Opinion
Case No. 3:11 -CV-00131 -ECR-VPC
10-14-2011
JOHN W. WITTRJG, Plaintiff, v. FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF NEVADA; FIRST AMNERICAN TITLE INSURANCE COMPANY; MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS, INC. [MERS]; QUALITY LOAN SERVICE CORP.; AMERICA'S SERVICING COMPANY; LSI TITLE AGENCY, INC.; ROBERT STONE; U.S. BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS TRUSTEE FOR CSMC MORTGAGE-BACKED PASS-THROUGH CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2007-3; and DOES 1-25 CORPORATIONS, DOES and ROES 1-25 Individuals, partnerships, or anyone claiming any right, title, estate, lien or interest in the real property described herein. Defendant.
Cynthia Alexander, Esq. Nevada Bar No. 6718 Aaron D. Ford, Esq. Nevada Bar No. 7704 Justin R. Cochran, Esq. Nevada Bar No. 11939 SNELL & WILMER LLP. Attorneys for Defendants Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. d/b/a America's Servicing Company, sued here as America's Servicing Company, and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. Rick Lawton, Esq. Attorney for Plaintiff
Cynthia Alexander, Esq.
Nevada Bar No. 6718
Aaron D. Ford, Esq.
Nevada Bar No. 7704
Justin R. Cochran, Esq.
Nevada Bar No. 11939
SNELL & WILMER LLP.
Attorneys for Defendants Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. d/b/a America's
Servicing Company, sued here as America's Servicing Company,
and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.
STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO COMPLETE DISCOVERY
(First Request)
Pursuant to LR 26-4, the parties, by and through their respective counsel of record, and for good cause shown, hereby stipulate to extend the time to complete discovery as set forth below.
(a) Discovery Completed
Plaintiff John W. Wittrig ("Plaintiff") served his initial disclosures on September 12, 2011. Defendants Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. d/b/a America's Servicing Company, sued here as America's Servicing Company ("Wells Fargo") and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., ("MERS") served their initial disclosures on August 31, 2011, and Defendants Quality Loan Service Corporation ("Quality") and LSI Title Agency, Inc. ("LSI") (collectively, "Defendants") served their initial disclosures on August 26, 2011. Additionally, Wells Fargo and MERS propounded the following written discovery requests on September 1, 2011: Request for Admissions, Request for Production of Documents, and Interrogatories ("Requests"). Plaintiff responded to those Requests on September 21, 2011.
(b) Discovery Remaining to be Completed
Plaintiff's deposition is currently set for October 10, 2011, however, due to a scheduling conflict, Plaintiff's counsel is no longer available on that day. The Parties will continue to work together to find a mutually agreeable date for Plaintiff's deposition.
(c) Reasons Why Discovery was not Completed
Defendants and Plaintiff submit to the Court that good cause exists to extend the discovery deadline. On March 7, 2011, Quality filed a Motion to Dismiss. Additionally, Wells Fargo and MERS filed their Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff's Complaint to Quiet Title and other Equitable Relief and to Expunge Lis Pendens ("Motion to Dismiss") on April 15, 2011. To date, the Court has not made a ruling on either of the Motions to Dismiss. Because the Motions to Dismiss have not yet been ruled on at this juncture, the Parties wish to preserve Defendant's ability to take Plaintiff's deposition. The Court will need time to review the briefing on these Motions, thus the Parties believe that good cause exists to grant a continuance of discovery and dispositive motion deadlines, based on the aforementioned.
Moreover, Plaintiff's counsel recently advised Wells Fargo and MERS' counsel that he would be unable to attend the deposition, noticed on September 7, 2011, for October 10, 2011. And because Wells Fargo and MERS' counsel begin trial on October 18, 2011, the deposition cannot be scheduled within the next few weeks. These events, combined with the pending Motions to Dismiss, prompted counsel to request this discovery extension.
The extension of discovery deadlines will not affect the trial date; therefore, the Court will not need to issue a new scheduling order.
(d) Proposed Schedule for Completing Remaining Discovery
Defendants and Plaintiff propose that the discovery cut-off date be moved from October 12, 2011, to December 12, 2011 to allow for the taking of Plaintiff's deposition only. The parties further propose that the cut-off date by which dispositive motions shall be filed be moved from November 11, 2011 to January 11, 2012. Lastly, Defendants and Plaintiff propose that the date to file the Pretrial Order be moved from December 12, 2011 to February 10, 2012.
(e) Conclusion
The parties respectfully submit that the parties need additional time to conduct Plaintiff's deposition and await the Court's decision on the Motions to Dismiss. The reasonable extension sought will not impact the trial because a trial date has not yet been set. As such, the parties respectfully request that the Court amend its current Scheduling Order to accommodate the reasonable extension requested above.
LAW OFFICE OF RICK LAWTON
Rick Lawton, Esq.
Attorney for Plaintiff
SNELL & WILMER LLP.
Cynthia L. Alexander, Esq.
Aaron D. Ford, Esq.
Justin R. Cochran, Esq.
Attorneys for Defendants Wells Fargo
Bank, N.A. d/b/a America's Servicing
Company, sued here as America's
Servicing Company and Mortgage
Electronic Registration Systems, Inc
MCCARTHY & HOLTHUS LLP
Kristin A. Schuler-Hintz, Esq.
Christopher M. Hunter, Esq.
Attorneys for Defendants Quality Loan
Service Corporation and LSI Title Agency,
Inc.
ORDER
IT IS SO ORDERED.
1. The new discovery cut-off date shall be December 12, 2011 and shall be used to take Plaintiff's deposition only.
2. The new deadline to file dispositive motions shall be January 11,2012.
3. The new deadline to file the pretrial order shall be February 10, 2012.
______________________________
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Submitted by: SNELL & WILMER L.L.P.
Cynthia L. Alexander, Esq.
Aaron D. Ford, Esq.
Justin R. Cochran, Esq.
Attorneys for Defendants Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
d/b/a America's Servicing Company, sued here as
America's Servicing Company and Mortgage
Electronic Registration Systems, Inc.