R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co. v. Pappas ( 2023 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY, Case No.: 2:21-cv-00753 DJC AC 12 Plaintiff(s), 13 v. SCHEDULING ORDER 14 JOHN PAPPAS, III, ET AL., 15 Defendant(s). 16 17 I. SERVICE OF PROCESS 18 The named defendants have been served as required by Federal Rule of Civil 19 Procedure 5. No further service is permitted without leave of the Court, good cause 20 having been shown under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b). 21 II. JOINDER OF ADDITIONAL PARTIES / AMENDMENT OF PLEADINGS 22 No further joinder of parties or amendments to pleadings is permitted without 23 leave of the Court, good cause having been shown. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b); Johnson 24 v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 27 604 (9th Cir. 1992). 25 III. DISCOVERY PROCEDURES 26 Discovery matters that do not implicate the schedule of the case or that do not 27 relate to sealing or redaction of documents related to dispositive motions are referred 28 to the assigned United States Magistrate Judge, who will hear all discovery disputes 1 subject to his or her procedures. All discovery documents must include the words 2 “DISCOVERY MATTER” in the caption to ensure proper routing. Do not direct delivery 3 of courtesy copies of these documents to the District Judge. Counsel are directed to 4 review and comply with the case management procedures of the assigned Magistrate 5 Judge when setting applicable discovery matters for hearing. All motions to compel 6 discovery must be noticed on the assigned Magistrate Judge’s calendar in 7 accordance with the local rules of this Court and the Magistrate Judge’s own 8 procedures. 9 The written ruling of the assigned Magistrate Judge shall be final, subject to 10 modification by the District Judge only where it has been shown that the Magistrate 11 Judge’s order is clearly erroneous or contrary to law. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A). 12 Pursuant to Local Rule 303, any party may file and serve a “Request for 13 Reconsideration by the District Judge of Magistrate Judge’s Ruling.” See L.R. 303(c). 14 The requesting party must file and serve any such request within fourteen (14) days of 15 service of a written ruling. L.R. 303(b). The request must specify which portions of the 16 ruling are clearly erroneous or contrary to law and the basis for that contention with 17 supporting points and authorities. L.R. 303(c). 18 In addition, the assigned Magistrate Judge reviews proposed discovery phase 19 protective orders sought by the parties pursuant to Local Rule 141.1. However, 20 requests to seal or redact in connection with dispositive motions or trial are decided 21 by Judge Calabretta and any such requests must comply with Judge Calabretta’s 22 Standing Order and Local Rules 140 and 141. 23 IV. DISCOVERY DEADLINES 24 A. Rule 26(a) Initial Disclosures 25 If not already completed, all parties appearing shall make initial disclosures 26 pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 26(a)(1) within 14 days after the 27 parties’ Rule 26(f) conference. Any parties served or joined after the issuance of this 28 scheduling order shall “make the initial disclosures within 30 days after being served 1 or joined,” as provided by Rule 26(a)(1)(D). 2 B. Fact Discovery 3 All further fact discovery, limited to whether and to what extend Dome Printing 4 and Packaging, LLC and/or PM Corporate Group, Inc. may be liable for Plaintiff’s 5 causes of action, shall be completed1 no later than 1/12/2024. 6 C. Expert Discovery 7 The parties shall disclose initial experts and produce reports in accordance with 8 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2) by no later than 2/9/2024. With regard to 9 expert testimony intended solely for rebuttal, those experts shall be disclosed and 10 reports produced in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2) on or 11 before 3/8/2024. All expert discovery shall be completed no later than 4/5/2024. 12 Disclosures of expert witnesses, if any, must be made pursuant to Federal Rule 13 of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(A), (B) and (C), and shall include all information required 14 thereunder. Each expert witness must be fully prepared to be examined on all 15 subjects and opinions included in the disclosures. Failure to comply with these 16 requirements may result in the imposition of appropriate sanctions, including the 17 preclusion of the expert’s testimony, or of other evidence offered through the expert. 18 V. MOTIONS 19 All motions, except motions for continuances, temporary restraining orders, or 20 other emergency applications, shall be filed on or before 6/14/2024 and shall be 21 noticed for hearing before Judge Calabretta on 8/8/2024 at 1:30 p.m. Counsel are 22 directed to refer to the local rules and Judge Calabretta’s Standing Order regarding 23 the requirements for noticing and opposing such motions on the Court’s regularly 24 scheduled law and motion calendar. 25 1 As used herein, the word “completed” means that all discovery shall have been conducted so that all 26 depositions have been taken and any disputes relevant to discovery shall have been resolved by appropriate order if necessary and, where discovery has been ordered, the order has been obeyed. 