Trullinger v. United States Postal Service

Full title: DENA TRULLINGER, CHAD TRULLINGER and JACK TRULLINGER, a minor, by and…

Court: United States District Court, Ninth Circuit, California, E.D. California

Date published: Jun 12, 2013

1:12-CV-00527 JLT (E.D. Cal. Jun. 12, 2013)

Opinion

DENA TRULLINGER, CHAD TRULLINGER and JACK TRULLINGER, a minor, by and through his Guardian, DENA TRULLINGER, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; CANDICE L. BROWN and DOES 1-20, Inclusive, Defendants. No. 1:12-CV-00527 JLT. United States District Court, E.D. California. June 12, 2013.

          ORDER GRANTING IN PART STIPULATION TO AMEND SCHEDULING ORDER

         (Doc. 34)

          JENNIFER L. THURSTON, Magistrate Judge.

         The parties to this action stipulate and agree, and respectfully request that the Court order, certain modifications to the Scheduling Order (Doc. 16), for the reasons set forth below.

         Disputes have arisen between the parties regarding expert witness discovery, particularly regarding the timing and sufficiency of Plaintiffs' expert witness disclosures. Counsel have met and conferred repeatedly over the past several weeks, in written exchanges and by telephone, in an effort to resolve these issues without involvement of the Court. As a result of those discussions, the parties have agreed to request a revision of the case schedule in order to allow for the orderly completion of expert discovery. The parties stipulate and request that the Court enter an order as follows, or in the alternative that the Court set a further telephonic status conference regarding the matters set forth in this stipulation. The parties request that the Court order as follows:

         1. With respect to Plaintiffs' expert witness Alan P. Moelleken, M.D., who has been designated to provide opinion testimony regarding, inter alia, the causation of Plaintiff Dena Trullinger's alleged injuries, and Michael Shaw, Ph.D., who has been designated to rebut the opinions of defense expert Rajeev Kelkar, Ph.D., Plaintiff shall disclose to the United States written reports complying with Rule 26(a)(2)(B), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, for each witness on or before August 5, 2013.

         2. The United States shall disclose any additional rebuttal experts on or before August 19, 2013.

         3. The remaining case schedule shall be modified as follows:

Last date to complete expert discovery: September 18, 2013.

         Last date to file dispositive/non-dispositive motions: September 18, 2013.

Last date for hearing dispositive/non-dispositive motions: October 21, 2013.

Pretrial Conference: November 6, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

Trial: December 16, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

4. Subject to the Court's endorsement of this revised schedule and Plaintiffs' compliance with paragraph 1 of this Stipulation, it is agreed that Plaintiffs' supplemental designation of expert witnesses Alan P. Moelleken, M.D., Rick Sarkisian, Ph.D., Sharon Kawai, M.D., Nancy Bell Mahaney, Michael Shaw, Ph.D., and Stephanie Rizzardi is timely.

         5. As the parties agree that this case is not in a settlement posture at this time, the Settlement Conference set for June 19, 2013, before the Hon. Gary A. Austin, shall be vacated.

         ORDER

         Before the Court is the second stipulation to modify the case schedule related to expert discovery. In the first, the parties agreed that a one-week extension of the expert disclosure date set forth in the scheduling order, would allow them to complete discovery while maintaining the balance of the case schedule. (Doc. 29) Now, as noted above, due to some apparent insufficiency related to rebuttal expert disclosures, the parties seek a three-and-a-half month extension of the expert discovery deadline. Granting this extension requires all remaining dates set forth in the case schedule to be modified.

         Therefore, the Court GRANTS IN PART the stipulation as follows:

         1. Plaintiff SHALL provide expert reports which fully comply with Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(B), related to the opinions Dr. Alan P. Moelleken and Dr. Michael Shaw, no later than August 5, 2013.

         2. Defendant shall disclose any additional rebuttal experts with expert reports which fully comply with Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(B), no later than August 19, 2013.

         3. Expert discovery SHALL be completed no later than September 16, 2013;

         4. Dispositive and non-dispositive motions SHALL be filed no later than September 27, 2013 and heard no later than November 8, 2013;

         5. The trial is set on December 16, 2013, 8:30 a.m.;

         6. The pretrial conference is VACATED. The parties SHALL file trial briefs no later than December 2, 2013;

         7. The Court accepts the stipulation of the parties that the supplemental designation of expert witnesses Alan P. Moelleken, M.D., Rick Sarkisian, Ph.D., Sharon Kawai, M.D., Nancy Bell Mahaney, Michael Shaw, Ph.D., and Stephanie Rizzardi is timely.

         8. The Settlement Conference set on June 19, 2013, before the Hon. Gary S. Austin, is VACATED.

         IT IS SO ORDERED.