Santor v. Laster ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 LEANN SANTOR, No. 1:19-cv-01593-AWI-SKO 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING PARTIES’ 13 STIPULATION TO CONSOLIDATE v. CASES 14 KATHRYN M. HARWELL, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 A.L., a minor by and through her No. 1:21-cv-01732-AWI-SKO 18 guardian ad litem 19 Korey Santor, 20 Plaintiff, 21 v. 22 COUNTY OF STANISLAUS, et al., 23 Defendants. 24 25 26 27 28 1 On April 8, 2022, counsel in the above-captioned cases filed a stipulation seeking to 2 consolidate (1) Leann Santor v. Kathryn M. Harwell, et al., Case No. 1:19-cv-01593-AWI-SKO 3 (“Santor”) and (2) A.L. v. County of Stanislaus, et al., Case No. 1:21-cv-01732-AWI-SKO (“A.L.”). 4 (Santor, Doc. 63; A.L., Doc. 13.) 5 Pursuant to Rule 42(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, “[i]f actions before the court 6 involve a common question of law or fact, the court may: (1) join for hearing or trial any or all 7 matters at issue in the actions; (2) consolidate the actions; or (3) issue any other orders to avoid 8 unnecessary cost or delay.” In exercising its discretion, the court “weighs the saving of time and 9 effort consolidation would produce against any inconvenience, delay, or expense that it would 10 cause.” Huene v. United States, 743 F.2d 703, 704 (9th Cir. 1984). Here, the Court finds that the 11 above-captioned actions involve the same or similar parties, claims, and questions of fact or law, 12 and that consolidation will avoid unnecessary costs and duplication of proceedings. Thus, good 13 cause exists to grant the parties’ stipulation and consolidate these cases. 14 The parties also request that the Scheduling Order in Santor (Santor, Doc. 54) be vacated, 15 and that the Initial Scheduling Conference in A.L. proceed as set to schedule new case management 16 deadlines in the consolidated action. (See Santor, Doc. 63; A.L., Doc. 13.) Currently, in Santor, 17 non-expert discovery has closed, and trial is set for March 7, 2023, whereas in A.L., no case 18 schedule has been set, with the Initial Scheduling Conference set for May 17, 2022. (Santor, Doc. 19 54; A.L., Doc. 10.) In light of the consolidation of the above-referenced cases and in order to avoid 20 unnecessary cost and use of resources, the Court finds good cause to vacate the Scheduling Order 21 issued in Santor in order to sets a consolidated case schedule. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(4); Fed. R. 22 Civ. P. 42(a)(3). 23 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 24 1. The above-referenced cases shall be consolidated for all purposes, including trial, 25 pursuant to Rule 42(a); 26 2. The Clerk of the Court is directed to file this order in each of the above-referenced 27 cases; 1 3. Going forward, the parties and the Clerk of the Court are directed to file documents 2 under only the lead case number. Future captions should indicate the lead case number followed 3 by the member case number as follows: 4 Lead Case: 1:19-cv-01593-AWI-SKO 5 Member Case: 1:21-cv-01732-AWI-SKO 6 4. The Scheduling Order in Santor (Santor, Doc. 54) is VACATED; 7 5. Due to the press of business, the Initial Scheduling Conference in A.L., currently set 8 for May 17, 2022, is CONTINUED to May 24, 2022, at 10:15 a.m. in Courtroom 7 (SKO) before 9 Magistrate Judge Sheila K. Oberto. A joint scheduling report, carefully prepared and executed by 10 all counsel, shall be electronically filed in full compliance with the requirements set forth in the 11 Order Setting Mandatory Scheduling Conference (Santor, Doc. 6; A.L., Doc. 4) no later than seven 12 (7) days prior to the Scheduling Conference, and a copy shall be emailed, in Word format, to 13 skoorders@caed.uscourts.gov, and 14 6. In light of the consolidation of the cases, the Pre-Settlement Conference, currently 15 set for June 15, 2022, and Settlement Conference, currently set for July 5, 2022, in Santor are 16 hereby VACATED. The parties shall propose new settlement conference dates in their joint 17 scheduling report. 18 IT IS SO ORDERED. 19 Dated: April 12, 2022 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . 20 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 21 22 23 24 25 26 27