Toy Investments, Inc. v. Ozwest, Inc.

Full title: TOY INVESTMENTS, INC., a Washington corporation, Plaintiff, v. OZWEST…

Court: United States District Court, W.D. Washington, at Seattle

Date published: Feb 19, 2009

CASE NO. C08-0646-JCC (W.D. Wash. Feb. 19, 2009)

Opinion

CASE NO. C08-0646-JCC.

February 19, 2009

ORDER

JOHN COUGHENOUR, District Judge

This matter comes before the Court on Defendants' Motion to Extend Pretrial Deadlines (Dkt. No. 22), Plaintiff's Response (Dkt. No. 24), and Defendants' Reply (Dkt. No. 26). Defendants request extension of the pretrial deadlines to permit adequate time to complete discovery, pursue settlement negotiations, and schedule mediation. (Mot. 2 (Dkt. No. 22).) Defendants state that Defendant Peter Cummings, owner of Defendant Ozwest Inc., was overseas and unavailable from June 2008, through December 10, 2008. (Reply 3 (Dkt. No. 26).) Defendants assert that due to the unavailability of Cummings, additional time is needed to complete discovery and mediation. ( Id. at 4.) Plaintiff does not oppose an extension of the mediation deadline, but contends that extension of any other deadlines should be denied. (Resp. 1-3 (Dkt. No. 24).) Plaintiff asserts that Defendants' motion "seek[s] only to extend their already-expired deadline for amending their counterclaims," and Plaintiff "sees no reason why Defendants need any additional time to draft their counterclaims." (Resp. 1 (Dkt. No. 24).)

Trial courts have broad discretion in determining whether to continue a deadline. See U.S. v. Flynt, 756 F.2d 1352, 1358, amended by 764 F.2d 675 (9th Cir. 1985). Pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court may grant an extension of a pretrial deadline for "good cause." FED. R. CIV. P. 6(b). The Court also has discretion under the local rules to modify a deadline imposed by the Court's scheduling order. Local Rules W.D. Wash. CR 16(n)(2).

The Court finds that the unavailability of Mr. Cummings, a named defendant and owner of Defendant Ozwest Inc., provides sufficient "good cause" to justify extending some of the deadlines to facilitate discovery and mediation. Accordingly Defendants' motion (Dkt. No. 22) is GRANTED and the pretrial deadlines are extended as follows. The mediation deadline is extended to April 6, 2009, and the deadline for pleading amendment is extended to March 5, 2009.

SO ORDERED.