Cavazos v. County of Fresno ( 2024 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 LOIDA CAVAZOS, Case No. 1:23-cv-00859-JLT-BAM 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING JOINT STIPULATION TO EXTEND DISCOVERY 13 v. DEADLINES 14 COUNTY OF FRESNO, et al., (Doc. 47) 15 Defendants. 16 17 On September 11, 2024, the parties filed a joint stipulation and request to modify the 18 Scheduling Conference Order to extend the non-expert and expert discovery deadlines, including 19 expert disclosure deadlines, an additional ninety (90) days. (Doc. 45.) The Court did not find 20 good cause to grant the requested modification of the Scheduling Conference Order and denied 21 the stipulation without prejudice. (Doc. 46.) 22 On September 13, 2024, the parties filed a second joint stipulation and request to modify 23 the Scheduling Conference Order to extend the non-expert and expert discovery deadlines an 24 additional ninety (90) days. (Doc. 47.) The parties explain that while extensive discovery has 25 been completed, there was a substantial delay in obtaining and producing the investigation 26 materials regarding this fatal deputy-involved-shooting. After several hearings with the Court, 27 the parties entered a stipulated protective order, and the investigative materials were produced. 28 1 The investigative materials are reportedly voluminous, and after reviewing all of the materials, 2 Plaintiffs noticed the deposition of the Defendant deputy. However, due to the schedules of the 3 attorneys and the deputy, the parties have unable to take the depositions of both parties and do not 4 anticipate being able to take all the necessary depositions by the current discovery cutoff of 5 September 20, 2024. (Id.) The parties again inform the Court that they have a private mediation 6 scheduled for December 4, 2024. (Id.) 7 Having considered the parties’ stipulation, the Court finds good cause to grant the 8 requested modification of the Scheduling Order issued on September 6, 2023. Fed. R. Civ. P. 9 16(b)(4) (“A schedule may be modified only for good cause and with the judge’s consent.”). The 10 parties have adequately explained why the non-expert and expert discovery deadlines cannot be 11 met and why discovery cannot be completed in the time allotted. See Johnson v. Mammoth 12 Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992) (indicating district court may modify pretrial 13 schedule “if it cannot reasonably be met despite the diligence of the party seeking the extension”). 14 Accordingly, the parties’ joint stipulation is GRANTED. The Scheduling Conference 15 Order is modified as follows: 16 Non-Expert Discovery Cutoff: December 20, 2024 Expert Disclosures: January 31, 2025 17 Supplemental Expert Disclosures: March 21, 2025 Expert Discovery Cutoff: May 16, 2025 18 19 All other pretrial and trial dates remain as scheduled, including the pretrial motion filing deadline 20 of March 7, 2025, the pretrial conference on August 25, 2025, and trial on October 28, 2025. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. 22 23 Dated: September 17, 2024 /s/ Barbara A. McAuliffe _ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 24 25 26 27 28