Mamchits v. Ford Motor Co ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 NIKOLAY MAMCHITS, No. 2:23-cv-00805 DAD AC 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. SCHEDULING ORDER 14 FORD MOTOR COMPANY, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 18 This court conducted a scheduling conference on November 8, 2023. All parties appeared 19 through counsel. Pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the court issues 20 this scheduling order. 21 I. SERVICE OF PROCESS 22 The named defendants have been served as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5. 23 ECF No. 18 at 3. No further service is permitted without leave of court for good cause shown 24 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b). 25 II. JOINDER OF ADDITIONAL PARTIES / AMENDMENT OF PLEADINGS 26 The parties do not anticipate joinder of any additional parties. ECF No. 18 at 3. No 27 further joinder of parties or amendments to pleadings is permitted without leave of court, good 28 cause having been shown. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b); Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 1 F.2d 27 604 (9th Cir. 1992). The parties are advised that the filing of motions and/or stipulations 2 requesting leave to amend the pleadings does not imply good cause to modify the existing 3 schedule. Fed. R. Civ. P. 16 (b)(4); see also Johnson, 975 F. 2d at 609. Moreover, any 4 amendment requested under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a) must not be: (1) prejudicial to 5 the opposing party; (2) the product of undue delay; (3) proposed in bad faith; or (4) futile. See 6 Foman v. Davis, 371 U.S. 178, 182 (1962). 7 III. DISCOVERY PROCEDURES 8 Discovery matters that do not implicate the schedule of the case or that do not relate to 9 sealing or redaction of documents related to dispositive motions are referred to the assigned 10 United States Magistrate Judge, who will hear all discovery disputes subject to his or her 11 procedures. (The assigned magistrate judge’s initials follow the district judge’s initials next to the 12 case number.) All discovery documents must include the words “DISCOVERY MATTER” in 13 the caption to ensure proper routing. Do not direct delivery of courtesy copies of these 14 documents to the district judge. Counsel are directed to contact the magistrate judge’s courtroom 15 deputy clerk to schedule discovery matters for hearing. 16 All motions to compel discovery must be noticed on the assigned magistrate judge’s 17 calendar in accordance with the local rules of this court and the magistrate judge’s own 18 procedures. The written ruling of the assigned magistrate judge shall be final, subject to 19 modification by the district court only where it has been shown that the magistrate judge’s order 20 is clearly erroneous or contrary to law. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A). Pursuant to Local Rule 21 303, any party may file and serve a “Request for Reconsideration by the District Court of 22 Magistrate Judge’s Ruling.” See L.R. 303(c). The requesting party must file and serve any such 23 request within fourteen (14) days of service of a written ruling. L.R. 303(b). The request must 24 specify which portions of the ruling are clearly erroneous or contrary to law and the basis for that 25 contention with supporting points and authorities. L.R. 303(c). 26 In addition, the assigned magistrate judge reviews proposed discovery phase protective 27 orders sought by the parties pursuant to Local Rule 141.1. However, requests to seal or redact in 28 //// 1 connection with dispositive motions or trial are decided by Judge Drozd and any such requests 2 must comply with Judge Drozd’s Standing Order and Local Rules 140 and 141. 3 IV. DISCOVERY DEADLINES 4 A. Rule 26(a) Initial Disclosures 5 The parties shall serve their initial disclosures pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6 Rule 26(a)(1) no later than November 22, 2023, the date proposed by the parties. 7 Any parties served or joined after the issuance of this scheduling order shall “make the 8 initial disclosures within 30 days after being served or joined,” as provided by Rule 26(a)(1)(D). 9 B. Fact Discovery 10 All fact discovery shall be completed1 no later than July 1, 2024. 11 C. Expert Discovery 12 Disclosures of expert witnesses, if any, must be made pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil 13 Procedure 26(a)(2)(A), (B) and (C), and shall include all information required thereunder. Each 14 expert witness must be fully prepared to be examined on all subjects and opinions included in the 15 disclosures. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the imposition of 16 appropriate sanctions, including the preclusion of the expert’s testimony, or of other evidence 17 offered through the expert. 18 The parties shall disclose initial experts and produce reports in accordance with Federal 19 Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2) by no later than July 8, 2024. With regard to expert testimony 20 intended solely for rebuttal, those experts shall be disclosed and reports produced in accordance 21 with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2) on or before July 29, 2024. 22 All expert discovery shall be completed no later than August 12, 2024. 23 24 1 As used herein, the word “completed” means that all discovery shall have been conducted so 25 that all depositions have been taken and any disputes relevant to discovery shall have been 26 resolved by appropriate order if necessary and, where discovery has been ordered, the order has been obeyed. The parties are advised that motions to compel must be filed in advance of the 27 discovery completion deadlines so that the court may grant effective relief within the allotted discovery time. A party’s failure to have a discovery dispute heard sufficiently in advance of the 28 discovery cutoff may result in denial of the motion as untimely. 1 V. MOTIONS 2 All motions, except motions for continuances, temporary restraining orders, or other 3 emergency applications, shall be filed on or before October 14, 2024 and shall be noticed for 4 hearing before Judge Drozd on a date not more than 60 days from the date the motion is filed and 5 on a date that is consistent with Judge Drozd’s Standing Order. Counsel are directed to refer to 6 the local rules regarding the requirements for noticing and opposing such motions on the court’s 7 regularly scheduled law and motion calendar. 