United States District Court, E.D. California
SCHEDULING CONFERENCE ORDER
This
Court conducted a scheduling conference on December 4, 2019.
Counsel Benjamin Rudin telephonically appeared on behalf of
Plaintiff. Counsel Vickie Whitney telephonically appeared on
behalf of Defendant. Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 16(b), this
Court sets a schedule for this action.
I.
Amended Complaint Filing Deadline
Plaintiff
is granted leave to file the revised amended complaint set
forth at ECF No. 32-2. Plaintiff shall filed the amended
complaint no later than December 18, 2019.
Defendant's previously filed answer (ECF No. 20) shall
serve as the answer to the amended complaint.
II.
General Discovery Procedures
The
parties are now granted leave to serve discovery in addition
to that provided as part of initial disclosures. No later
than forty-five (45) days from the date of
this order, Plaintiff shall provide Defendant copies of the
documents listed in Plaintiff's initial disclosures to
the extent such documents are in the possession, custody, or
control of Plaintiff and copies can be provided in full or
redacted form.
Pursuant
to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 1, 16, and 26-36,
discovery shall proceed as follows:
1.
Discovery requests shall be served by the parties pursuant to
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5 and Local Rule 135.
Discovery requests and responses shall not be filed with the
Court unless required by Local Rules 250.2, 250.3, or 250.4
(providing that discovery requests shall not be filed unless
or until there is a proceeding in which the document or proof
of service is at issue). A party may serve on any other party
no more than 15 interrogatories, 15 requests for production
of documents, and 15 requests for admission. On motion, these
limits may be increased for good cause.
2.
Responses to written discovery requests shall be due
forty-five (45) days after the request is
first served. Boilerplate objections are disfavored and may
be summarily overruled by the Court. Responses to document
requests shall include all documents within a party's
possession, custody or control. Fed.R.Civ.P. 34(a)(1).
Documents are deemed within a party's possession,
custody, or control if the party has actual possession,
custody, or control thereof, or the legal right to obtain the
property on demand.
3. If
any party or third party withholds a document on the basis of
privilege, that party or third party shall provide a
privilege log to the requesting party identifying the date,
author, recipients, general subject matter, and basis of the
privilege within thirty (30) days after the date that
responses are due. The privilege log shall simultaneously be
filed with the Court. Failure to provide and file a privilege
log within this time shall result in a waiver of the
privilege. Additionally, if a party is claiming a right to
withhold witness statements and/or evidence gathered from
investigation(s) into the incident(s) at issue in the
complaint based on the official information privilege, the
withholding party shall submit the withheld witness
statements and/or evidence to the Court for in
camera review, along with an explanation of why the
witness statements and/or evidence is
privileged.[1] The witness statements and/or evidence
shall be Bates stamped, and mailed to Judge Grosjean at 2500
Tulare Street, Sixth Floor, Fresno, CA 93721. The withholding
party shall also file and serve a notice that they have
complied with this order. All other claims of privilege,
including claims of the official information privilege over
information other than witness statements and/or evidence
gathered from investigation(s) into the incident(s) at issue
in the complaint, may be challenged via a motion to compel.
III.
Discovery Cutoffs and Limits
A.
Non-Expert Discovery
All
non-expert discovery shall be completed no later than July 2,
2020. The parties are advised that motions to compel must be
filed no later than May 11, 2020, and any opposition to a
motion to compel shall be filed no later than May 26, 2020,
so that the Court may grant effective relief within the
allotted discovery time.
A
telephonic status conference has been set for June 8, 2020,
at 1:30 p.m., before Magistrate Judge Erica P. Grosjean. The
parties are directed to file a joint report, of up to five
(5) pages, outlining the status of the case, any additional
discovery still planned, potential for settlement, and any
other issues pending that would benefit from the Court's
assistance/direction. The parties shall file the report one
full week prior to the conference, and email a copy, in Word
format, to epgorders@caed.uscourts.gov. To appear
telephonically, each party shall dial 1 (888) 251-2909 and
enter access code 1024453.
B.
Expert Discovery
Initial
expert witness disclosures shall be served no later than May
7, 2021. Rebuttal expert witness disclosures shall be served
no later than June 11, 2021. Such disclosures must be
made pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(A), (B) and (C),
and shall include all information required
thereunder. In addition, Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(4) and
Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(e) specifically apply to discovery relating
to expert witnesses and their opinions. Each expert witness
must be fully prepared to be examined on all subjects and
opinions included in the disclosures. Failure to comply with
these requirements will result in the imposition of
appropriate sanctions, including the preclusion of the
expert's testimony, or of other evidence offered through
the expert.
All
expert discovery shall be completed no later than July 9,
2021.
IV.
Pretrial Motion Schedule
A.
General Information ...