27 The parties are advised that motions to compel must be filed in advance of the discovery completion deadlines so that the Court may grant effective relief within the allotted discovery time. A party’s failure 28 to have a discovery dispute heard sufficiently in advance of the discovery cutoff may result in denial of 1 All moving and opposition briefs or legal memoranda in civil cases shall not 2 exceed twenty-five pages without prior leave of court. Reply briefs filed by moving 3 parties shall not exceed fifteen pages. The Court will grant an application to extend 4 these page limitations only after good cause shown. Pages that exceed the page 5 limitations without leave of court will not be considered. Finally, no supplemental 6 briefs or sur-replies shall be filed and will not be considered without prior leave of 7 court. 8 Prior to filing a motion for summary judgment or motion for partial summary 9 judgment (summary adjudication), the parties are ordered to meet and confer, in 10 person or by telephone, to discuss the issues to be raised in the motion as required by 11 Judge Calabretta’s Standing Order. Failure to do so may result in denial of the 12 motion. In addition to complying with the requirements of Local Rule 260, the 13 parties must prepare a Joint Statement of Undisputed Facts, which identifies all 14 relevant facts subject to agreement by all parties. The moving party is responsible 15 for filing the joint statement concurrently with the motion. In the notice of motion, the 16 moving party shall certify that the parties have met and conferred as ordered above or 17 provide a statement of good cause for the failure to do so. In addition to the above, 18 when filing any motion, parties should reference and ensure compliance with Judge 19 Calabretta’s Standing Order. 20 VI. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 21 No Settlement Conference is currently scheduled. If the parties wish to have a 22 settlement conference, one will be scheduled at the final pretrial conference or at an 23 earlier time upon request of the parties. 24 VII. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE 25 The final pretrial conference is set for 11/7/2024 at 1:30 p.m. in Courtroom 26 10 before District Court Judge Daniel J. Calabretta. Hearings may be conducted by 27 Zoom upon the joint request of all parties. 28 /// 1 The parties are directed to file a joint pretrial statement that complies with the 2 requirements of Local Rule 281 and Judge Calabretta’s Standing Order in Civil Cases 3 not less than seven (7) days prior to the Pretrial Conference. Counsel shall e-mail a 4 copy of the joint pretrial statement in Word format to Judge Calabretta's chambers at 5 djcorders@caed.uscourts.gov immediately thereafter. 6 The parties’ attention is directed to Local Rules 281 and 282. This Court will 7 insist upon strict compliance with these rules. At the pretrial conference, the Court will 8 set deadlines to file trial documents, including motions in limine, trial briefs, and 9 proposed jury voir dire, instructions, and verdict forms (where applicable). 10 VIII. JURY TRIAL 11 A jury trial is set for 1/13/2025 at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom 10 before District 12 Court Judge Daniel J. Calabretta. Trial is anticipated to last 10-14 court days. 13 IX. RELATED MATTERS PENDING 14 The parties have not alerted the court to any related litigation. 15 X. OBJECTIONS AND MODIFICATIONS TO THE SCHEDULING ORDER 16 This case schedule will become final without further order of the Court 17 unless objections are filed within fourteen (14) days of the entry of this order. 18 The schedule, once final, shall not be modified except by leave of the Court upon 19 showing of good cause. Counsel shall contact Judge Calabretta’s courtroom deputy, 20 Gabriel Michel, via e-mail at gmichel@caed.uscourts.gov, prior to filing a stipulation 21 and proposed order to continue the dates set forth herein. 22 The parties are reminded that pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of 23 Civil Procedure, no stipulations extending scheduling requirements or modifying 24 applicable rules are effective until and unless the Court approves them. Agreement of 25 the parties by stipulation alone does not constitute good cause. Counsel are 26 cautioned that requests or stipulations to continue dispositive motion deadlines or 27 trial dates must establish good cause exists and are not granted lightly. 28 Any request or stipulation to modify this scheduling order must set forth: 1 (1) the existing due date or hearing date as well as the discovery cutoff date, 2 the last date for hearing motions, the final pretrial conference date, and 3 the trial date; 4 (2) whether there have been prior requests for extensions, and whether 5 these were granted or denied by the Court; and 6 (3) specific, concrete reasons supporting good cause for granting of the 7 extension. For example, if the reason for the requested extension is that 8 it “will promote settlement,” the requesting party or parties must indicate 9 the status of ongoing negotiations, e.g., that a mediator has been 10 selected; written proposals have been exchanged; a draft settlement 11 agreement is being reviewed by counsel; etc. 12 13 IT IS SO ORDERED. 14 15 Dated: October 13, 2023 /s/ Daniel J. Calabretta THE HONORABLE DANIEL J. CALABRETTA 16 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28