Opinion
2:22-cv-00269-JHC
04-26-2024
AVELARDO RIVERA and YASMINE ROMERO, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. AMAZON WEB SERVICES, INC., a Delaware corporation, Defendant.
AVELARDO RIVERA and YASMINE ROMERO, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Wright A. Noel CARSON NOEL PLLC J. Eli Wade-Scott* Schuyler Ufkes* EDELSON PC Philip L. Fraietta* Alec M. Leslie* Max S. Roberts* BURSOR & FISHER, P.A. Randall K. Pulliam* Samuel R. Jackson* CARNEY BATES AND PULLIAM, PLLC *Admitted pro hac vice Attorneys for Plaintiffs and the Putative Class AMAZON WEB SERVICES, INC, Ryan Spear, WSBA No. 39974 Nicola Menaldo, WSBA No. 44459 Perkins Coie LLP Attorneys for Defendant Amazon Web Services Inc.
AVELARDO RIVERA and YASMINE ROMERO, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, Wright A. Noel CARSON NOEL PLLC J. Eli Wade-Scott* Schuyler Ufkes* EDELSON PC Philip L. Fraietta* Alec M. Leslie* Max S. Roberts* BURSOR & FISHER, P.A. Randall K. Pulliam* Samuel R. Jackson* CARNEY BATES AND PULLIAM, PLLC *Admitted pro hac vice Attorneys for Plaintiffs and the Putative Class
AMAZON WEB SERVICES, INC, Ryan Spear, WSBA No. 39974 Nicola Menaldo, WSBA No. 44459 Perkins Coie LLP Attorneys for Defendant Amazon Web Services Inc.
STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER FOR EXTENSION OF FACT DISCOVERY DEADLINE
JOHN H. CHUN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Plaintiffs Avelardo Rivera and Yasmine Romero (“Plaintiffs”) and Defendant Amazon Web Services (“AWS” or “Defendant”) (collectively, “the Parties”), by their counsel, stipulate and jointly move to (1) extend the deadline for fact discovery as to the Parties by 45 days to June 14, 2024, and (2) extend the deadline for fact discovery as to third parties by 90 days, to July 29, 2024. In support of this stipulated motion, the Parties state as follows:
1. On January 31, 2024, the Court ordered AWS to produce a list of Rekognition customers, and reopened fact discovery for ninety days, to April 30, 2024. (Dkt. 152.) AWS produced a list of more than 90,000 customer accounts on February 21. On March 12, Plaintiffs moved for leave to serve four additional interrogatories regarding the list, requesting that Amazon (1) identify all customers who made over 50,000 API calls using IndexFaces and/or CompareFaces, (2) provide addresses for those customers, and (3) name any customers which it plans to identify in its opposition to class certification. (Dkt. 165.) On March 26, AWS supplemented the list that it produced on February 21.
2. The Court granted Plaintiffs' motion for leave to serve four additional interrogatories on April 5. (Dkt. 192.) Plaintiffs served the interrogatories the same day, making AWS's deadline to respond May 6. On April 11, AWS served one interrogatory on Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs' deadline to respond to that interrogatory is May 13. Both Parties' response deadlines fall after the current April 30 close of fact discovery.
3. On April 22 and April 23, counsel for the Parties conferred via teleconference, and on April 25, reached an agreement over email regarding an extension of time to complete fact discovery.
4. The Parties hereby stipulate and agree, subject to Court approval, to (1) a 45-day extension of the fact discovery deadline as to the Parties (to June 14), and (2) a 90-day extension of the fact discovery deadline as to third parties (to July 29).
5. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4), “[a] schedule may be modified only for good cause and with the judge's consent.” Good cause exists here. First, the current fact discovery deadline (April 30) conflicts with the Rule 33 deadlines for the Parties to respond to the respective outstanding interrogatories. That reason alone establishes good cause for an extension.
6. Second, there is good cause to further extend the fact discovery deadline beyond the interrogatory deadlines-for a total of 45 days for discovery from the Parties and 90 days for discovery from third parties. Plaintiffs will use this additional time to (1) follow up on AWS's responses to its interrogatories, and then (2) investigate a subset of AWS's customers identified in AWS's responses to Plaintiffs' outstanding interrogatories, which ask AWS to identify high-volume customers of AWS's Rekognition technology and provide their addresses. (See Dkts. 165 at 2, 187 at 4-6). After receiving AWS's responses. Plaintiffs intend to subpoena a subset of the customers, who may move to quash, move for protective orders, or fail to respond at all, requiring motion practice.
7. Third, the Parties' requested extension is made in a timely manner-prior to the April 30 deadline-which weighs in favor of modifying the deadlines. See Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 (9th Cir. 2010) ("requests for extensions of time made before the applicable deadline has passed should 'normally ... be granted in the absence of bad faith on the part of the party seeking relief or prejudice to the adverse party."') (quoting 4B Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1165 (3d ed. 2004)).
8. Accordingly, the Parties request that the scheduling order be modified as follows:
Event
Current Deadline
Proposed Deadline
Close of Fact Discovery as to the Parties
April 30, 2024
June 14, 2024
Close of Fact Discovery as to Third Parties
April 30, 2024
July 29, 2024
WHEREFORE, the Parties respectfully request that the Court extend the fact discovery deadline as described above and include these fact discovery deadlines in the Court's next scheduling order. (See Dkt. 196 (the Parties submitting a joint status report which proposes future case deadlines through class certification).)
LCR 7(e) Certification
I certify that this memorandum contains 697 words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules.
ORDER
IT IS SO ORDERED.