Hale et al v. Ensign United States Drilling (California) Inc. et al

Filing 52

ORDER AFTER FURTHER STATUS CONFERENCE, signed by Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on 10/12/2016. Further Status Conference set for 12/5/2016 at 08:30 AM in Bakersfield at 510 19th Street (JLT) before Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston. (Hall, S)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 11 STEPHEN HALE, et al., 12 Plaintiffs, 13 14 Case No.: 1:15-CV-01042 DAD JLT ORDER AFTER FURTHER STATUS CONFERENCE v. ENSIGN UNITED STATES DRILLING (CALIFORNIA) Inc., et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 The Court held a status conference on October 12, 2016. In advance of the conference, the 18 parties submitted a lengthy joint statement setting forth disputes over certain requests for further 19 production documents. (Doc. 50) After reviewing the joint statement and considering the 20 arguments of counsel, the Court finds that the bulk of the remaining requests do not address the 21 limited issues raised in the pending motion for summary judgment. In particular, the Court 22 disagrees that the overall conduct of the defendant related to its operations, its hiring and firing 23 decisions, its decisions related to decreases in demand bear on whether the named plaintiffs were 24 entitled to the protections of the WARN or Cal-WARN Acts. See, e.g., Meson v. GATX Tech. 25 Servs. Corp., 507 F.3d 803 (4th Cir. 2007). Indeed, the Court has not and does not here preclude 26 further discovery on a class-wide basis at the appropriate time. However, the class discovery will 27 proceed after the discovery related to the issues raised in the pending motion has been completed 28 and the motion decided. Therefore, the Court ORDERS: 1 1. 1 2 The defendants SHALL produce their amended privilege log addressing any deficiency that currently exists in that document, no later than October 14, 2016; 2. 3 As to requests for production numbers 3 through 9, no later than October 24, 2016, the 4 defendants SHALL produce any communications not previously produced, between Ensign and their 5 clients at Rigs 606 and 609, (as described on page 27, lines 20-22 of the parties’ joint statement) or a 6 statement certifying that no further documents exist; 3. 7 As to requests for production numbers 3 through 9, the defendants SHALL produce all 8 e-mails concerning Rigs 606 and 609 that were not sent to or received from personnel at Rigs 606 or 9 609 (as described generally on page 28, lines 9-11 of the parties’ joint statement but expanded by the 10 Court at the hearing to include hiring, firing layoff or other topics encompassed by the motion) or a 11 statement certifying that no such documents exist, no later than November 11, 2016. The Court 12 expects all reasonable efforts to be taken to ensure one of these actions is completed by the deadline. 13 However, if one of these events has not occurred, no later than November 11, 2016, the defendants 14 SHALL produce a written explanation to the plaintiffs’ counsel and filed with the Court as to what 15 action will occur and when it will occur. 4. 16 As to requests for production numbers 11 through 13, no later than October 24, 2016, 17 the defendants SHALL produce the organization chart (as described on page 31 lines 25-26 of the 18 parties’ joint statement) and any other documents not previously produced or a statement certifying 19 that no further documents exist, that demonstrate the day-to-day control of the employees of Rigs 606 20 and 609; 21 5. As to requests for production numbers 131 through 14, no later than October 24, 2016, 22 the defendants SHALL produce all documents relating to lodging and transportation expenditures for 23 Rigs 606 and 609 (as described on page 33 lines 12-13 of the parties’ joint statement); 6. 24 As to requests for production number 23, no later than October 24, 2016, the 25 defendants SHALL produce all documents, which also includes any relevant company policies, 26 relating to the location where the interviews occurred, where reviews of employees occurred, where 27 28 1 The joint reports references two production requests numbered “13.” (Doc. 50 at 32 and 33) The Court adopts the same numbering here. 2 1 2 3 4 new-hire drug testing occurred and where training occurred for employees of Rigs 606 and 609; 7. Defendants SHALL produce any policies related to practices of billing Ensign’s customers; 8. Counsel SHALL file a joint report no later than December 1, 2016, setting forth the 5 current status of the matter and, as appropriate, a further schedule for completing this phase of 6 discovery and a further briefing schedule for the pending dispositive motion; 7 8 9. The Court sets a further status conference on December 5, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. Counsel may appear by telephone via the CourtCall service; 9 10 11 12 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: October 12, 2016 /s/ Jennifer L. Thurston UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3

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