. County of Butte ( 2021 )

1 PORTER | SCOTT A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION 9 || Stephen E. Horan, SBN 125241 William E. Camy, SBN 291397 3 || Matthew W. Gross, SBN 324007 350 University Avenue, Suite 200 4 Sacramento, California 95825 TEL: 916.929.1481 5 || FAX: 916.927.3706 6 OFFICE OF COUNTY COUNSEL 7 COUNTY OF BUTTE Bruce S. Alpert, SBN 075684 g || Brad J. Stephens, SBN 212246 25 County Center Drive 9 |} Oroville, CA 95965 TEL: (530) 538-7621 10 || FAX: (530) 538-6891 11 || Attorneys for Defendants, COUNTY OF BUTTE, KRISTIN MCNELIS, KATHARYN SCHWARTZ and EDWARD SZENDREY 13 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 14 15 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 16 17 DARWIN CRABTREE, Case No.: 2:20-cv-00675-KJM-KJN 18 Plaintiff, JOINT STIPULATION TO MODIFY THE PRE-TRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER TO 19 CONTINUE FACT DISCOVERY; 20 ORDER COUNTY OF BUTTE, KRISTIN 21 |} MCNELIS, KATHARYN SCHWARTZ, EDWARD SZENDREY, JANE DOE, AND JOHN DOES 1-20, 23 Defendants. 24 / Complaint Filed: 12/10/19 25 26 27 28 (02423793. DOCK} JOINT STIPULATION TO MODIFY THE PRE-TRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER TO CONTINUE FACT DISCOVERY; ORDER 1 Whereas, the Court’s Initial Pretrial Scheduling Order (ECF 36) set a date of June 21, 2021 for 2 the conclusion of non-expert discovery. 3 Whereas, the parties have been diligent in conducting discovery and are currently working 4 together to discuss various outstanding discovery issues. In light of their efforts to resolve as many of 5 these issues as possible without the Court’s intervention, the parties still have outstanding third party 6 discovery requests and depositions. For instance, Defendants have issued subpoenas (to produce 7 documents and appear for depositions) to three of Plaintiff’s children—who have undertaken a lengthy 8 review of their records in order to respond to Defendants’ subpoenas—and the parties have worked 9 diligently together to resolve issues pertaining to those subpoenas without involving the Court. The 10 parties have determined that Plaintiff’s children, as third parties, shall be given ample time to respond 11 to the subpoenas. Plaintiff likewise intends to take depositions but understands that Defendant Kristen 12 NcNelis will require additional time due to her role as caregiver to her ailing husband. 13 Whereas, the parties believe that they would benefit from an additional 90 days to complete 14 non-expert discovery so that they can provide ample time for third parties to respond to subpoenas and 15 so that they can continue working out their discovery disputes amongst themselves with minimal Court 16 intervention. 17 Whereas, because the continuation of the non-expert discovery deadline for 90 days will also 18 impact the remaining deadlines in the Court’s Scheduling Order, the parties agree that the remaining 19 deadlines should be modified as follows: 20 1. Expert disclosure deadline shall be extended until October 22, 2021; 21 2. Expert Rebuttal discovery shall November 26, 2021; 22 3. Dispositive Motion deadline shall be on January 14, 2022 with the last day to hear dispositive 23 motions on February 25, 2022; 24 Whereas, the parties respectfully submit that good cause exists to grant their request to modify 25 the discovery deadlines because, while the parties have worked diligently to meet their respective 26 discovery needs, they have not been and will not be able to complete non-expert discovery before the 27 current deadline. See 6A Charles Alan Wright, Arthur R. Miller & Mary Kay Kane, Federal Practice 28 and Procedure § 1522.1 at 231 (2d ed. 1990) (“good cause” means scheduling deadlines cannot be met {02423793.DOCX} 2 1 despite party's diligence); cf. Noyes v. Kelly Servs., 488 F.3d 1163, 1174 (9th Cir. 2007) (finding that 2 district court improperly denied a Rule 16(b) motion to modify the scheduling order where plaintiff 3 diligently pursued discovery but was unable to obtain deposition testimony prior to deadline to file 4 response to summary judgment motion). 5 Whereas, the requested extension will not unduly delay this case or prejudice any party, nor is 6 it made for any improper purpose. Rather, the request is made jointly by the parties and in a timely 7 manner. For this additional reason, good cause exists to grant the requested modification to the 8 schedule. See Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 (9th Cir. 2010) (“requests for 9 extensions of time made before the applicable deadline has passed should ‘normally . . . be granted in 10 the absence of bad faith on the part of the party seeking relief or prejudice to the adverse party.’”) 11 (quoting 4B Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1165 (3d ed. 12 2004)). 13 Whereas, there have been no previous time modifications to these deadlines in this case. 14 NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties, by and through 15 their respective counsel of record, that (subject to Court Order): 16 1. Non-expert discovery be extended until September 24, 2021; 17 2. Expert disclosure deadline shall be extended until October 22, 2021; 18 3. Expert Rebuttal discovery shall November 26, 2021; 19 4. Dispositive Motion deadline shall be on January 14, 2022 with the last day to hear dispositive 20 motions on February 25, 2022; 21 /// 22 /// 23 /// 24 /// 25 /// 26 /// 27 /// 28 /// {02423793.DOCX} 3 1 Dated: May 17, 2021 PORTER | SCOTT A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION 2 3 By /s/ Matthew W. Gross 4 Stephen E. Horan William E. Camy 5 Matthew W. Gross 6 Attorneys for Defendants COUNTY OF BUTTE, KRISTIN MCNELIS, KATHARYN SCHWARTZ 7 and EDWARD SZENDREY 8 Dated: May 7, 2021 EDELSON PC 9 10 By /s/ Brandt Silver-Korn 11 Rafey S. Balabanian 12 Todd Logan Brandt Silver-Korn 13 Lily Hough Attorneys for Plaintiff Darwin Crabtree 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 {02423793.DOCX} 4 1 ORDER 2 Upon review of the Joint Stipulation to Modify the Pre-Trial Scheduling Order To Continue 3 || Fact Discovery and finding Good Cause therefore, the Court hereby orders that the Initial Pre-Trial 4 || Scheduling Order dated August 6, 2020,ECF 36, be modified as follows: 5 1. Non-expert discovery be extended until September 24, 2021; 6 2. Expert disclosure deadline shall be extended until October 22, 2021; 7 3. Expert Rebuttal discovery shall November 26, 2021; 8 4. Dispositive Motion deadline shall be on January 14, 2022 with the last day to hear dispositive 9 motions on March 4, 2022; and 10 5. The parties are ordered to file a Joint Notice of Trial Readiness not later than thirty (30) days 11 after receiving this Court's ruling on the last filed dispositive motion. The parties are to set 12 forth in their Notice of Trial Readiness, the appropriateness of special procedures, whether this 13 case is related to any other case(s) on file in the Eastern District of California, the prospect for 14 settlement, their estimated trial length, any request for a jury, and their availability for trial. 15 After review of the parties’ Joint Notice of Trial Readiness, the Court will issue an order that 16 sets forth new dates for a final pretrial conference and trial. 17 IT IS SO ORDERED. 18 || DATED: May 17, 2021. 19 20 l ti / ¢ g_/ 21 CHIEF NT] ED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 (02423793. DOCX} JOINT STIPULATION TO MODIFY THE ean OER ORDER TO CONTINUE FACT DISCOVERY;