Opinion
1:19-cv-00968-ADA-BAM (PC)
10-04-2022
RUBEN FIGUEROA, Plaintiff, v. CLARK, et al., Defendants.
Dispositive Motion Deadline: December 2, 2022
ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME (ECF NO. 72) ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO MODIFY SCHEDULING ORDER (ECF NO. 74)
BARBARA A. McAULIFFE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Plaintiff Ruben Figueroa (“Plaintiff”') is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis in this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This action proceeds on Plaintiff's first amended complaint against Defendants Baughman, Clark, Gallagher, Alfaro, Goss, Juarez, Hence, and Llamas for failure to provide outside exercise in violation of the Eighth Amendment and against Defendants Baughman, Clark, Goss, Hence, Gallagher, Llamas, and Gamboa for violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Pursuant to the Court's June 22, 2022 order granting Defendants' motion to modify scheduling order, the deadline to file all dispositive motions (other than a motion for summary judgment for failure to exhaust) was September 30, 2022. (ECF No. 64.) Plaintiff's August 19, 2022 motion to compel discovery, (ECF No. 65), is pending before the Court, and the parties further joint status report regarding the motion to compel is due on or before October 24, 2022, 1 (ECF No. 71).
Currently before the Court is Defendants' motion to modify scheduling order, filed September 30, 2022. (ECF No. 74.) Defendants state that good cause exists to extend the current dispositive motion deadline because the parties are currently attempting to resolve the discovery dispute. In addition, during the parties' September 16, 2022 telephone conference, Plaintiff apparently expressed to defense counsel a renewed interest in seeking to resolve this case through a settlement. Defendants request that the Court extend the deadline for filing dispositive motions to October 28, 2022. (Id.)
Plaintiff has also filed a motion for a thirty- to sixty-day extension of time and a notice of change of address. (ECF Nos. 72, 73.) Plaintiff confirms that the parties are in the process of resolving their discovery dispute, and that he has recently been released on parole. (Id.)
Although the parties have not yet had an opportunity to file responses to each motion, as the parties are essentially seeking the same relief, the Court finds responses are unnecessary. The motions are deemed submitted. Local Rule 230(1).
Having considered the requests, the Court finds good cause to grant the requested modification of the discovery and scheduling order and extension of time. Fed.R.Civ.P. 16(b)(4). In light of the upcoming deadline for the parties to file a further joint status report regarding the discovery dispute, and the parties' indication that settlement discussions might be productive, the Court finds an extension of sixty days, rather than thirty, is appropriate under the circumstances. The Court further finds that the parties will not be prejudiced by the extension granted here.
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
1. Defendants' motion to modify the scheduling order, (ECF No. 74), is GRANTED;
2. Plaintiff's motion for extension of time, (ECF No. 72), is GRANTED;
3. The deadline to file all dispositive motions (other than a motion for summary judgment for failure to exhaust) is extended from September 30, 2022 to December 2, 2022;and2
4. Any request for a further extension of this deadline must be filed on or before the expiration of the deadline in question and will only be granted on a showing of good cause.
IT IS SO ORDERED. 3