Albornoz v. Wal-Mart Associates, Inc. ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JESSICA E. ALBORNOZ, Case No. 1:22-cv-01229-JLT-CDB 12 Plaintiff, ORDER ON STIPULATION TO AMEND 13 v. SCHEDULING ORDER 14 WAL-MART ASSOCIATES, INC., et al, (Doc. 41) 15 Defendants. 16 17 On May 23, 2023, following a mid-discovery status conference, the Court ordered the 18 parties to meet and confer to resolve their outstanding discovery disputes, including by discussing 19 whether they are in mutual agreement to seek a 60-day extension of all case management dates. 20 (Docs. 39, 40). In addition, the Court reminded the parties (consistent with the Scheduling Order, 21 see Doc. 25 p. 7) that “[a]ny forthcoming stipulation or application seeking such an extension 22 shall be supported by affidavits or declarations in which the parties demonstrate good cause 23 through reasonable diligence with past and ongoing discovery activities.” (Doc. 40 p. 3). 24 The parties filed a stipulation to extend case management deadlines on June 5, 2023. 25 (Doc. 41). The parties seek a 60-day extension of all outstanding discovery deadlines. 26 Notwithstanding the Court’s earlier admonition, the stipulation is unaccompanied by any 27 affidavits or sworn declarations, and instead attempts to make a showing of good cause via 28 unsworn declarations. 1 Counsel for Plaintiff represents that several material documents presently are missing 2 from Defendants’ production, thereby handicapping Plaintiff without enough time to properly 3 conduct her scheduled depositions. Id. at 2. Defendants’ new counsel has agreed to supplement 4 discovery responses on June 9, 2023, which is just a few days before Plaintiff’s scheduled 5 depositions set for June 12, 13, 15, and 16, 2023. Id. 6 In addition, counsel for the parties represent that the 60-day extension would serve the 7 interests of judicial economy and an amicable resolution of this matter because they plan to attend 8 a mediation session on August 4, 2023 and represent that the extension would assist them by 9 allowing them to focus on their upcoming mediation efforts. 10 The pretrial scheduling order can only be modified “upon a showing of good cause.” 11 Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 608 (9th Cir. 1992). The pretrial schedule 12 may be modified “if it cannot reasonably be met despite the diligence of the party seeking the 13 extension.” Id. at 609. If the party that seeks modification was not diligent, then the motion to 14 modify should not be granted. Zivkovic v. Southern California Edison Co., 302 F.3d 1080, 1089 15 (9th Cir. 2002). 16 As the Court previously acknowledged, Plaintiff has suffered prejudice from Defendants’ 17 unsatisfactory discovery performance. (Doc. 40 p. 2). Here, Plaintiff’s request for a 60-day 18 extension serves both to ameliorate the prejudice she has incurred and to enable the parties to 19 balance both completion of discovery and pursuing private mediation as reported. While at this 20 juncture the Court finds that those reasons constitute good cause to grant the modest extension 21 sought, the Court advises the parties that efforts undertaken to pursue settlement will not justify 22 further extensions of case management dates. Accordingly, the parties are encouraged to 23 diligently attend to and complete discovery within the time remaining and to not permit 24 settlement efforts to detract from meeting the case management deadlines. 25 Accordingly, based on the parties’ representations in the stipulation and for good cause 26 shown, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the scheduling order be amended as follows: 27 Deadline Current Amended 28 Fact Discovery cut off: 06/20/2023 08/19/2023 1 | Expert Disclosure: 07/10/2023 09/08/2023 2 | Supp. Expert Disclosure: 07/24/2023 09/22/2023 3 | Expert Discovery Cut Off: 08/23/2023 10/20/2023 4 | Non-Dispositive Motion Filing: 09/06/2023 11/06/2023 5 | Non-Dispositive Motion Hearing: — 10/12/2023 12/11/2023 6 | Dispositive Motion Filing: 10/27/2023 12/29/2023 7 | Dispositive Motion Hearing: 12/05/2023 02/05/2024 8 | Pre-Trial Conference Date: 02/05/2024 04/08/2024 at 1:30 p.m. 9 | Trial: 04/02/2024 6/04/2024 at 8:30 a.m. 10 11 The parties are reminded that no further stipulations to amend the scheduling order will be 12 | considered absent accompanying declarations or affidavits that set forth good cause. 13 | IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: _ June 6, 2023 | Wr bo 15 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28