Opinion
C18-5860JLR
10-27-2023
NWDC RESISTANCE, et al., Plaintiffs, v. IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT, et al., Defendants.
ORDER
JAMES L. ROBART, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.
Before the court is the parties' stipulation and proposed order seeking an extension of the deadline to file dispositive motions and an extension of the briefing schedule.
(Stip. Mot. (Dkt. # 157).) The parties represent that lead counsel for Defendants has been caring for a sick minor child and that “multiple counsel have long-standing family plans” for the Thanksgiving holiday. (Id. ¶¶ 2-3.) They ask the court to extend the dispositive motions briefing schedule as follows:
Current Deadline
Proposed Deadline
Dispositive motions due
November 3, 2023
Responses due
November 20, 2023
December 1, 2023
Replies due
November 24, 2023
December 8, 2023
(See 12/13/22 Sched. Order (Dkt. # 143).)
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4) provides that “[a] schedule may be modified only for good cause and with the judge's consent.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 16(b)(4). The court is sympathetic to Defendants' counsel's need to care for her sick child. It looks with disfavor, however, on the parties' request to extend the briefing schedule based on the “long-standing” holiday plans of multiple counsel. The court entered its case schedule on December 13, 2022, giving counsel plenty of notice of the dispositive motions deadline and briefing schedule. Furthermore, the court issues scheduling orders setting trial and related dates to provide a reasonable schedule for the resolution of disputes. Extensions of the deadlines for filing and briefing dispositive motions cut short the time the court has allocated to itself to decide the motions early enough for the parties to consider the court's rulings and plan accordingly for trial or for an alternative resolution. The trial in this matter is set to begin on January 29, 2024. (See 12/13/22 Sched. Order.) The court will not allow counsel's holiday plans to imperil its ability to timely decide the parties' dispositive motions.
Nevertheless, the court is willing to GRANT in part the parties' stipulated motion (Dkt. # 157) and EXTEND the noting date for dispositive motions by one week, to December 1, 2023. The court DIRECTS counsel for the parties to (1) meet and confer to determine a mutually agreeable briefing schedule based on this one-week extension and (2) file a renewed stipulation setting forth their proposed revised briefing schedule by no later than October 31, 2023.