Schmidt v. Air California Adventure, Inc. ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 STEPHEN SCHMIDT, Case No.: 3:20-cv-01294-MMA-AHG 13 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION TO CONTINUE EARLY 14 v. NEUTRAL EVALUATION 15 AIR CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE, INC., CONFERENCE AND CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 16 Defendants. 17 [ECF No. 10] 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ Joint Motion to Continue the 2 Early Neutral Evaluation Conference (“ENE”). ECF No. 10. 3 Parties seeking to continue the ENE must demonstrate good cause. See ECF No. 5 4 at 6 (“An ENE may be rescheduled only upon a showing of good cause”); Chmb.R. at 2 5 (stating that any request for continuance requires “[a] showing of good cause for the 6 request”); see also Fed. R. Civ. P 16(b)(4) (“A schedule may be modified only for good 7 cause and with the judge’s consent”). “Good cause” is a non-rigorous standard that has 8 been construed broadly across procedural and statutory contexts. Ahanchian v. Xenon 9 Pictures, Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause standard focuses on 10 the diligence of the party seeking to amend the scheduling order and the reasons for 11 seeking modification. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th 12 Cir. 1992). 13 Here, the parties explain that defense counsel’s son has tested positive for 14 COVID-19 and is symptomatic. ECF No. 10 at 2. As a result, defense counsel must self- 15 quarantine and is unable to meet with his clients. Moreover, counsel must care for his son 16 and has begun experiencing symptoms himself, hampering his ability to participate in the 17 upcoming ENE even remotely. Id. 18 Upon due consideration, the Court finds good cause to continue the ENE and Case 19 Management Conference (“CMC”) and accordingly GRANTS the Motion. The Court 20 hereby VACATES the ENE and CMC set for September 11, 2020 and all related deadlines, 21 and RESETS the ENE and CMC for September 28, 2020 at 2:00 PM. 22 As before, the ENE and CMC will take place via videoconference using the Court’s 23 official Zoom account. The parties are instructed to review the Court’s prior Order setting 24 the ENE and CMC (ECF No. 5) for guidance on how to use Zoom. Additionally, the Court 25 RESETS the following deadlines related to the ENE and CMC: 26 (1) The parties’ confidential ENE statements (see ECF No. 5 ¶ 3) are due no later 27 than September 23, 2020. 28 (2) The parties must email the Court all the information required by ¶ 5.E. of the 1 Court’s prior order (ECF No. 5) no later than September 23, 2020 at 2 efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov. 3 (3)The parties timely filed their Joint Case Management Statement on 4 August 31, 2020 (ECF No. 8) and are not required to submit a new one for 5 purposes of case scheduling during the CMC. 6 (4) All other requirements set forth in the Court’s initial order setting the ENE and 7 CMC (e.g., attendance by parties with full settlement authority, requirements for 8 continuance requests, etc.) remain in place, except as explicitly modified herein. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 11 ||Dated: September 8, 2020 10 _ArwiornH. Kuler Honorable Allison H. Goddard 13 United States Magistrate Judge 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28