Scalia v. County of Kern et al

Filing 45

ORDER DENYING IN PART STIPULATION TO AMEND THE CASE SCHEDULE, 44 . The stipulation is DENIED except that all non-expert discovery SHALL be completed no later than May 24, 2019. In the event counsel cannot develop a workable deposition schedule, they SHALL contact the Court for an informal conference at which the Court can assist them in setting it. Order signed by Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on 12/21/2018. (Timken, A)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

10
11

JOHN SCALIA,

12
13
14
15

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

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

Case No.: 1:17-cv-01097 - LJO - JLT
ORDER DENYING IN PART STIPULATION TO
AMEND THE CASE SCHEDULE
(Doc. 44)

16
17

Counsel have stipulated to amend the case schedule to extend all dates by 120 days. (Doc. 44)

18

The reasons for this request is that plaintiff’s counsel has been so busy with other activities that he has

19

not been available to conduct discovery in this case. Unfortunately, this does not constitute good

20

cause to amend the case schedule. By its very nature, litigation requires attorneys to be incredibly

21

busy. This is a circumstance known to all litigators and, of course, had to have been known to counsel

22

at the time the Court scheduled the case. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 610

23

(9th Cir. 1992). Therefore, the stipulation is DENIED in PART.

24

Nevertheless, the Court will extend the nonexpert discovery deadline to coincide with the

25

expert discovery deadline. In doing so, however, this is not justification to delay expert discovery or

26

to allow experts to provide incomplete reports.

27
28

If this is not workable with counsel’s schedule, he must consider associating with co-counsel
or withdrawing from the case. This case is as “time-sensitive” as any he has and the parties are as
1

1
2

entitled to have the case move as expeditiously as possible as any others. Thus, the Court ORDERS:
The stipulation is DENIED except that all non-expert discovery SHALL be completed no later

3

than May 24, 2019. In the event counsel cannot develop a workable deposition schedule, they

4

SHALL contact the Court for an informal conference at which the Court can assist them in setting it.

5
6
7
8

IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated:

December 21, 2018

/s/ Jennifer L. Thurston
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
2