Chavez v. Shimmick Construction Company, Inc. ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 CONSOLIDATED ACTIONS: RICHARD CHAVEZ, 12 Case No.: 3:20-cv-00594-MMA-AHG Plaintiff, Case No.: 3:20-cv-01202-MMA-AHG 13 v. 14 ORDER GRANTING JOINT SHIMMICK CONSTRUCTION MOTION TO CONTINUE NEUTRAL 15 COMPANY, INC., NOVA GROUP, EVALUATION CONFERENCE 16 INC., and NOVA SHIMMICK, A JOINT VENTURE, [ECF No. 35] 17 Defendants. 18 19 IN RE: THE COMPLAINT OF NOVA 20 GROUP, INC.; SHIMMICK CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC.; 21 and NOVA SHIMMICK, A JOINT 22 VENTURE, FOR EXONERATION FROM, OR LIMITATION OF, 23 LIABILITY 24 25 26 In this consolidated action, the parties request that the Court continue the Early 27 Neutral Evaluation Conference (“ENE”) until after they have completed additional 28 discovery and engaged in private mediation. ECF No. 35 at 2. The parties explain that they 1 have conducted significant discovery already, but that until Plaintiff completes additional 2 discovery, he will not be in a position to make a settlement demand. Id. Additionally, the 3 parties have made arrangements to meet with a mediator at the end of January 2021. Id. 4 Parties seeking to continue an ENE must demonstrate good cause. ECF No. 21 at 4 5 (“An ENE may be rescheduled only upon a showing of good cause”); Chmb.R. at 2 (stating 6 that any request for continuance requires “[a] showing of good cause for the request”); see, 7 e.g., FED. R. CIV. P. 6(b) (“When an act may or must be done within a specified time, the 8 court may, for good cause, extend the time”). “Good cause” is a non-rigorous standard that 9 has been construed broadly across procedural and statutory contexts. Ahanchian v. Xenon 10 Pictures, Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause standard focuses on 11 the diligence of the party seeking to amend the scheduling order and the reasons for seeking 12 modification. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992) 13 (“[T]he focus of the inquiry is upon the moving party’s reasons for seeking modification. . 14 . . If that party was not diligent, the inquiry should end.”) (internal citation omitted). 15 Based upon the parties’ representations, the Court is satisfied that the parties have 16 pursued discovery diligently in an effort to resolve this case. As indicated in the Joint 17 Mediation Plan they emailed to chambers in compliance with this Court’s Chambers Rules, 18 the parties have chosen a private mediator and have specific plans for completing necessary 19 discovery prior to the mediation. For these reasons, the Court finds good cause to GRANT 20 the joint motion and continue the ENE. 21 The ENE previously schedule for October 30, 2020 is CONTINUED to February 22 5, 2021 at 9:30 a.m. Like the prior ENE in Chavez, the ENE will take place via 23 videoconference. The Court issues the following mandatory procedures to govern the ENE: 24 1. As before, the Court will use its official Zoom video conferencing account to 25 hold the ENE. The Court requires the attendance of the primary attorney(s) responsible for 26 the litigation for each party, as well as a party or party representative for each party with 27 full and complete authority to enter into a binding settlement. 28 /// l 2. The parties must submit updated Confidential ENE statements to 2 || efile_goddard @casd.uscourts.gov by February 1, 2021. The ENE statements should be 3 || five (5) pages or less, with up to five (5) pages of exhibits or declarations. The parties 4 || should refer to the Court’s initial order setting the ENE for guidelines regarding the content 5 ENE statements. See ECF No. 21 at 3. 6 3. Prior to the start of the conference, the Court will email the participants an 7 ||invitation to join a Zoom video conference. The Court will send the invitation to all 8 ||attorney and client participants from the June 16, 2020 ENE. Participants are 9 ||encouraged to use laptops or desktop computers for the video conference, as mobile 10 || devices often offer inferior performance. Participants shall join the video conference by 11 following the ZoomGov Meeting hyperlink in the invitation. Zoom will then prompt 12 || participants to enter the password included in the invitation. 13 4. Counsel may share the Zoom link with other expected participants from their 14 || side. However, if counsel expect other participants to join, they must inform the Court of 15 ||the name and title of each additional participant via e-mail at 16 || efile_Goddard @casd.uscourts.gov no later than February 1, 2021. 17 5. As it did during the first ENE, the Court will divide participants into separate 18 || Breakout Rooms to allow counsel to discuss the case confidentially with the Court, and 19 || with one another outside of the Court’s presence. To avoid any unexpected interruptions 20 || of confidential discussions, the Court will use the same attorney cell phone point of contact 21 it used during the first ENE to alert the parties by text message before returning to a 22 || Breakout Room during the conference. If counsel wish to provide a different cell phone 23 ||number for this purpose, they must notify the Court of the new point of contact by 24 February 1, 2021. 25 IT IS SO ORDERED. 26 || Dated: October 23, 2020 27 _ ApwioenH. Xela Honorable Allison H. Goddard 28 United States Magistrate Judge