Elhouty v. Lincoln Benefit Life Company

Filing 25

ORDER GRANTING 24 Stipulation to Amend Scheduling Order, signed by Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on 1/28/2015. Non-expert discovery deadline is extended to 5/4/2015. (Hall, S)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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KAMIES ELHOUTY,
Plaintiff,

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v.
LINCOLN BENEFIT LIFE COMPANY, et
al.,

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Defendants.

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Case No.: 1:14-cv-00676 LJO JLT
ORDER GRANTING STIPULATION TO AMEND
SCHEDULING ORDER
(Doc. 24)

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On January 8, 2015, the Court granted Plaintiff’s substitution of counsel which replaced her

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prior attorney with her current one. (Doc. 23) By this date, substantial discovery efforts had been

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completed. (Doc. 18) Plaintiff had propounded special interrogatories, a request for production of

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documents and a request for admissions. Id. at 2. Plaintiff was intending to notice a PMK deposition

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to be completed by mid-January, though it is unclear whether this occurred. Id. Also, Defendant was

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planning to take Plaintiff’s deposition in early December 2014 though, again, the Court is not certain

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whether this was deferred due to the change in counsel. Id.

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Currently before the Court is the stipulation of counsel to amend the scheduling order to

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extend non-expert discovery to May 4, 2015. (Doc. 24 at 2) The stipulation indicates that new

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counsel need additional time “given the significant volume of the existing file, and the extent to which

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the parties have participated in the ongoing litigation” to apprise themselves of the status of the matter

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and to determine what additional discovery, if any, is needed. Id.

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Notably, the expert discovery deadline is May 8, 2014—presumably, counsel is aware of the

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other deadlines given the fact they attached a copy of the scheduling order to their stipulation.1 (Doc.

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16 at 3) However, the stipulation does not seek an extension of this deadline or any other set forth in

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the scheduling order.
Thus, because counsel have demonstrated good cause to amend the case schedule and because

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they have, apparently, committed to complying with all of the deadlines set forth in the scheduling

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order, other than the non-expert discovery deadline, such to preserve the dispositive motion, the

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pretrial conference and trial dates, the Court GRANTS the stipulation. The scheduling order is

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amended to extend the non-expert discovery deadline to May 4, 2015.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated:

January 28, 2015

/s/ Jennifer L. Thurston
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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This means, of course, that expert discovery will run concurrently with the remaining non-expert discovery period.

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