C. v. Merced City School District ( 2020 )


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  • 1 James D. Weakley, Esq. Bar No. 082853 Ashley N. Reyes, Esq. Bar No. 312120 2 WEAKLEY & ARENDT 3 A Professional Corporation 5200 N. Palm Avenue, Suite 211 4 Fresno, California 93704 Telephone: (559) 221-5256 5 Facsimile: (559) 221-5262 Jim@walaw-fresno.com 6 Ashley@walaw-fresno.com 7 Attorneys for Defendants, MERCED CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT operating as CHARLES WRIGHT ELEMENTARY, KEN COOPER, VERONICA VILLA, DOUG COLLINS; and 8 BRIAN MEISENHEIMER 9 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 11 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12 DUWAYNE C., a minor, by and through ) CASE NO. 1:19-CV-01188-DAD-BAM his guardian ad litem REGINA SCHINDLER ) 13 ) STIPULATION AND ORDER Plaintiffs, FOR JOINT REQUEST TO MODIFIY ) 14 THE SCHEDULING ORDER vs. ) 15 ) MERCED CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT, ) 16 operating as CHARLES WRIGHT ) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL; OLIVIA ) 17 ZARATE, an individual employee; KEN ) Complaint Filed: June 27, 2018 18 C VO ERO OPE NR IC, A an V i In Ld Liv Aid , u aa nl ie nm dip vl io dy ue ae l; employee; ) T rial Date: TBA BRIAN MEISENHEIMER, an individual ) 19 employee; DOUG COLLINS, and DOES 1 ) through 50, inclusive, ) 20 ) Defendants. ) 21 ) 22 Plaintiff, Duwayne C., a minor, by and through his guardian ad litem Regina Schindler 23 (Plaintiff); Defendants Merced City School District, operating as Charles Wright Elementary 24 School; Ken Cooper, Veronica Villa, Brian Meisenheimer, Doug Collins, and Olivia Zarate 25 (Defendants), by and through their attorneys of record, stipulate as follows: 26 27 28 1 GOOD CAUSE STATEMENT RE MODIFICATION OF SCHEDULING ORDER 2 1. On January 9, 2020, the Court entered its Scheduling Conference Order in this 3 matter, which contained the relevant case management deadlines including the deadlines for 4 completion of non-expert discovery, expert disclosures, expert discovery, and the filing of 5 dispositive motions. [Doc. 16]. 6 7 2. At this stage of the litigation the parties have propounded written discovery and 8 have participated in mediation. Due to circumstances outside of the parties’ control, including 9 the COVID-19 pandemic and sheltering in place orders the parties have been unable to take 10 depositions. Although the case did not settle at mediation the parties now desire to continue 11 settlement negotiations before incurring the costs of taking depositions. 12 3. As such, the parties stipulate and agree that Good Cause exists for (1) a brief 13 extension of the non-expert and expert discovery deadlines; (2) an extension of the dispositive 14 15 motion filing and hearing deadlines. This is the first such request for a continuance of discovery 16 deadlines in this matter. 17 STIPULATION REGARDING SCHEDULING ORDER 18 1. Accordingly, in light of the foregoing Good Cause, the parties hereby stipulate to and 19 jointly request that the Court issue an Order modifying the operative scheduling order in this 20 case along the following lines and/or in a manner comparable to the following proposed 21 amended schedule: 22 23 Event Deadline Amended Deadline Non-Expert Discovery November 20, 2020 February 26, 2021 24 Designation of Expert January 22, 2021 April 23, 2021 Witnesses 25 Rebuttal Designation of February 12, 2021 May 14, 2021 Expert Witnesses 26 Expert Discovery March 19, 2021 June 18, 2021 Deadline to File Dispositive April 30, 2021 July 30, 2021 27 Motions 28 1 Pre-Trial Conference TBD 2 IT IS SO STIPULATED 3 4 DATED: October 2,2020 WEAKLEY & ARENDT 5 A Professional Corporation 6 By: /s/ James D. Weakley 7 James D. Weakley Ashley N. Reyes 8 Attorneys for Defendants Merced City School District, Ken Cooper, 9 Veronica Villa, Brian Meisenheimer, and Doug Collins 10 PORTER SCOTT 11 A Professional Corporation DATED: October 2, 2020 12 By: /s/Derek J. Haynes1 Derek J. Haynes 13 Barakah Amaral Attorneys for Defendant Olivia Zarate 14 15 DATED: October 2, 2020 LIBERTY LAW 16 17 By: /s/ Micha Star Liberty2 Micha Star Liberty 18 Attorney for Plaintiff 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 Electronic signature authorized October 1, 2020. 2 Electronic signature authorized September 30, 2020. 28 1 ORDER 2 According to the stipulation, the parties seek to modify the Scheduling Order in order to 3 engage in further settlement discussions. Generally, settlement discussions, in and of 4 themselves, are not good cause to modify a scheduling order. See Gerawan Farming, Inc. v. 5 Rehrig Pacific Co., 2013 WL 645741, at *5 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 21, 2013). However, the parties 6 also report that due to circumstances outside of their control, including the COVID-19 7 8 pandemic and sheltering in place orders, the parties have been unable to take depositions. In 9 light of these circumstances, the Court finds good cause supporting modification of the 10 Scheduling Order. Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that, the Court’s Scheduling 11 Order [Doc. 16] is hereby modified and reset to the following: 12 13 Event Deadline Amended Deadline Non-Expert Discovery November 20, 2020 February 26, 2021 14 Designation of Expert January 22, 2021 April 23, 2021 Witnesses 15 Rebuttal Designation of February 12, 2021 May 14, 2021 Expert Witnesses 16 Expert Discovery March 19, 2021 June 18, 2021 Deadline to File Dispositive April 30, 2021 July 30, 2021 17 Motions 18 The Pretrial Conference remains as scheduled for November 1, 2021. (Doc. No. 25.) 19 The parties are cautioned that further modifications of the Scheduling Order will not be granted 20 absent a demonstrated showing of good cause. Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b). Good cause may consist 21 of the inability to comply with court orders in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Any such 22 further difficulties should be explained. 23 24 IT IS SO ORDERED. 25 Dated: October 5, 2020 /s/ Barbara A. McAuliffe _ 26 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 27 28

Document Info

Docket Number: 1:19-cv-01188

Filed Date: 10/6/2020

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 6/19/2024