Opinion
No. 1:03-CV-6619-OWW-SMS.
February 27, 2006
Plaintiffs are proceeding with a civil action in this Court. The matter has been referred to the Magistrate Judge pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(b) and Local Rules 72-302(c)(1) and 72-303.
I. Background
On February 8, 2006, Plaintiff Rodney Muro filed a motion to compel expert discovery, which sought either an order directing compliance with discovery requests by a certain time or, alternatively, amendment of the scheduling order to extend the expert discovery deadline to at least March 8, 2006. Defendants County of Fresno and Fresno County Sheriff Deputy Jeffrey Simpson filed notice of non-opposition on February 15, 2006, agreeing to extend the discovery deadline and thus permitting the County to respond to Plaintiffs' request for production of documents pertaining to expert witnesses to no later than March 8, 2006, but objected to any further extensions absent a stipulation of the parties. On February 21, 2006, Defendants City of Fresno, Officer Ray Villavazo, and Officer Rodney Cancio filed notice of non-opposition to an extension of time to permit Defendants to respond to Plaintiff's request for production of documents pertaining to expert witnesses.
II. Hearing is Vacated and Motion Is Deemed Submitted
Pursuant to Rule 78-230(h) of the Local Rules of Practice for the United States District Court, Eastern District of California, the Court finds that the Plaintiff's motion to compel discovery or, in the alternative, to amend the scheduling order is a matter that may appropriately be submitted upon the record.
Accordingly, the hearing on the motion, presently set for February 24, 2006, IS VACATED, and the motion IS DEEMED SUBMITTED to the Court for decision.
III. Granting Plaintiff's Motion
Based on the parties' non-opposition, Plaintiff's motion to amend the scheduling order IS GRANTED.
IV. Amendment of the Scheduling Order
The Court AMENDS the scheduling order as follows:
Expert Discovery Cut-Off March 24, 2006 Non-Dispositive Motion Filing Deadline April 7, 2006 Dispositive Motion Filing Deadline April 28, 2006 Pretrial Hearing July 24, 2006* Trial September 6, 2006
* The Honorable Oliver W. Wanger is unavailable for pretrial on July 10, 2006, because he will be attending the Ninth Circuit Conference on that date.
IT IS SO ORDERED.