Opinion
22-cv-02366-RS
04-16-2024
SHARED PARTNERSHIP, Plaintiff, v. META PLATFORMS, INC., Defendant.
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART MOTION TO EXTEND SCHEDULE
RICHARD SEEBORG CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Defendant Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta”) seeks an approximately two-month extension of the case schedule to review and produce discovery to which it learned it had access in late February of this year. Fact discovery in this matter is currently scheduled to close on April 19, 2024. Meta argues good cause to extend the case schedule exists because it discovered new data that is particularly probative of Plaintiff Shared Partnership's (“Shared”) claims and Meta's defenses. Specifically, Meta realized it has access to “additional data regarding Shared's rejected advertisements through a tool called Ads Manager” that may demonstrate why about 18,000 of Shared's ads were rejected. Dkt. 69, at 1, 3. Shared opposes any extension of the case schedule largely on the grounds Meta could have brought its motion weeks ago when it discovered this supposedly highly probative discovery material.
It is unclear whether this data, even if available, would demonstrate why particular ads were rejected because “the exact language” Meta used to communicate advertising policy violations “may have changed over time” and Meta does not yet know “whether it has access to the language that Shared would have seen based on the date of the rejected ad.” Dkt. 69, at 3 n.1.
Meta appears to have learned it possessed the discovery material in late February of this year and informed Shared of its potential existence on March 6, 2024, at which point Shared communicated its likely opposition to any further extension of the case schedule. More than three weeks later, on March 29, 2024, Meta asked Shared to stipulate to an extension of case deadlines, and Shared refused to so stipulate. Meta then waited more than another week to file its administrative motion seeking extensions to current case deadlines. In other words, Meta waited nearly the amount of time it now requests as an extension from the time it discovered the potential existence of the discovery material to the time it filed its motion to extend the case schedule. Meta has not shown sufficient diligence in pursuing discovery or that good cause to extend the case schedule by two months exists. Under these circumstances, a shorter two-week extension of the fact discovery deadline-to May 3, 2024-is warranted. The deadlines for opening expert reports and rebuttal expert reports will be extended by one week each, such that the new deadline for opening expert reports will be May 24, 2024, and the new deadline for rebuttal expert reports will be June 14, 2024. All other deadlines will remain unchanged.
IT IS SO ORDERED.