Terry v. Wasatch Advantage Group, LLC ( 2022 )

1 Laura L. Ho (SBN 173179) lho@gbdhlegal.com 2 Anne Bellows (SBN 293722) abellows@gbdhlegal.com 3 Stephanie Tilden (SBN 341486) stilden@gbdhlegal.com 4 GOLDSTEIN, BORGEN, DARDARIAN & HO 155 Grand Avenue, Suite 900 5 Oakland, CA 94612 Telephone: (510) 763-9800 ǀ (Fax) (510) 835-1417 6 Andrew Wolff (SBN 195092) 7 andrew@awolfflaw.com LAW OFFICES OF ANDREW WOLFF, PC 8 1615 Broadway, 4th Floor Oakland, CA 94612 9 Telephone: (510) 834-3300 ǀ (Fax) (510) 834-3377 10 Jesse Newmark (SBN 247488) jessenewmark@centrolegal.org 11 CENTRO LEGAL DE LA RAZA 3022 International Blvd., Suite 410 12 Oakland, CA 94601 Telephone: (510) 437-1863 ǀ (Fax) (510) 437-9164 13 Jocelyn Larkin (SBN 110817) 14 jlarkin@impactfund.org Lindsay Nako (SBN 239090) 15 lnako@impactfund.org THE IMPACT FUND 16 2080 Addison Street, Suite 5 Berkeley, CA 94704 17 Telephone: (510) 845-3473 ǀ (Fax) (510) 845-3654 18 Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Relators and the Certified Classes 19 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 20 SACRAMENTO DIVISION 21 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ex rel. Case No.: 2:15-CV-00799-KJM-DB DENIKA TERRY, ROY HUSKEY III, and 22 TAMERA LIVINGSTON, and each of them for CLASS ACTION themselves individually, and for all other persons 23 similarly situated and on behalf of the UNITED STIPULATION AND ORDER TO AMEND STATES OF AMERICA THE SCHEDULING ORDER AND SET 24 BRIEFING DEADLINES Plaintiffs/Relators, 25 Before: Hon. Chief Judge Kimberly J. Mueller vs. 26 Trial Date: None Set WASATCH ADVANTAGE GROUP, LLC, 27 WASATCH PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, INC., WASATCH POOL HOLDINGS, LLC, 1 CHESAPEAKE APARTMENT HOLDINGS, LLC, LOGAN PARK APARTMENTS, LLC, LOGAN 2 PARK APARTMENTS, LP, ASPEN PARK HOLDINGS, LLC, BELLWOOD JERRON 3 HOLDINGS, LLC, BELLWOOD JERRON APARTMENTS, LP, BENT TREE 4 APARTMENTS, LLC, CALIFORNIA PLACE APARTMENTS, LLC, CAMELOT LAKES 5 HOLDINGS, LLC, CANYON CLUB HOLDINGS, LLC, COURTYARD AT CENTRAL PARK 6 APARTMENTS, LLC, CREEKSIDE HOLDINGS, LTD, HAYWARD SENIOR APARTMENTS, LP, 7 HERITAGE PARK APARTMENTS, LP, OAK VALLEY APARTMENTS, LLC, OAK VALLEY 8 HOLDINGS, LP, PEPPERTREE APARTMENT HOLDINGS, LP, PIEDMONT APARTMENTS, 9 LP, POINT NATOMAS APARTMENTS, LLC, POINT NATOMAS APARTMENTS, LP, RIVER 10 OAKS HOLDINGS, LLC, SHADOW WAY APARTMENTS, LP, SPRING VILLA 11 APARTMENTS, LP, SUN VALLEY HOLDINGS, LTD, VILLAGE GROVE APARTMENTS, LP, 12 WASATCH QUAIL RUN GP, LLC, WASATCH PREMIER PROPERTIES, LLC, WASATCH 13 POOL HOLDINGS III, LLC, and DOES 1-4, 14 Defendants. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 STIPULATION AND ORDER TO AMEND THE SCHEDULING ORDER AND SET 2 BRIEFING DEADLINES 3 Plaintiffs and Relators Denika Terry, Roy Huskey III, and Tamera Livingston as court 4 appointed representatives for the certified classes of California tenants and as relators for the United 5 States and Defendants Wasatch Property Management, et al. (together the Parties), by and through 6 their undersigned counsel, stipulate as follows: 7 WHEREAS, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4), the Court has broad discretion to 8 modify a pretrial scheduling order on a showing of “good cause,” focusing on the diligence of the 9 parties and the reasons for the modification; 10 WHEREAS, the current scheduling order (ECF No. 143), as modified by a stipulation and 11 order signed by the Court on January 13, 2022 (ECF No. 222), provides for the following approaching 12 deadlines: 13  Expert discovery shall be completed no later than March 18, 2022; 14  All dispositive motions, except for motions for continuances, temporary restraining 15 orders or other emergency applications, shall be heard by May 27, 2022; 16  Additional scheduling conference shall be held on July 14, 2022; 17 WHEREAS, the Parties timely completed initial and rebuttal expert disclosures, are diligently 18 pursuing expert discovery, and have begun meeting and conferring about dispositive motions; 19 1. Extending Expert Discovery Deadline by One Business Day 20 WHEREAS, Defendants’ expert, Robert Griswold, is not available for deposition before the 21 expert discovery period closes on March 18, 2022; 22 WHEREAS, Mr. Griswold, Defendants’ Counsel and Plaintiffs’ Counsel are all available for 23 the deposition on March 21, 2022, which is only one business day after the current expert discovery 24 cut-off; 25 WHEREAS, the Parties stipulate and agree that Mr. Griswold will provide any deposition 26 corrections within two weeks (14 days) from the date the reporter transmits the transcript to the Parties; 27 1 WHEREAS, extending the discovery period by a single business day is warranted to 2 accommodate Mr. Griswold’s schedule, enable the deposition to go forward, and will not