Groves v. County of Kern et al

Filing 27

ORDER DENYING 26 Stipulation to Amend the Scheduling Order; ORDER AMENDING the Scheduling Order, signed by Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on 2/2/2015. Non-Expert and Expert Discovery Deadline: 4/13/2015. Non-Dispositive Motion Deadlines: Filed by 4/17/2015; Hearing by 5/17/2015. (Hall, S)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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TERRI LYNN GROVES,

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Plaintiff,
v.
COUNTY OF KERN, et al.,
Defendants.

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Case No.: 1:13-cv-00574 AWI JLT
ORDER DENYING STIPULATION TO AMEND
THE SCHEDULING ORDER
(Doc. 26)
ORDER AMENDING THE SCHEDULING ORDER

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Before the Court is the third stipulation of counsel to amend the scheduling order. (Doc. 26)

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The Court granted the first stipulation in June 2014 due to the illness of Defendants’ counsel. (Doc.

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20) The Court granted the second stipulation in September 2014 when Plaintiff’s primary attorney left

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his firm and another firm was required to substitute in. (Doc. 25) Both of these prior amendments

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required, in essence, a wholly new case schedule be issued. Notably, in the last order granting the

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amendment to the case schedule, the Court warned, “counsel are advised that any further

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modifications to the schedule are unlikely to be granted and that they SHALL redouble their efforts to

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comply with all further deadlines in this case.” (Doc. 25 at 1) In addition, the court advised, “No

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further requests for amendments to the case schedule will be considered absent a showing of

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exceptional good cause.” Id. at 2, emphasis in the original.

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Now, the parties have filed a stipulation to amend case schedule once again for two reasons:

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the desire to engage in mediation and the discovery of evidence at a recent PMK deposition which
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impacts the parties’ theories of the case. (Doc. 26 at 2-3) The stipulation is DENIED.

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First, the desire to engage in settlement efforts does not constitute good cause to amend the

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case schedule—let alone constitute a showing of exceptional good cause required by the Court’s last

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order. Settlement efforts are not a circumstance that could not have been reasonably anticipated at the

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time the case schedule was developed. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 608

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(9th Cir. 1992). Even if delayed settlement efforts did constitute good cause, there are insufficient

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details provided in the stipulation, such as when the mediation has been scheduled and whether a

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mediator has been selected.
Second, the discovery of evidence unfavorable to a party’s theory of the case is exactly what

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the discovery process is intended to root out.

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explanation why the PMK deposition was delayed to a time so close to the discovery deadline such

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that the parties would be precluded from making any further discovery efforts. Thus, this situation

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fails to meet the Johnson factors for finding good cause to amend a case schedule. Thus, this third

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stipulation fails to justify the relief it seeks and it is DENIED.
However, in order to minimize the burden on the Court that undiscovered evidence first

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Thus, notably absent from the stipulation is an

revealed at trial would likely pose, the Court ORDERS the case schedule amended as follows:

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1.

Non-expert and expert discovery SHALL be completed no later than April 13, 2015;

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2.

Experts disclosures SHALL be made no later than March 2, 2015 and rebuttal experts

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disclosed no later than March 23, 2015;
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Non-dispositive motions SHALL be filed no later than April 17, 2015 and heard no

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later than May 17, 2015. The parties are advised that the failure to have a decision on a non-

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dispositive motion SHALL NOT be grounds to seek a continuance on the deadlines related to any

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dispositive motions.

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Absolutely no further amendments to the case schedule will be entertained absent a
showing that a cataclysmic impact on the litigation will result if amendment does not occur.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated:

February 2, 2015

/s/ Jennifer L. Thurston
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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