Liddicote v. Les Schwab Tire Centers of CA, LLC ( 2024 )

1 Matthew C. Briggs, Esq. Corey A. Pingle, Esq. 2 Law Offices of Corey A. Pingle 9550 Warner Avenue, #250-06 3 Fountain Valley, CA 92708 Tel: (714) 593-2306 4 Fax: (650) 394-3132 email: mbriggs@pinglelaw.com 5 email: capingle@pinglelaw.com 6 Attorneys for Plaintiff CLINT LIDDICOTE 7 Britney N. Torres, Bar No. 287019 8 btorres@littler.com Nathaniel H. Jenkins, Bar No. 312067 9 njenkins@littler.com LITTLER MENDELSON, P.C. 10 500 Capitol Mall Suite 2000 11 Sacramento, California 95814 Telephone: 916.830.7200 12 Fax No.: 916.561.0828 13 Attorneys for Defendant LES SCHWAB TIRE CENTERS OF CALIFORNIA, LLC 14 15 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 16 CLINT LIDDICOTE, Case No. 2:22-cv-02316-MCE-DB 17 Plaintiff, Hon. Morrison C. England 18 vs. JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER TO 19 MODIFY THE SCHEDULING ORDER LES SCHWAB TIRE CENTERS OF 20 CALIFORNIA, LLC Complaint Filed: November 8, 2022 Trial Date: Not Set 21 Defendant. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 TO THE COURT AND ALL PARTIES AND THEIR ATTORNEYS OF RECORD: 2 Plaintiff CLINT LIDDICOTE ( “Plaintiff”), and Defendant LES SCHWAB TIRE CENTERS 3 OF CALIFORNIA, LLC ( “Defendant”) (collectively, the “Parties”) by and through their counsel of 4 record hereby submit the following Joint Stipulation to Modify the Scheduling Order (per the Order 5 of the Court dated April 11, 2024 at Dkt. 20). 6 WHEREAS, pursuant to this Court’s Initial Pretrial Scheduling Order dated January 25, 2023 7 (Dkt. 7), the close of fact/non-expert discovery was set for December 30, 2023, the deadline for 8 disclosure of expert witnesses was 60 days thereafter (February 28, 2024), and the deadline for expert 9 witness discovery was 30 days thereafter (March 30, 2024). 10 WHEREAS, the Parties elected to submit to the Court’s Voluntary Dispute Resolution 11 Program (“VDRP”) on October 18, 2023 (see Dkt 13 and 14), and thereafter participated in a VDRP 12 session with mediator Daniel McVeigh, Esq., on February 15, 2024. Unfortunately, the Parties were 13 not able to resolve the case. 14 WHEREAS, both Parties made reasonable and diligent efforts to complete fact discovery by 15 December 30, 2023, including Plaintiff’s deposition being taken by Defendant on December 7, 2023; 16 however, the Parties believe additional fact discovery, and potentially expert discovery, is needed to 17 prepare for dispositive motion work and/or trial. 18 WHEREAS, the Parties agree to complete and conduct all further fact discovery, as noted 19 above, within two months, and all expert discovery, within three months, of this Stipulation; 20 WHEREAS, neither Party will be prejudiced by a continuance of the scheduling order; 21 WHEREAS, in light of the foregoing, the Parties contend that judicial economy is best served 22 if the Parties continue the current scheduling order, specifically the discovery and dispositive motion 23 deadlines, to allow the Parties a meaningful opportunity to engage in brief, further discovery, and 24 provide time to prepare dispositive motions which could narrow the issues for and/or negate the need 25 for a trial. 26 /// 27 /// 28 /// 1 WHEREAS, good cause exists to modify the Court’s scheduling Order as follows: 2 The district court is given broad discretion in supervising the pretrial phase of litigation…” 3 Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 607 (9th Cir. 1992) (citation and internal 4 quotation marks omitted). “A schedule may be modified only for good cause and with the judge’s 5 consent.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(4); see e.g. Spiller v. Ella Smithers Geriatric Ctr., 919 F.2d 339, 343 6 (5th Cir. 1990) (court impliedly granted motion to modify scheduling order by allowing summary 7 judgment motion after pretrial motion cut-off date). To establish “good cause,” parties seeking 8 modification of a scheduling order must generally show that, even with the exercise of due diligence, 9 they cannot meet the order’s timetable. Johnson, supra, 975 F.2d at 609; see e.g., Hood v. Hartford 10 Life & Acc. Ins. Co., 567 F.Supp.2d 1221, 1224 (E.D. Cal. 2008) (granting request for modification 11 that was promptly made when it became apparent that compliance with the scheduling order was not 12 possible). In determining “good cause,” courts also consider the importance of the requested 13 modification, the potential prejudice in allowing the modification, and, conversely, whether denial of 14 the requested modification would result in prejudice. Southwestern Bell Tel. Co. v. City of El Paso, 15 346 F.3d 541, 546 (5th Cir. 2003) (involving amendment of pleadings). Here, in addition to this 16 Court’s Order dated April 11, 2024 (Dkt. 20), the Parties contend that there is good cause to modify 17 the Scheduling Order as set forth above. 18 NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED by and between the 19 Parties, through their counsel of record, that the following deadlines be continued as follows: 20 Deadline to complete fact discovery: June 28, 2024; 21 Deadline to complete expert disclosures: July 12, 2024; 22 Deadline to exchange rebuttal expert witnesses: July 26, 2024; 23 Deadline to complete expert discovery: August 16, 2024; and 24 Deadline to file all dispositive motions: September 26, 2024. 25 /// 26 /// 27 /// 28 /// 1 The Parties further propose that the Court not set a trial date in this matter until after ruling on 2 Defendant’s dispositive motion. 3 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 4 Dated: April 30, 2024 LAW OFFICE OF COREY A. PINGLE 5 6 By: /s/ Matthew C. Briggs (Approved on 4/30/24) 7 MATTHEW C. BRIGGS, ESQ. COREY PINGLE, ESQ. 8 Attorneys for Plaintifff CLINT LIDDICOTE 9 10 Dated: April 30, 2024 LITTLER MENDELSON, P.C. 11 12 By: /s/ Nathaniel H. Jenkins 13 BRITNEY N. TORRES, ESQ. NATHANIEL H. JENKINS, ESQ. 14 Attorneys for Defendant 15 LES SCHWAB TIRE CENTERS OF CALIFORNIA 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 ORDER The Court Orders the Scheduling Order to be modified and the following deadlines be 5 continued as follows: 4 5 Deadline to complete fact discovery: June 28, 2024; 6 Deadline to complete expert disclosures: July 12, 2024; 7 Deadline to exchange rebuttal expert witnesses: July 26, 2024; g Deadline to complete expert discovery: August 16, 2024; and 9 Deadline to file all dispositive motions: September 26, 2024. 10 IT IS SO ORDERED. 11 D Dated: May 3, 2024 8 A ates LE rlASX SENIOR UNITED STATES URTRICT JUDGE 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28