Vessells v. Knight Transportation, Inc. ( 2024 )

1 Joel D. Odou Nevada Bar No. 7468 2 Kyle J. Hoyt Nevada Bar No. 14886 3 WOOD, SMITH, HENNING & BERMAN LLP 2881 Business Park Court, Suite 200 4 Las Vegas, Nevada 89128-9020 Phone: 702 251 4100 ♦ Fax: 702 251 5405 5 jodou@wshblaw.com khoyt@wshblaw.com 6 Attorneys for Knight Transportation, Inc., 7 Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc. and Joseph Hayes 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 11 12 JAMES PATRICK VESSELLS, Case No. 2:23-cv-00404-GMN-EJY 13 Plaintiff, STIPULATION TO EXTEND DISCOVERY PLAN AND 14 v. SCHEDULING ORDER (FOURTH REQUEST)_ 15 KNIGHT TRANSPORTATION, INC.; KNIGHT-SWIFT TRANSPORTATION 16 HOLDINGS, INC.; JOSEPH HAYES; DOES Trial Date: None Set I through X, inclusive, and ROE 17 CORPORATIONS I through X, inclusive, 18 Defendants. 19 20 Pursuant to LR 6-1 and LR 26-4, and for good cause shown, the parties, by and through their 21 respective counsel of record hereby stipulate and agree to and jointly move this Honorable Court 22 for an order to continue discovery for the purpose of completing discovery, including witness 23 depositions and experts. This is the fourth stipulation for extension of time to complete discovery. 24 The parties recently reserved costs and fees of additional discovery to engage in a mediation with 25 Hon. Janet Berry. However, resolution could not be reached and the parties now seek additional 26 time to complete discovery necessary to prepare for trial. 27 A. DISCOVERY COMPLETED TO DATE 1 1. Defendants Knight Transportation, Inc., Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, Inc., 2 and Joseph Hayes (“Defendants”) served their Initial Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents 3 Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a) on March 30, 2023. 4 2. Defendant Joseph Hayes served his First Set of Requests for Production of 5 Documents and First Set of Interrogatories to Plaintiff on April 14, 2023. 6 3. Plaintiff served his Initial Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) Production of Documents and 7 Witnesses List on April 24, 2023. 8 4. Defendant Joseph Hayes served his Second Set of Requests for Production of 9 Documents to Plaintiff on May 3, 2023. 10 5. Plaintiff provided his responses to Defendant Hayes’ First Set of Interrogatories, 11 First Set of Requests for Production, and Second Set of Requests for Production on May 12, 2023. 12 6. On May 18, 2023, Defendants noticed Plaintiff that it would seek documents from 13 the Custodian(s) of Records for fourteen (14) of Plaintiff's identified medical treatment providers 14 via subpoena duces tecum. Defendants then issued subpoenas for records to be provided on June 15 19, 2023. 16 7. On August 16, 2023, Plaintiff served his First Set of Interrogatories, First Set of 17 Requests for Production, and First Set of Requests for Admission to Defendant Joseph Hayes. 18 8. On August 16, 2023, Plaintiff served his First Set of Interrogatories, First Set of 19 Requests for Production, and First Set of Requests for Admission to Defendant Knight 20 Transportation, Inc. 21 9. On September 20, 2023, Defendants served their First Supplemental Disclosure of 22 Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a). 23 10. On September 26, 2023, Defendant Knight Transportations, Inc. served its Response 24 to Plaintiff James Patrick Vessells' First Set of Requests for Production. 25 11. On October 13, 2023, Defendants served their Second Supplemental Disclosure of 26 Witnesses and Production of Documents. 27 12. On October 13, 2023, Defendant Joseph Hayes served his Response to Plaintiff 1 13. On October 13, 2023, Defendant Joseph Hayes served his Response to Plaintiff 2 James Patrick Vessells' First Set of Requests for Admission. 3 14. On October 13, 2023, Defendant Knight Transportation, Inc. served its Response to 4 Plaintiff James Patrick Vessells' First Set of Request for Admission. 5 15. On October 13, 2023, Defendant Knight Transportation, Inc. served its Response to 6 Plaintiff James Patrick Vessells' First Set of Request for Production. 7 16. On October 19, 2023, Defendant Knight Transportation Inc. served its Response to 8 Plaintiff James Patrick Vessells' First Set of Interrogatories. 