Opinion
20-CV-8395 (PGG) (JW)
10-14-2022
ORDER
JENNIFER E. WILLIS, United States Magistrate Judge
On October 7, 2022, the Parties filed a joint request for a Rule 16 conference to address the issue of whether certain documents constitute trade secrets. Dkt. No. 154. As stated in the letter, this concerns a “question of what constitutes a trade secret.” Id. This question, legal in nature and perhaps dispositive of certain claims, is not appropriately before this Court via Rule 16. Rather, this would be more properly addressed in a motion pursuant to Rule 56. Such a motion would properly be before the District Judge, or this Court if the Parties consent to Magistrate Judge jurisdiction.
The case cited by the Parties in their letter, Huebner v. Midland Credit Mgmt., Inc., No. 14-cv-6046, 2015 WL 1966280 (E.D.N.Y. May 1, 2015) is not persuasive, as it does not discuss the purpose of a Rule 16 conference except with respect to the requirement of good faith participation as set forth in 16(f).
SO ORDERED.