Kaufman v. American Family Mutual Insurance Company

Full title: KATHERINE KAUFMAN, Plaintiff, v. AMERICAN FAMILY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY…

Court: United States District Court, D. Colorado

Date published: Oct 23, 2007

Civil Action No. 05-cv-02311-WDM-MEH (D. Colo. Oct. 23, 2007)

Opinion

Civil Action No. 05-cv-02311-WDM-MEH.

October 23, 2007

ORDER

MICHAEL HEGARTY, Magistrate Judge

This matter is before the Court on the parties' Joint Status Report [Docket #193] submitted October 16, 2007. The Court held a hearing in this matter on October 5, 2007, to resolve a number of outstanding discovery issues.

The Court adopts the deadline of November 20, 2007, for any Motion for Sanctions to be filed by Defendant, as well as the deposition schedule outlined by the parties on this issue. While the Court understands that a ruling on the Motion for Sanctions could obviate the issue of class certification, the Court is not willing to allow that issue to languish in the meantime. Now that Plaintiff's counsel has access to the claims files he believes support his Motion for Class Certification, the deadline for filing a Motion for Class Certification and for Amendment of the Pleadings is November 5, 2007. Should Plaintiff choose to file an Amended Motion by that date, Plaintiff shall file a notice withdrawing the pending Motion for Class Certification no later than October 24, 2007. The briefing schedule for motions filed by the November 5, 2007, deadline will follow the time line set forth in the Local Rules.

The Court disagrees with Defendant's position that depositions of persons contacted by Plaintiff's counsel must be completed prior to taking depositions of Defendant's claims personnel and executives. The parties shall cooperate in setting all depositions as quickly as possible.

In the event that class certification is granted, the class discovery deadlines are as follows:

Initial expert reports July 15, 2008 Rebuttal expert reports August 15, 2008 Discovery cut-off September 15, 2008 Dispositive motion deadline October 15, 2008. Plaintiff's counsel is prohibited from contacting further potential class members until notifying Defendant and allowing Defendant five business days within which to file a Motion for Protective Order. Given the pending issue of potential sanctions against Plaintiff's counsel, it is necessary that the Court be allowed to first consider the propriety and possible guidelines of such contact.

The Final Pretrial Conference scheduled for December 13, 2007, is vacated and will be rescheduled after a ruling on the Motion for Class Certification has issued.