Luna v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. ( 2021 )

1 DAVID ALLEN (SBN 87193) DAVID ALLEN & ASSOCIATES 2 5230 Folsom Boulevard Sacramento, California 95819 3 Telephone: 916-455-4800 Facsimile: 916-451-5687 4 Attorneys for Plaintiff 5 COLLEEN LUNA 6 MISTY A. MURRAY (SBN 196870) mmurray@hinshawlaw.com 7 HINSHAW & CULBERTSON LLP 350 South Grand Ave., Suite 3600 8 Los Angeles, CA 90071-3476 Telephone: 213-680-2800 9 Facsimile: 213-614-7399 10 PETER J. FELSENFELD (SBN 260433) pfelsenfeld@hinshawlaw.com 11 HINSHAW & CULBERTSON LLP One California Street, 18th Floor 12 San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: 415-362-6000 13 Facsimile: 415-834-9070 14 Attorneys for Defendant METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY 15 16 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 17 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 18 SACRAMENTO DIVISION 19 COLLEEN LUNA, ) Case No. 2:21-cv-00733-WBS-KJN ) 20 Plaintiff, ) (Hon. William B. Shubb) ) 21 vs. ) JOINT REQUEST FOR MODIFICATION ) OF PRE-TRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER; 22 METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE ) ORDER COMPANY, et al., ) 23 ) Defendants. ) Complaint Filed: April 24, 2021 24 ) ) 25 ) 26 27 28 1 STIPULATION 2 Plaintiff Colleen Luna (“Plaintiff”) and Defendant Metropolitan Life Insurance Company 3 (“Defendant”) (collectively the “Parties”), by and through their respective counsel, hereby jointly 4 request that the Court modify the current Pre-Trial Scheduling Order as follows: 5 WHEREAS, on August 2, 2021, the Parties submitted their Joint Case Management 6 Statement (“CMS”). (Dkt #11) As stated in the CMS , this case involves a claim for long-term 7 disability (“LTD”) benefits under an employer-sponsored plan. Accordingly, Plaintiff’s claim is 8 governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 9 et seq. 10 WHEREAS, in the CMS, the Parties proposed certain modifications of the standard pretrial 11 proceedings, including that the case be resolved by way of Cross Motions for Judgment pursuant to 12 FRCP 52 to be determined by the Court based upon the Administrative Record and without live 13 testimony or expert witnesses. The Parties further proposed a briefing schedule with opening briefs, 14 responding briefs, and no more than a half-day bench trial. Finally, the Parties agreed to waive the 15 Final Pretrial Conference and its attendant requirements. 16 WHEREAS, on August 3, 2021, the Court issued a Pre-Trial Scheduling Order (Dkt#12), 17 which set a Final Pre-Trial Conference for August 1, 2022 and further required that “Counsel for all 18 parties are to be fully prepared for trial at the time of the Pretrial Conference, with no matters remaining 19 to be accomplished except production of witnesses for oral testimony.” The Order further stated that 20 “Counsel shall file separate pretrial statements” and “referred to Local Rules 281 and 282 relating to the 21 contents of and time for filing those statements.” (Dkt#12) 22 WHEREAS, the Court also set Trial for October 4, 2022 in accordance with the procedures 23 set forth in Kearney v. Standard Ins. Co., 175 F.3d 1084 (9th Cir. 1999) (ERISA cross motions). 24 However, the Order does not establish a schedule for Cross Briefing under Rule 52. 25 NOW THEREFORE, the Parties respectfully jointly request that the Court modify the Pre- 26 Trial Scheduling Order as follows: 27 • Strike the Final Pre-Trial Conference set for August 1, 2022 and its attendant 28 1 • Set a Status Conference for August 1, 2022 for purposes of scheduling a Settlement 2 Conference as set forth in the Court’s Order (Dkt#12) 3 • Set the following Cross Briefing Schedule for the Trial of this matter: 4 o Deadline to file Opening Rule 52 briefs: September 6, 2022 5 o Deadline to file Responsive Rule 52 briefs: September 20, 2022 6 o Hearing on Cross Motions for Judgment: October 4, 2022 7 The requested modification will not affect any other deadlines or requirements set forth in the 8 Pre-Trial Scheduling Order. Respectfully submitted by, 9 10 Dated: August 13, 2021 DAVID ALLEN & ASSOCIATES 11 By: /s/ David Allen 12 DAVID ALLEN Attorneys for Plaintiff 13 COLEEN LUNA 14 Dated: August 13, 2021 HINSHAW & CULBERTSON LLP 15 16 By: /s/ Peter J. Felsenfeld MISTY A. MURRAY 17 PETER J. FELSENFELD Attorneys for Defendant 18 METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY 19 20 FILER’S ATTESTATION 21 In compliance with Local Rules, I, Peter J. Felsenfeld, hereby attest that all party signatories 22 hereto concur in this filing. 23 /s/ Peter J. Felsenfeld 24 PETER J. FELSENFELD 25 26 27 28 1 ORDER 2 Having reviewed the parties Stipulation to Modify the Pre-Trial Scheduling Order in the 3 || ERISA-governed matter, and for GOOD CAUSE APPEARING, it is hereby ordered that the Court 4 || the Pre-Trial Scheduling Order (Dkt#12) shall be modified as follows: 5 e Strike the Final Pre-Trial Conference set for August 1, 2022 and its attendant 6 requirements 7 e Set a Status Conference for August 1, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. for purposes of scheduling a 8 Settlement Conference as set forth in the Court’s Order (Dkt#12) 9 e Set the following Cross Briefing Schedule: 10 o Deadline to file Opening Rule 52 briefs: September 6, 2022 1] o Deadline to file Responsive Rule 52 briefs: September 20, 2022 12 o Hearing on what the parties have characterized as Cross Motions for 13 Summary Judgment, which will in fact be the final hearing on the merits 14 pursuant to the procedures set forth in Kearney v. Standard Ins. Co., 175 F.3d 15 1084 (9th Cir. 1999): October 4, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. 16 The requested modification will not affect any other deadlines or requirements set forth in the 17 || Pre-Trial Scheduling Order. 18 19 || IT IS SO ORDERED. / . 20 Dated: August 16, 2021 Ph hata Vim Lehn UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 22 23 24 25 26 27 28