Opinion
CAROLYN HUNT COTTRELL, NICOLE N. COON, SCHNEIDER WALLACE COTTRELL KONECKY WOTKYNS LLP Emeryville, CA Attorneys for Plaintiff and the putative Class
JOSEPH A. SCHWACHTER, R. KEITH CHAPMAN, LITTLER MENDELSON, P.C. San Francisco, CA Attorneys for Defendant MISTRAS GROUP, INC.
STIPULATION AND ORDER TO VACATE DEADLINE TO FILE JOINT STATUS REPORT AND CORRESPONDING DEADLINES
MORRISON C. ENGLAND, Jr., Chief District Judge.
TO THE COURT, ALL PARTIES AND THEIR ATTORNEYS OF RECORD:
Plaintiff DAVID KRUEGER, on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, ("Plaintiff") and Defendant MISTRAS GROUP, INC. ("Defendant") (collectively, the "Parties"), by and through their respective counsel of record, hereby stipulate and agree as follows:
On April 10, 2015, Plaintiff filed in the California Superior Court for Kern County the above-captioned lawsuit (ECF Doc. No. 1-2).
On May 18, 2015, Defendant removed this case to U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California (ECF Doc. No. 1).
On the same day, the Court issued an Order Requiring Joint Status Report. Pursuant to this order, the deadline for the Parties to file a joint status report addressing the topics listed in said order, including a Rule 26(f) discovery plan, was July 17, 2015 (ECF Doc. No. 2).
On May 27, 2015, Defendant filed a Notice of Related Case identifying the following action filed in the California Superior Court for San Francisco County on April 13, 2015, and removed to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on May 15, 2015: Edgar Viceral v. Mistras Group, Inc., Case No. 3:15-cv-02198-EDL (" Viceral" ), currently pending before the Honorable Edward M. Chen (ECF Doc. No. 4).
The Parties agree that the parties and some of the substantive claims in this matter overlap with the parties and substantive claims in the Viceral case, and that transfer, consolidation, and/or coordination of the two matters before a single Court is appropriate. The Parties worked to address this issue and have negotiated how to proceed.
In order to have sufficient time to negotiate the coordination of Viceral and Krueger, on July 13, 2015 the Krueger Parties filed a Stipulation and [Proposed] Order to Continue Deadline to File Joint Status Report and Corresponding Deadlines to extend the July 17, 2015 deadline for thirty (30) days until August 17, 2015. (ECF Doc. No. 9). The Parties explained that they needed additional time to allow for transfer and/or consolidation or coordination of Krueger with the Viceral action. Moreover, extending the deadlines would preserve both the Parties' and the Court's resources and promotes efficiency. The Parties would have a greater ability to fully discuss ADR options and to adequately conduct a Rule 26(f) conference after the cases are transferred and/or consolidated or coordinated. On July 20, 2015, this Court granted the Parties' request for an extension of the July 17, 2015 Joint Status Report deadline (ECF Doc. No. 10). The Court extended the deadline to August 17, 2015.
Thereafter, the Parties worked diligently to coordinate Krueger with the Viceral action. Counsel for Parties in both actions met and conferred on numerous occasions. Ultimately, the Parties agreed that Krueger will be combined with Viceral before the Northern District of California by way of filing an amended complaint in Viceral and adding the Krueger parties and claims to the complaint. To effectuate this coordination, the Krueger Plaintiffs agreed to request dismissal of this action before this Court. This agreed-upon coordination of the two cases implicates several procedural steps including, but not limited to: coordinating Plaintiffs' Counsel in both matters; drafting an agreed upon amended complaint; and drafting an agreed upon request for dismissal. The Parties worked to complete all the necessary steps for coordination; however, they required additional time to finalize all procedural filings and pleadings. Accordingly, on August 14, 2015, the Parties filed a Supplemental Stipulation and [Proposed] Order to Continue Deadline to File Joint Status Report and Corresponding Deadlines, requesting an extension until September 4, 2015, to allow for coordination with Viceral and dismissal of Krueger. (ECF Doc. No. 12.) On August 19, 2015, this Court granted the Parties' request for an extension of the August 17, 2015 Joint Status Report deadline (ECF Doc. No. 13). The Court extended the deadline to September 4, 2015.
Since the Court's order, the Krueger Parties have drafted and finalized their stipulated request for court approval of dismissal without prejudice of the Krueger case. This request for dismissal, titled Stipulation and [Proposed] Order for Court Approval of Dismissal Without Prejudice, is being filed concurrently with this stipulation to vacate the September 4, 2015 Joint Status Report deadline. With this request for dismissal on file, the Parties agree that it is appropriate to vacate the current status report deadline pending this Court's review of the Parties' dismissal request. The Court can re-set this deadline if necessary.
IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the Parties hereto, through their respective counsel of record, as follows:
The September 4, 2015 Joint Status Report and corresponding meet and confer and other related deadlines should be vacated to provide this Court with the opportunity to review and approve the Parties' dismissal request and ultimately dismiss Krueger.
ORDER ON STIPULATION
Having reviewed the foregoing stipulation and for good cause appearing,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:
The Joint Status Report and corresponding meet and confer and other related deadlines are vacated to allow for this Court's review of the Parties' Stipulation and [Proposed] Order for Court Approval of Dismissal Without Prejudice filed concurrently with this stipulation and to facilitate the coordination with Edgar Viceral v. Mistras Group, Inc., Case No. 3:15-cv-02198-EDL by dismissal of the pending matter, David Krueger v. Mistras Group, Inc., Case No. 2:15-cv-01069-MCE-DAD.