Opinion
CASE NO. 2:19-CV-881-WKW [WO]
04-02-2020
COUNTRY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff, v. JOHN P. GOLDMAN, JR., TRACEY GOLDMAN, ADDISON MORGAN, and MITCHELL G. SMITH, and HANNAH M. POSTMA, individually and as parents and next friends of RTS, a minor, Defendants.
RULE 26(f) ORDER
The parties are reminded of the obligation, imposed by Rule 26(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to confer and to develop a proposed discovery plan. Accordingly, it is ORDERED that the Rule 26(f) report containing the discovery plan shall be filed as soon as practicable but not later than May 13, 2020.
Dispositive motions shall be filed no later than 120 days prior to the pretrial conference date. If the parties seek to vary from that schedule, they should present, in the plan, specific case-related reasons for the requested variance. In their Rule 26(f) report, however, the parties should assume that the 120-day requirement will apply.
It is also the policy of this district that Rule 26(a)(3) witness list exchange (§ 9 Uniform Scheduling Order ("USO")), deposition designations (§ 10 USO), and exchange of trial exhibits and evidence (§ 11 USO) occur no later than 42 days prior to trial, to allow appropriate time for filing and resolution of objections and motions related thereto. The parties may agree to earlier deadlines, but later deadlines ordinarily will not be allowed.
This case ordinarily will be set for trial before the undersigned judge during one of that judge's regularly scheduled civil trial terms, within 14 to 16 months of this order if a term is available and, if not available, then as soon as possible thereafter. The pretrial date is normally set within four to eight weeks of a scheduled trial term. The dates of each judge's civil trial terms are available on the court's website located at http://www.almd.uscourts.gov.
The scheduling order entered by the court will follow the form of the Uniform Scheduling Order adopted by the court. The court may or may not hold a scheduling conference before issuing a scheduling order. The Uniform Scheduling Order also is available on the court's website.
DONE this 2nd day of April, 2020.
/s/ W. Keith Watkins
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE