1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 VICTORIA PHIPPS, Case No.: 3:21-cv-01514-DMS-AHG 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND 13 v. DENYING IN PART JOINT MOTION TO AMEND SCHEDULING ORDER 14 CAMP PENDLETON & QUANTICO HOUSING, LLC, et al., 15 [ECF No. 13] Defendants. 16 17 Before the Court is the parties’ Joint Motion to Amend Scheduling Order. ECF No. 18 13. The parties ask that the Court extend the fact discovery deadline of May 9, 2022 by 19 approximately 120 days, and that the Court extend concurrently extend the remaining case 20 deadlines as appropriate. Id. 21 Under Fed. R. Civ. P 16(b)(4), “[a] schedule may be modified only for good cause 22 and with the judge’s consent.” “Good cause” is a non-rigorous standard that has been 23 construed broadly across procedural and statutory contexts. Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, 24 Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause standard focuses on the diligence 25 of the party seeking to amend the scheduling order and the reasons for seeking 26 modification. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992). 27 “[T]he court may modify the schedule on a showing of good cause if it cannot reasonably 28 be met despite the diligence of the party seeking the extension.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 16, advisory 1 committee’s notes to 1983 amendment. Therefore, “a party demonstrates good cause by 2 acting diligently to meet the original deadlines set forth by the court.” Merck v. Swift 3 Transportation Co., No. CV-16-01103-PHX-ROS, 2018 WL 4492362, at *2 (D. Ariz. 4 Sept. 19, 2018). 5 Here, the parties explain that despite their diligence, they require additional time to 6 complete fact discovery for several reasons, including deposition scheduling difficulties, 7 ongoing meet-and-confer efforts regarding written discovery—including Defendants’ 8 medical records requests, which are needed to schedule an independent medical 9 examination of Plaintiff—and delays in obtaining medical and other records from all 10 treating medical facilities and physicians, perhaps due to the lingering effects of the 11 COVID-19 pandemic. ECF No. 13 at 2. Additionally, Plaintiff’s counsel is scheduled to 12 participate in two separate civil jury trials this month, and defense counsel is also scheduled 13 to participate as lead trial counsel in a complex trial commencing April 4, 2022. Id. at 2-3. 14 The limited availability of counsel for both sides is also a major factor precipitating the 15 parties’ request for additional time to complete fact discovery. 16 Having reviewed the parties’ Joint Motion and attached declarations of counsel, the 17 Court finds good cause to continue the fact discovery deadline in this case. However, the 18 Court finds the parties have not adequately explained why an extension of 120 days is 19 needed. It is not clear why the delays and scheduling conflicts outlined in the Joint Motion 20 necessitate such a lengthy extension. Accordingly, the Court GRANTS in part and 21 DENIES in part the Joint Motion. The Court hereby AMENDS the Scheduling Order as 22 follows: 23 1. The parties shall designate their respective experts in writing by July 1, 2022. 24 The parties must identify any person who may be used at trial to present evidence pursuant 25 to Rules 702, 703 or 705 of the Fed. R. Evid. This requirement is not limited to retained 26 experts. The date for exchange of rebuttal experts shall be by July 22, 2022. The written 27 designations shall include the name, address and telephone number of the expert and a 28 reasonable summary of the testimony the expert is expected to provide. The list shall also 1 include the normal rates the expert charges for deposition and trial testimony. 2 2. By July 1, 2022, each party shall comply with the disclosure provisions in 3 Rule 26(a)(2)(A) and (B) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This disclosure 4 requirement applies to all persons retained or specially employed to provide expert 5 testimony, or whose duties as an employee of the party regularly involve the giving of 6 expert testimony. Except as provided in the paragraph below, any party that fails to 7 make these disclosures shall not, absent substantial justification, be permitted to use 8 evidence or testimony not disclosed at any hearing or at the time of trial. In addition, 9 the Court may impose sanctions as permitted by Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(c). 10 3. Any party shall supplement its disclosure regarding contradictory or rebuttal 11 evidence under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(D) by July 22, 2022. 12 4. All fact and expert discovery shall be completed by all parties by 13 August 12, 2022. The parties shall comply with the same procedures set forth in the 14 paragraph governing fact discovery. “Completed” means that all discovery under Rules 30- 15 36 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and discovery subpoenas under Rule 45, must 16 be initiated a sufficient period of time in advance of the cut-off date, so that it may be 17 completed by the cut-off date, taking into account the times for service, notice and 18 response as set forth in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Counsel shall promptly and 19 in good faith meet and confer with regard to all discovery disputes in compliance with 20 Local Rule 26.1(a). A failure to comply in this regard will result in a waiver of a 21 party’s discovery issue. Absent an order of the court, no stipulation continuing or 22 altering this requirement will be recognized by the court. The Court expects counsel to 23 make every effort to resolve all disputes without court intervention through the meet and 24 confer process. If the parties reach an impasse on any discovery issue, the movant must e- 25 mail chambers at efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov no later than 45 days after the date of 26 service of the written discovery response that is in dispute, seeking a telephonic conference 27 with the Court to discuss the discovery dispute. The email must include: (1) at least three 28 proposed times mutually agreed upon by the parties for the telephonic conference; (2) a 1 neutral statement of the dispute; and (3) one sentence describing (not arguing) each parties’ 2 || position. The movant must copy opposing counsel on the email. No discovery motion may 3 filed until the Court has conducted its pre-motion telephonic conference, unless the 4 || movant has obtained leave of Court. All parties are ordered to read and to fully comply 5 || with the Chambers Rules of Magistrate Judge Allison H. Goddard. 6 5. Failure to comply with this section or any other discovery order of the court 7 result in the sanctions provided for in Fed. R. Civ. P. 37, including a prohibition on 8 introduction of experts or other designated matters in evidence. 9 6. All other pretrial motions must be filed by September 12, 2022. Counsel 10 || for the moving party must obtain a motion hearing date from the law clerk of the judge 11 || who will hear the motion. The period of time between the date you request a motion date 12 the hearing date may vary from one district judge to another. Please plan 13 ||accordingly. Failure to make a timely request for a motion date may result in the motion 14 |/not being heard. Motions in limine are to be filed as directed in the Local Rules, or as 15 || otherwise set by the district judge. 16 All other dates, deadlines, and requirements set forth in the previous Scheduling 17 || Order (ECF No. 9) remain in place, except where explicitly modified herein. 18 IT IS SO ORDERED. 19 20 || Dated: April 1, 2022 MioeH. Aydolan-_ 21 United States Magistrate Judge 22 23 24 25 26 27 28