9 17. On November 9, 2023, Defendant Joseph Hayes served his Second Set of Requests 10 for Production of Documents to Plaintiff James Patrick Vessells. 11 18. On November 9, 2023, Defendant Joseph Hayes served his Second Set of 12 Interrogatories to Plaintiff James Patrick Vessells. 13 19. On November 10, 2023, Defendant Joseph Hayes served his Verified Responses to 14 Plaintiff James Patrick Vessells' First Set of Interrogatories. 15 20. On December 4, 2023, Plaintiff James Patrick Vessells' deposition was completed. 16 21. On December 13, 2023, Plaintiff served his First Supplemental Production of 17 Documents and Witnesses. 18 22. On December 13, 2023 Plaintiff served his Answers to Joseph Hayes' Second Set of 19 Interrogatories. 20 23. On December 13, 2023, Plaintiff served his Responses to Joseph Hayes' Second Set 21 of Requests to Produce. 22 24. On December 15, 2023, Plaintiff served his Second Supplemental Production of 23 Documents and Witnesses. 24 25. On January 9, 2024, Defendants served their Initial Designation of Expert Witnesses. 25 26. On January 9, 2024, Plaintiffs served their Initial Expert Disclosures. 26 27. On January 10, 2024, Defendants served their Third Supplemental Disclosure of 27 Witnesses and Production of Documents. 1 28. On February 8, 2024, Defendants served their Fourth Supplemental Disclosure of 2 Witnesses and Production of Documents. 3 29. On February 9, 2024, Defendants served their Rebuttal Designation of Expert 4 Witnesses. 5 30. On March 13, 2024, Plaintiff served his Third Supplemental Production of 6 Documents and Witnesses. 7 31. On April 2, 2024, Plaintiff served his Fourth Supplemental Production of Documents 8 and Witnesses. 9 B. DISCOVERY REMAINING TO BE COMPLETED 10 1. Depositions of Defendants and/or witnesses; 11 2. Depositions of person(s) most knowledgeable; 12 3. Depositions of treating physicians; 13 4. Expert depositions; 14 5. Additional written discovery; 15 6. Additional disclosure of documents; 16 7. Subpoena/Obtain additional documents as necessary; 17 8. Medical Examination of Plaintiff with Defendants' expert; 18 9. The parties also anticipate that they may need to conduct other forms of discovery, 19 though not specifically delineated herein, and anticipate doing so only on an as-needed basis. 20 C. REASON FOR REQUEST FOR EXTENSION OF DISCOVERY DEADLINES 21 A scheduling order can be modified "for good cause and with the judge's consent." Fed. R. 22 Civ. P. 16(b)(4). "A motion or stipulation to extend time must state the reasons for the extension 23 requested and must inform the court of all previous extensions of the subject deadline the court 24 granted." LR AI 6-1 (a). "District courts should generally allow amendments of pre-trial orders when 25 'no substantial injury will be occasioned to the opposing party, the refusal to allow the amendment 26 might result in injustice to the movant, and the inconvenience to the court is slight.'" Campbell 27 Industries v. M/V Gemini, 619 F.2d 24, 27-28 (9th Cir. 1980) (quoting Angle v. Sky Chef, Inc., 535 1 as discussed below, there is no dispute among the parties that an extension would cause any injury 2 or injustice, and that a refusal of extension could prejudice the parties. Additionally, although there 3 may be some inconvenience to the Court, no trial date is currently set and discovery is already 4 ongoing. Therefore, the stipulated request for a modest extension should be granted. 5 In addition to the discovery that has already taken place as set forth above, the parties have 6 diligently worked to continue to conduct discovery in an effort to complete the same and prepare 7 for trial. Presently, the parties have been in communication regarding scheduling the remaining 8 witness depositions in an effort to find dates that are mutually agreeable to the witnesses and the 9 parties. At this time, the follow witness depositions are either confirmed or are actively being 10 arranged. 