Opinion
1:21-cv-00803-AWI-BAM
02-21-2023
YELLOWCAKE INC., Plaintiff, v. DASHGO, INC., et al., Defendants.
Expert Disclosure: September 22, 2023
Supplemental Expert Disclosure: October 20, 2023
Non-Expert Discovery Deadlines: Written Party Discovery: June 16, 2023
Non-Party and Depositions: August 31, 2023
Expert Discovery Deadline: November 17, 2023
Dispositive Motion Filing Deadline: August 25, 2023
Pretrial Conf.: Dated: March 20, 2024
Jury Trial: Dated: May 21, 2024
ORDER AFTER DISCOVERY CONFERENCE AND SETTING STATUS CONFERENCE
AMENDED SCHEDULING ORDER
BARBARA A. MCAULIFFE, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
On February 17, 2023, the Court held a discovery conference with counsel for the parties. Seth Berman and Thomas Griffin personally appeared on behalf of Plaintiff Yellowcake, Inc. Richard Idell and Ory Sandel personally appeared on behalf of Defendants Dashgo, Inc., Audiomicro, Inc. d.b.a Adrev, Benjamin Patterson and Noah Becker. The parties met and conferred throughout the day to resolve the pending discovery motions. The parties reached a compromise on the issues, resolving the outstanding discovery motions, and placed their agreement on the record. The parties anticipate that the agree-upon discovery will be completed within thirty (30) days.
Based on the parties' representations, the Clerk of the Court is directed to administratively terminate the following motions: (1) Yellowcake's Amended Motion to Compel Substantive Responses to Plaintiff's Demands: Request for Documents, Set Two and Plaintiff's Interrogatories Nos. 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 20, 21, 22 and 25, (Docs. 40 and 61); (2) Dashgo's Motion to Compel Further Responses to Interrogatories, Set One, Nos. 1, 2, and 4, (Doc. 44); and (3) Dashgo's Motion to Compel Document Production Responsive to Dashgo's Requests for Production of Documents, Set Three, Nos. 1, 3-8, 10-15, 17-22, 24-28; and award of attorneys' fee, (Doc. 92).
The Court sets a STATUS CONFERENCE on May 9, 2023, at 9:00 AM in Courtroom 8 (BAM) before Magistrate Judge Barbara A. McAuliffe to address the status of outstanding discovery. The parties shall appear at the conference remotely with each party connecting either via Zoom video conference or Zoom telephone number. The parties will be provided with the Zoom ID and password by the Courtroom Deputy prior to the conference. The Zoom ID number and password are confidential and are not to be shared. Appropriate court attire required.
In addition to the foregoing, the parties requested modification of the Scheduling Conference Order given the volume of recent document productions. Good cause appearing, the Scheduling Conference Order is modified as follows:
1. Discovery Cutoffs and Limits
Initial expert witness disclosures by any party shall be served no later than September 22, 2023. Supplemental expert witness disclosures by any party shall be served no later than October 20, 2023. Such disclosures must be made pursuant to F.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(2)(A) and (B) and shall include all information required thereunder. In addition, F.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(4) and F.R.Civ.P. 26(e) shall specifically apply to all discovery relating to expert witnesses and their opinions. Each expert witness must be prepared fully to be examined on all subjects and opinions included in the designations. Failure to comply with these requirements will result in the imposition of appropriate sanctions, which may include the preclusion of testimony or other evidence offered through the expert witness. In particular, this Court will enforce preclusion of testimony or other evidence if F.R.Civ.P. 26(e) is not strictly complied with.
All non-expert written party discovery, including motions to compel, shall be completed no later than June 16, 2023. All non-expert, non-party discovery and all non-expert depositions, including motions to compel, shall be completed no later than August 31, 2023. All expert discovery, including motions to compel, shall be completed no later than November 17, 2023. Compliance with these discovery cutoffs requires motions to compel be filed and heard sufficiently in advance of the cutoff so that the Court may grant effective relief within the allotted discovery time. A party's failure to have a discovery dispute heard sufficiently in advance of the discovery cutoff may result in denial of the motion as untimely.