unduly delay 3 the litigation; 4 2. Setting a Briefing Schedule and Extending the Dispositive Motion Hearing Date 5 WHEREAS, the Parties have not previously requested a modification to the dispositive motion 6 hearing date set by this Court (ECF No. 143) following the most recent scheduling conference on 7 October 28, 2021; 8 WHEREAS, Defendants intend to file a Motion for Summary Judgment or, in the Alternative, 9 Class Decertification; 10 WHEREAS, in addition to opposing Defendants’ Motion, Plaintiffs intend to file a Cross 11 Motion for Partial Summary Judgment; 12 WHEREAS, the Parties may also file Motions to Strike Expert Testimony under Daubert v. 13 Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993); 14 WHEREAS, taken together these motions will address multiple significant legal issues and an 15 extensive factual record; 16 WHEREAS, to afford the Parties adequate time to address the issues presented by the motions, 17 the Parties wish to stipulate to an agreed briefing schedule; 18 WHEREAS, extended briefing timelines are further appropriate in this case because 19 Defendants have marked the vast majority of their voluminous produced documents “confidential” or 20 “highly confidential,” and therefore the Parties anticipate that additional time will be needed in order 21 for Plaintiffs to comply with their duty under this Court’s standing scheduling order (ECF No. 144) to 22 timely notify Defendants of their intended exhibits and for Defendants to file any motions to seal; 23 WHEREAS, under the Parties’ proposed briefing schedule, the deadline for filing dispositive 24 motions remains unchanged from that applicable under the current scheduling order (i.e., April 22, 25 2022); 26 27 1 WHEREAS, extending the dispositive motion hearing date by approximately one month to July 2 1, 2022 would accommodate the Parties’ proposed briefing schedule and also provide the Court 3 additional time to review the Parties’ briefs prior to the hearing; 4 WHEREAS, the proposed briefing schedule and extension to the dispositive motion hearing 5 date will not unduly delay the litigation or prejudice any party; 6 3. Stipulation and [Proposed] Amendments to the Scheduling Order 7 THEREFORE, the Parties jointly stipulate and request that the Court order that the Scheduling 8 Order (ECF Nos. 143, 222) be modified to reflect the following deadlines: 9  Expert discovery shall be completed no later than March 18, 2022 March 21, 2022; 10  Briefing Schedule for Dispositive Motions and Daubert Motions: 11 o Dispositive motions filed by April 22, 2022; 12 o Dispositive motion opposition briefs filed by May 13, 2022; 13 o Daubert motions filed by May 13, 2022; 14 o Dispositive motion reply briefs filed by May 27, 2022; 15 o Daubert motion opposition briefs filed by May 27, 2022; 16 o Daubert motion reply briefs filed by June 10, 2022; 17  All dispositive motions, except for motions for continuances, temporary restraining 18 orders or other emergency applications, shall be heard by May 27, 2022 July 1, 2022; 19  A further scheduling conference shall be held on July 14, 2022 August 12, 2022; 20 If the Court does not adopt the proposed briefing schedule, the Parties jointly stipulate and 21 respectfully request that the Court leave the current deadline for the dispositive motion hearing on May 22 27, 2022. 23 Dated: March 8, 2022 Respectfully submitted, 24 GOLDSTEIN, BORGEN, DARDARIAN & HO 25 /s/ Anne P. Bellows 26 Anne P. Bellows 27 Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Relators Dated: March 8, 2022 Respectfully submitted, 2 LEWIS BRISBOIS BISGAARD & SMITH LLP 3 /s/ Ryan Matthews (as authorized 3/8/22) 4 Ryan Matthews 5 Attorneys for Plaintiffs and Relators 6 7 8 Order 9 Good cause appearing, the Court hereby ORDRERS that the scheduling order be modified to 10 || reflect the following deadlines for Phase 1 liability discovery and dispositive motion briefing: 11 e Expert discovery shall be completed no later than March 21, 2022; 12 e Briefing Schedule for Dispositive motions and Daubert motions: 13 o Dispositive motions filed by April 22, 2022; 14 o Dispositive motion opposition briefs filed by May 13, 2022; 15 o Daubert motions filed by May 13, 2022; 16 o Dispositive motion reply briefs filed by May 27, 2022; 17 o Daubert motion opposition briefs filed by May 27, 2022; and 18 o Daubert motion reply briefs filed by June 10, 2022; 19 e All dispositive motions, except for motions for continuances, temporary restraining 20 orders or other emergency applications, shall be heard by July 8, 2022; and 2] e A further scheduling conference shall be held on August 11, 2022, at 2:30 p.m. before 22 Chief Judge Kimberly J. Mueller. 33 SO ORDERED. 94|| DATED: March 15, 2022. /j CHIEF NT] ED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 27 28