11 1. Ian Carl, Responding Police Officer – The parties are currently communicating with 12 Mr. Carl to determine his availability. The parties anticipate Mr. Carl's deposition will be completed 13 in May. 14 2. Matthew Coleman, Responding EMT – The parties are currently communicating 15 with Mr. Coleman to determine his availability. The parties anticipate Mr. Coleman's deposition 16 will be completed in May. 17 3. Dr. James Rappaport, Plaintiff's Medical Expert – The parties are currently 18 communicating with Dr. Rappaport to determine his availability. The parties anticipate Dr. 19 Rappaport's deposition will be completed in May or June. 20 4. Dr. Allyn Needham, Plaintiff's Economic Expert – The parties are currently 21 communicating with Dr. Needham to determine his availability. The parties anticipate Dr. 22 Needham's deposition will be completed in May or June. 23 5. Dr. Robert Berry, Plaintiff's Treating Physician – The parties are currently 24 communicating with Dr. Berry to determine his availability. The parties anticipate Dr. Berry's 25 deposition will be completed in May or June. 26 6. Rosa Pinto, Plaintiff's Ex-Wife – The parties will communicate with Ms. Pinto to 27 determine her availability. The parties anticipate Ms. Pinto's deposition will be completed in May. 1 7. Jaden Vessells, Plaintiff's Daughter – The parties will communicate with Ms. 2 Vessells to determine her availability. The parties anticipate Ms. Vessells' deposition will be 3 completed in May. 4 Plaintiff has identified numerous treatment providers and indicated extensive treatment in 5 the year prior to the accident, including a lengthy hospitalization stay. Defendants have subpoenaed 6 records from Plaintiff’s medical providers. Responses for several providers have been received and 7 Defendants continue to receive additional records from Plaintiff's medical providers. 8 Further, the Parties attended mediation in good faith on March 27, 2024 with Hon. Janet 9 Berry. Unfortunately a resolution could not be reached. While the parties were engaged in preparing 10 for mediation and focused on collective resources to reach resolution, some anticipated discovery 11 was temporarily foregone to avoid potentially unnecessary costs and fees. However, now that the 12 mediation has taken place, discovery needs to resume. 13 In addition, Plaintiff recently indicated his intent to proceed with setting a surgical procedure 14 for alleged injuries to his lumbar spine. Defendants now wish to conduct an examination of Plaintiff 15 with their expert, and are discussing the parameters of an examination with Plaintiff's counsel.. 16 In sum, the parties have diligently conducted discovery and are continuing to work 17 cooperatively to complete the remaining discovery in order to prepare for trial. Good cause exists 18 for modification of the current scheduling order to avoid prejudice to the parties. 19 D. CURRENT SCHEDULE TO COMPLETE REMAINING DISCOVERY: 20 Initial Experts Closed 21 Rebuttals Closed 22 Discovery Cutoff May 10, 2024 23 Dispositive Motions June 10, 2024 24 Joint Pre-Trial Order July 10, 2024 25 E. PROPOSED SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETING DISCOVERY 26 Initial Experts Closed 27 Rebuttals Closed 1 Discovery Cutoff July 9, 2024 2 Dispositive Motions August 9, 2024 3 Joint Pre-Trial Order September 9, 20241 4 F. CURRENT TRIAL DATE: 5 No trial is yet scheduled in this matter. A joint proposed pretrial order is due on July 10, 6 2024, or 30 days following this Court's ruling on any dispositive motions, if filed. The parties seek 7 additional time so that the same proposed pretrial order is due September 9, 2024. 8 G. REQUEST NUMBER: 9 This is the Fourth request for an extension of time to complete discovery. 10 Wherefore, the parties respectfully request that the Court grant this request to extend the 11 discovery deadlines as outlined above. 12 IT IS SO AGREED. 13 DATED this 19th day of April 2024. DATED this 19th day of April 2024. 14 WOOD, SMITH, HENNING & BERMAN LLP GOLIGHTLY & VANNAH, PLLC 15 By: /s/Kyle J. Hoyt By: /s/Robert D. Vannah 16 JOEL D. ODOU JOHN B. GREENE, ESQ. 17 Nevada Bar No. 7468 Nevada Bar No.: 4279 KYLE J. HOYT ROBERT D. VANNAH, ESQ. 18 Nevada Bar No. 14886 Nevada Bar No.: 2503 19 2881 Business Park Court, Suite 200 5555 Kietzke Lane, Suite 150 Las Vegas, Nevada 89128 Reno, NV 89511 20 Attorneys for Defendants Knight Attorneys for Plaintiff Transportation, Inc., Knight-Swift 21 Transportation Holdings, Inc., and Joseph IT IS SO ORDERED. Hayes 22 23 ___________________________________ 24 U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE 25 Dated: April 22, 2024 26 27 1 Sixty days from the current date to submit the Joint Pre-Trial Order is September 8, 2024 which is a Sunday.