2. Pretrial Motion Schedule
All pre-trial motions, both dispositive and non-dispositive (except motions to compel, addressed above), shall be filed no later than August 25, 2023. The Court will revisit this deadline at the May 3, 2023 Status Conference. Non-dispositive motions are heard on Fridays at 9:00 a.m., before the Honorable Barbara A. McAuliffe, United States Magistrate Judge, in Courtroom 8. Before scheduling non-dispositive motions, the parties shall comply with Local Rule 230 or Local Rule 251. Counsel must comply with Local Rule 251 with respect to discovery disputes or the motion will be denied without prejudice and dropped from calendar. In addition to filing a joint statement electronically, a copy of the joint statement shall also be sent Judge McAuliffe's chambers by email to bamorders@caed.uscourts.gov.
The parties are advised that unless prior leave of the Court is obtained, all moving and opposition briefs or legal memorandum in civil cases before Judge McAuliffe shall not exceed twenty-five (25) pages. Reply briefs by the moving party shall not exceed ten (10) pages. These page limitations do not include exhibits. Briefs that exceed this page limitation, or are sought to be filed without leave, may not be considered by the Court.
Counsel or pro se parties may appear and argue non-dispositive motions before Judge McAuliffe by telephone by dialing the court's teleconference line at (877) 411-9748 and entering Access Code 3219139, provided they indicate their intent to appear telephonically on their pleadings or by email to evaldez@caed.uscourts.gov at least one week prior to the hearing.
Dispositive Pre-Trial Motions are heard in Courtroom 2 before the Honorable Anthony W. Ishii, Senior District Judge. In scheduling such motions, the parties shall comply with Local Rules 230 and 260.
Motions for Summary Judgment or Summary Adjudication
Prior to filing a motion for summary judgment or motion for summary adjudication the parties are ORDERED to meet, in person or by telephone, and confer to discuss the issues to be raised in the motion.
The purpose of meeting shall be to: 1) avoid filing motions for summary judgment where a question of fact exists; 2) determine whether the respondent agrees that the motion has merit in whole or in part; 3) discuss whether issues can be resolved without the necessity of briefing; 4) narrow the issues for review by the court; 5) explore the possibility of settlement before the parties incur the expense of briefing a summary judgment motion; and 6) to arrive at a joint statement of undisputed facts.
3. Pretrial Conference
This pretrial conference remains as scheduled for March 20, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. in Courtroom 2 and will be heard before Senior District Judge Anthony W. Ishii. The Court will revisit this deadline at the May 3, 2023 Status Conference.
The parties are ordered to file a Joint Pretrial Statement pursuant to Local Rule 281(a)(2). The parties are further directed to submit an electronic copy of their pretrial statement in Word format, directly to Senior District Judge Ishii's chambers by emailing it to awiorders@caed.uscourts.gov.
The parties' attention is directed to this Court's Local Rules 281 and 282. The parties must identify all exhibits and witnesses, including those for rebuttal and/or impeachment purposes. No exhibit or witness other than those listed in the joint pretrial statement and included in the Pretrial Order may be used at trial. This Court will insist upon strict compliance with those rules.
At the pretrial conference, the Court will set deadlines, among others, to file motions in limine, final witness lists, exhibits, jury instructions, objections, and other trial documents.
4. Trial Date
The seven-day jury trial remains as scheduled for May 21, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. in Courtroom 2 before United States Senior District Judge Anthony W. Ishii. The Court will revisit this deadline at the May 3, 2023 Status Conference.
5. Effect of This Order
This order represents the best estimate of the Court and parties as to the agenda most suitable to dispose of this case. If the parties determine at any time that the schedule outlined in this order cannot be met, the parties are ordered to notify the Court immediately of that fact so that adjustments may be made, either by stipulation or by subsequent status conference. Stipulations extending the deadlines contained herein will not be considered unless they are accompanied by affidavits or declarations with attached exhibits, where appropriate, which establish good cause for granting the relief requested.
Failure to comply with this order shall result in the imposition of sanctions.
IT IS SO ORDERED.