8 Prior to filing a motion for summary judgment or motion for partial summary judgment 9 (summary adjudication), the parties are ordered to meet and confer, in person or by telephone, to 10 discuss the issues to be raised in the motion. In addition to complying with the requirements 11 of Local Rule 260, the parties must prepare a Joint Statement of Undisputed Facts, which 12 identifies all relevant facts subject to agreement by all parties. The moving party is 13 responsible for filing the joint statement concurrently with the motion. In the notice of motion, 14 the moving party shall certify that the parties have met and conferred as ordered above or provide 15 a statement of good cause for the failure to do so. 16 VI. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 17 District Judge Dale A. Drozd requires parties to participate in a court-supervised 18 settlement conference with a settlement judge before the action may proceed to trial. A 19 settlement conference has not been set at this time. At any time before the final pretrial 20 conference, the parties may file a joint request that this action be referred to a settlement judge for 21 the setting of a settlement conference. If the parties have not participated in a court-supervised 22 settlement conference by the time of the final pretrial conference, the court will refer the action at 23 that time to the assigned magistrate judge for the setting of a settlement conference. The parties 24 shall contact the designated settlement conference judge’s chambers to ascertain that judge’s 25 settlement conference procedures, including the procedure for submitting confidential settlement 26 statements, which shall not be filed and will not otherwise be disclosed to the trial judge. 27 Unless otherwise permitted in advance by the court, the attorneys who will try the case 28 shall appear at the settlement conference. Pertinent evidence to be offered at trial, documents or 1 otherwise, should be brought to the settlement conference for presentation to the settlement judge. 2 Of course, neither the settlement conference statements nor communications during the settlement 3 conference with the settlement judge can be used by either party in the trial of this case. 4 Absent permission from the court, in addition to counsel who will try the case being 5 present, the individual parties shall also be present, and in the case of corporate parties, 6 associations or other entities, and insurance carriers, a representative executive with unrestricted 7 authority to discuss, consider, propose and agree, or disagree, to any settlement proposal or offer 8 shall also be present. If for any reason the representative with unlimited authority cannot attend, 9 such a person must be available by phone or video throughout the conference. In other words, 10 having settlement authority “up to a certain amount” is not acceptable. 11 VII. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE 12 The final pretrial conference is set for March 25, 2025 at 1:30 p.m. before District Court 13 Judge Dale A. Drozd by Zoom. Parties will receive a Zoom ID number and password for the 14 final pretrial conference by email from Judge Drozd’s Courtroom Deputy Pete Buzo 15 (PBuzo@caed.uscourts.gov). Any other interested parties or members of the public may access 16 the conference telephonically by dialing 888−557−8511 and using access code 9683466, at the 17 time of the conference. Because several matters may be set for the same afternoon, the parties 18 will be notified in advance of the conference at what specific time the court anticipates calling 19 their case so they can join the Zoom at that time. 20 The parties are directed to file a joint pretrial statement, carefully prepared and executed 21 by all counsel, that complies with the requirements of this Local Rule 281 and Judge Drozd’s 22 Standing Order. Counsel shall also email a copy of the joint pretrial statement in Word format to 23 Judge Drozd’s chambers at dadorders@caed.uscourts.gov. 24 The parties’ attention is directed to Local Rules 281 and 282. This court will insist upon 25 strict compliance with these rules. At the pretrial conference, the court will set deadlines to file 26 trial documents, including motions in limine, trial briefs, and proposed jury voir dire, instructions, 27 and verdict forms (where applicable). 28 //// 1 VIII. JURY TRIAL 2 A jury trial is set for June 2, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom 4 before District Court 3 Judge Dale A. Drozd. Trial is anticipated to last 3-5 court days. 4 IX. REQUEST FOR BIFURCATION, APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL MASTER, OR 5 OTHER TECHNIQUES TO SHORTEN TRIAL 6 The parties have not made any such requests currently and do not anticipate any such 7 requests. 8 X. RELATED MATTERS PENDING 9 There is no related litigation. 10 XI. OBJECTIONS AND MODIFICATIONS TO THE SCHEDULING ORDER 11 This case schedule will become final without further order of the court unless 12 objections are filed within fourteen (14) days of the entry of this order. The schedule, once 13 final, shall not be modified except by leave of court upon showing of good cause. The assigned 14 magistrate judge is authorized to modify only the discovery dates to the extent any such 15 modification does not impact the balance of the schedule of the case. 16 The parties are reminded that pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil 17 Procedure, no stipulations extending scheduling requirements or modifying applicable rules are 18 effective until and unless the court approves them. Agreement of the parties by stipulation alone 19 does not constitute good cause. Any request or stipulation to modify this scheduling order must 20 set forth: 21 (1) the existing due date or hearing date as well as the discovery cutoff date, the last 22 date for hearing motions, the final pretrial conference date, and the trial date; 23 (2) whether there have been prior requests for extensions, and whether these were 24 granted or denied by the court; and 25 (3) specific, concrete reasons supporting good cause for granting of the extension. For 26 example, if the reason for the requested extension is that it “will promote 27 settlement,” the requesting party or parties must indicate the status of ongoing 28 //// ] negotiations, 1.e., have written proposals been exchanged; is counsel in the process 2 of reviewing a draft settlement agreement; has a mediator been selected. 3 IT IS SO ORDERED. 4 || Dated: November 8, 2023 ~ 5 Htttenr— Lhor—e_ ALLISON CLAIRE 6 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 7 8 9 10 1] 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28