Opinion
No. C 07-4762 PJH.
August 14, 2008
ORDER
Before the court is a stipulation of the parties to extend certain pretrial deadlines. As the parties were advised in the case management and pretrial order, dates set by the court may not be extended by stipulation, but must be based upon a showing of good cause. The parties have arguably not shown good cause. More importantly, however, the parties have ignored another provision of the case management order that specifically advises them that the court hears dispositive motions no later than 120 days before trial. Trial is scheduled for March 23, 2009, and the dispositive motions hearing deadline is November 19, 2008. In addition to extensions of the discovery deadlines, the parties seek to extend the dispositive motions deadline to February 19, 2009, one week before the pretrial conference. The parties are proposing that dispositive motions be heard three weeks after their pretrial papers are due to be filed on January 27, 2009. It is this court's practice to hear and rule on dispositive motions sufficiently in advance of the pretrial conference so as to assist in pretrial preparation and readiness for trial. Consequently, the request in the form of a stipulation to continue the dispositive motions deadline is DENIED. The parties may submit a revised stipulation that effects only the discovery deadlines if they wish.