Opinion
20cv1818-MMA (MSB)
02-15-2022
JANE DOE, Plaintiff, v. CISSY STEELE, AKA CISSY GERALD, et al., Defendants.
ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART JOINT MOTION TO CONTINUE DATES FROM DECEMBER 1, 2021 FIRST AMENDED SCHEDULING ORDER [ECF NO. 97]
Honorable Michael S. Berg, United States Magistrate Judge.
On February 11, 2022, counsel for the parties filed a “Joint Motion to Continue Dates from December 1, 2021 First Amended Scheduling Order (ECF No. 81).” (ECF No. 97.) In their joint motion, due to the then pending motion to withdraw filed by counsel for Defendant Cissy Steele, the parties ask to “continue all dates in the December 1, 2021 First Amended Scheduling Order (ECF No. 81) and Order Granting Stipulation Regarding Defendant Cissy Steele's Discovery Responses (ECF No. 92) for thirty (30) days from the date of signing the proposed order.” (ECF No. 97.) Another phrasing asks the Court for “a thirty (30) day extension of time for all discovery and other pretrial dates in the Scheduling Order until April 8, 2022 and all dates in the Order Granting Stipulation Regarding Defendant Cissy Steele's Discovery Responses given the motion to withdraw.”
On February 14, 2022, United States District Judge Michael M. Anello granted Defendant Steele's counsel's motion to withdraw and ordered Defendant Steele to either file a notice of intent to proceed pro se or a substitution of counsel by March 21, 2022. (ECF No. 98.) Currently, the fact discovery deadline in this case is March 8, 2022. (ECF No. 81 at 2.) Pursuant to the parties' stipulation, Defendant Steele's deadline to file any supplemental discovery responses was February 11, 2022, the day the joint motion was filed, and Plaintiff's deadline to request an informal discovery conference was February 25, 2022. (ECF No. 92, ECF No. 90-1 at 3-4.) Because Defendant Steele's counsel withdrew shortly before Defendants' scheduled depositions, (see ECF No. 97 at 2), and Defendant Steele's deadline to file supplemental discovery responses, (see ECF No. 92, ECF No. 90-1 at 3-4), and will likely not be ready to proceed until Judge Anello's March 21, 2022 deadline, the Court finds good cause to continue at least some dates in the scheduling order.
However, the parties' joint motion and proposed order are not particularly helpful regarding how the dates should be continued. The Court assumes that the parties did not actually intend to reschedule all remaining dates to thirty days following the date of this order, or to April 8, 2022. The Court finds good cause to continue the imminent dates as needed if Defendant Steele elects to continue in this case as a pro se litigant. Because Judge Anello has given Defendant Steele until March 21, 2022 to make decide how to proceed, the Court will extend certain dates by more than thirty days. Therefore, the Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part the joint motion, and continues certain deadlines as follows:
1. Defendant Steele may supplement her responses to Video Defendants' Requests for Production Nos. 6, 9, and 10 and Interrogatory Nos. 4, 9-11, and 16 no later than March 30, 2022 .
2. In the event Video Defendants find Steele's supplemental responses insufficient, the parties must meet and confer, and if no resolution can be reached, they may contact Judge Berg's chambers to request a telephonic Discovery Conference no later than April 8, 2022 .
3. All fact discovery must be completed by all parties by April 29, 2022 . “Completed” means that all discovery under Rules 30-36 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and discovery subpoenas under Rule 45, must be initiated a sufficient period of time in advance of the cut-off date, so that it may be completed by the cut-off date, taking into account the times for service, notice and response as set forth in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
4. The parties must designate their respective experts in writing by May 20, 2022 The parties must identify any person who may be used at trial to present evidence pursuant to Rules 702, 703 or 705 of the Fed.R.Evid. This requirement is not limited to retained experts. The date for exchange of rebuttal experts must be by June 3, 2022 . The written designations must include the name, address and telephone number of the expert and a reasonable summary of the testimony the expert is expected to provide. The list must also include the normal rates the expert charges for deposition and trial testimony.
All guidance and deadlines not specifically modified by this order remain as previously ordered.
IT IS SO ORDERED.