Herrera v. Flowers Baking Co. of Modesto, LLC ( 2024 )

1 JARED L. PALMER, CA Bar No. 287974 jared.palmer@ogletree.com 2 HEIDI G. KIM, CA Bar No. 306641 heidi.kim@ogletree.com 3 OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH, SMOAK & STEWART, P.C. One Embarcadero Center, Suite 900 4 San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: 415-442-4810 5 Facsimile: 415-442-4870 6 ALEXANDER M. CHEMERS, CA Bar No. 263726 alexander.chemers@ogletree.com 7 OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH, SMOAK & STEWART, P.C. 400 South Hope Street, Suite 1200 8 Los Angeles, CA 90071 9 Telephone: 213-239-9800 Facsimile: 213-239-9045 10 Attorneys for Defendants 11 FLOWERS BAKING CO. OF MODESTO, LLC, FLOWERS BAKING CO. OF CALIFORNIA, LLC, and FLOWERS BAKING 12 CO. OF STOCKTON, LLC 13 [Additional Counsel Below] 14 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 15 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 16 JIMMY HERRERA, an individual, JH Case No. 2:21-cv-02217-WBS-CKD 17 DISTRIBUTORS CORPORATION, a California Corporation, BRIAN BOTELHO, an individual, STIPULATION AND ORDER TO 18 ALL PRO BAKERY DISTRIBUTING INC., a CONTINUE BRIEFING ON THE California corporation, CHARLES LARAY PARTIES’ MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY 19 DAVIS, an individual, LA RAY DAVIS JUDGMENT AND DATES OF FINAL BREAD INC, a California corporation, KEVIN PRETRIAL CONFERENCE AND JURY 20 DENSMORE, an individual, DENSMORE TRIAL DISTRIBUTION INC, ALEXANDRIA 21 GUYTON, an individual, GUYTON GIRL Date: DISTIBUTIONS INC, a California corporation, Time: 22 MICHAEL HERNANDEZ, an individual, Location: HERNANDEZ DISTRIBUTION INC, a 23 California Corporation, DAVID MUNOZ, an Complaint Filed: September 23, 2021 individual, EARLY BIRD DELIVERY, a Trial Date: None Set 24 California corporation, ANTHONY PORRECA, Judge: Hon. William B. Shubb an individual, BREAD RAXX INC., a California 25 Corporation, FERNANDO RAMIREZ, an individual, SOFT AND SMOOTH 26 DELIVERIES INC, a California Corporation, SYLVIE SERRANO, an individual, SERRANO 27 INC, a California Corporation, ALEJANDRO SOLETA, an individual, ALJAND 28 DISTRIBUTING INC, a California corporation, 1 ANTHONY TAVAREZ, an individual, BIG TIME DISTRIBUTING, a California 2 corporation, FRANCISCO TROVAO, and an individual, THUNDER BREAD INC, a 3 California corporation, HAROLD WILSON, an individual, and HAROLD K WILSON III 4 INCORPORATED, a California Corporation, 5 Plaintiffs, 6 v. 7 FLOWERS BAKING CO. OF MODESTO, LLC; FLOWERS BAKING CO. OF 8 CALIFORNIA, LLC; FLOWERS BAKING CO. OF STOCKTON, LLC; and DOES 1 through 9 100, inclusive, 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 FRANK L. TOBIN, CA Bar No. 166344 frank.tobin@ogletree.com 2 KEENAN O’ CONNOR, CA Bar No. 311800 keenan.oconnor@ogletree.com 3 OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH, SMOAK & STEWART, P.C. 4 4660 La Jolla Village Drive, Suite 900 San Diego, CA 92122 5 Telephone: 858-652-3100 Facsimile: 858-652-3101 6 KEVIN P. HISHTA (Pro Hac Vice) 7 kevin.hishta@ogletree.com OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH, SMOAK & STEWART, P.C. 8 191 Peachtree Street, N.E., Suite 4800 Atlanta, GA 30303 9 Telephone: 404.881.1300 Facsimile: 404.870.1732 10 Attorneys for Defendants 11 FLOWERS BAKING CO. OF MODESTO, LLC, FLOWERS BAKING CO. OF CALIFORNIA, LLC, and FLOWERS BAKING CO. OF STOCKTON, LLC 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 RECITALS 2 Plaintiffs Sylvie Serrano and Serrano Inc. (“Plaintiffs”) and Defendants Flowers Baking 3 Co. of Modesto, LLC, Flowers Baking Co. of California, LLC, and Flowers Baking Co. of 4 Stockton, LLC (“Defendants”) (collectively, the “Parties”) make the following recitals: 5 1. On April 21, 2022, the Court issued a Status (Pretrial Scheduling) Order that 6 required “[a]ll motions, except motions for continuances, temporary restraining orders, or other 7 emergency applications, shall be filed on or before June 12, 2023. (ECF No. 9 at p. 4:13-15). The 8 Status (Pretrial Scheduling) Order further required that “[a]ll motions shall be noticed for the next 9 available hearing date.” (Id. at p. 4:15-16.) The Status (Pretrial Scheduling) Order set a Final 10 Pretrial Conference for August 28, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. and a Jury Trial for October 31, 2023, at 9:00 11 a.m. (Id. at p. 4:21-5:23.) 12 2. Pursuant to stipulation, the Court subsequently continued the June 12, 2023, motion 13 filing deadline to February 9, 2024. (ECF No. 12 at p. 7:10-11.) The Court also continued the 14 Final Pretrial Conference date from August 28, 2023, to April 22, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. and the date 15 of the Jury Trial from October 31, 2023, to June 25, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. (Id. at p. 7:12-13.) 16 3. On January 30, 2024, Counsel for the Parties met and conferred and agreed that a 17 joint hearing date and modified briefing schedule to accommodate their cross-motions for summary 18 judgment or partial summary judgment would provide for judicial economy and allows the Parties 19 to fully brief their respective positions. 20 4. On January 31, 2024, counsel for the Parties jointly called the Court’s Courtroom 21 Deputy pursuant to the Court’s Standard Information to inquire about continuing the hearing date 22 from the next available hearing date to one that would allow the Parties to file their respective 23 summary judgment motions on or before February 9, 2024, file their respective oppositions on or 24 before March 8, 2024, and their respective reply briefs on or before March 22, 2024. The Parties 25 left a voicemail for the Clerk and followed up with an email. 26 5. The Court Clerk responded to the Parties’ January 31, 2024 email that same day and 27 indicated the Court could hear the Parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment or partial 28 1 to request continuing the dates for the April 22, 2024 Final Pretrial Conference and the June 25, 2 2024 Trial in their request to continue the briefing schedule on their cross-motions for summary 3 judgment or partial summary judgment. The Court Clerk informed the Parties that if the motions 4 were heard in April, the a then the Final Pretrial Conference could be conducted on July 1 or 15, 5 2024 at 1:30 p.m. followed by a Trial date of September 24, 2024, or October 8, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. 6 The Parties emailed the Court Clerk on February 2, 2024, to inform the Court of their intention to 7 file this Stipulation with an April 1, 2024, hearing date for the Parties’ cross-motions and request 8 the July 15, 2024 Final Pretrial Conference Date and a Trial date of October 8, 2024. 9 6. Pursuant to L.Rs. 144 and 230, there have been no requests to continue briefing on 10 the Parties’ dispositive motions or the hearing date for said motions. The prior request to extend the 11 Final Pretrial Conference date of August 28, 2023, and the Jury Trial date of October 31, 2023, 12 resulted in an approximately six-month extension of the Final Pretrial Conference date to April 22, 13 2024, and an approximately eight-month continuance of the Jury Trial date to June 25, 2024. 14 7. Given that this case involves the ABC and Borello tests for independent contractor 15 classification, the Parties respectfully request that the Court modify the briefing schedule and 16 continue the Parties’ briefing and hearing date pursuant to L.Rs. 144 and 230. There is good cause 17 for granting this short extension as “[p]ublic policy favors disposition of cases on the merits.” 18 Pagtalunan v. Galaza, 291 F.3d 639, 643 (9th Cir. 2002). The extension will allow the parties to 19 fully brief the issues with all of the available information. 20 STIPULATION 21 NOW, THEREFORE, Plaintiffs and Defendants stipulate as follows: 22 1. The Parties will file their motions for summary judgment or partial summary 23 judgment on or before February 9, 2024. 24 2. The Parties will file their oppositions on or before March 8, 2024. 25 3. The Parties will file their replies in support of their motions for summary judgment 26 or partial summary judgment on or before March 22, 2024. 27 4. The hearing on the Parties’ motions for summary judgment or partial summary 28 1 the Court. 2 5. The Final Pretrial Conference date of April 22, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. is continued to 3 July 15, 2024 at 1:30 p.m. 4 6. The Jury Trial date of June 25, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. is continued to October 8, 2024 at 5 9:00 a.m. 6 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 7 DATED: February 2, 2024 OGLETREE, DEAKINS, NASH, SMOAK & STEWART, P.C. 8 9 10 By: /s/ Jared L. Palmer JARED L. PALMER 11 ALEXANDER M. CHEMERS HEIDI G. KIM 12 FRANK TOBIN KEENAN O’ CONNOR 13 KEVIN P. HISHTA Attorneys for Defendants 14 FLOWERS BAKING CO. OF MODESTO, LLC, FLOWERS BAKING CO. OF 15 CALIFORNIA, LLC, and FLOWERS BAKING CO. OF STOCKTON, LLC 16 17 DATED: February 2, 2024 KELLER GROVER LLP 18 19 By: /s/ Robert W. Spencer 20 ERIC A. GROVER ROBERT W. SPENCER 21 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 22 23 SIGNATURE ATTESTATION 24 I attest that I have obtained concurrence in the filing of this document from the other 25 signatories in compliance with Local Rule 131(e). 26 27 28 ATED: February 2, 2024 DOP TREE DEAKINS, NASH, SMOAK & STEWART, 2 Cc. 3 By: /s/ Jared L. Palmer 4 JARED L. PALMER Attorneys for Defendants 5 ORDER 6 By stipulation and agreement of Plaintiffs Sylvie Serrano and Serrano Inc. (“Plaintiffs”) 7 || and Defendants Flowers Baking Co. of Modesto, LLC, Flowers Baking Co. of California, LLC, 8 || and Flowers Baking Co. of Stockton, LLC (“Defendants”) (collectively, the “Parties”), and for 9 || good cause shown, the Court sets the following briefing schedule for the Parties’ motions for 10 |} summary judgment or partial summary judgment and continues the Final Pretrial Conference and 11 || Jury Trial dates as follows: 12 1. The Parties shall file their motions for summary judgment or partial summary 13 || judgment on or before February 9, 2024. 14 2. The Parties shall file their oppositions on or before March 8, 2024. 15 3. The Parties shall file their replies in support of their motions for summary judgment 16 || or partial summary judgment on or before March 22, 2024. 17 4. The hearing on the Parties’ motions for summary judgment or partial summary 18 || judgment and/or summary adjudication shall be noticed for April 1, 2023, at 1:30 p.m. 19 5, The Final Pretrial Conference date of April 22, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. is continued to 20 || July 15, 2024 at 1:30 p.m. 21 6. The Jury Trial date of June 25, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. is continued to October 8, 2024 22 || at 9:00 a.m. 23 || IT IS SO ORDERED. 24 oh law WA, b..bE— Dated: February 5, 2024 WILLIAMB.SHUBB ©... UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 27 28 Case No. 2:21-cv-02217-WBS-CKD