United States of America v. Anucha

Filing 11

SCHEDULING ORDER, signed by Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on 6/7/2021. Pleading Amendment Deadline 12/15/2021. Discovery Deadlines: Non-Expert 2/25/2022; Expert 5/20/2022. Mid-Discovery Status Conference set for 11/8/2021 at 08:30 AM in Ba kersfield, 510 19th Street before Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston. Non-Dispositive Motion Deadlines: Filed by 6/8/2022; Hearing by 7/6/2022. Dispositive Motion Deadlines: Filed by 7/22/2022; Hearing by 8/31/2022. Pretrial Conference set for 10/26/2022 at 08:30 AM in Courtroom 4. (Hall, S)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, 12 v. 13 14 CHIBUIKE ANUCHA, Defendant. 15 ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No.: 1:21-cv-0055 NONE JLT SCHEDULING ORDER1 (Fed. R. Civ. P. 16) Pleading Amendment Deadline: 12/15/2021 Discovery Deadlines: Initial Disclosures: 6/14/2021 Non-Expert: 2/25/2022 Expert: 5/20/2022 Mid-Discovery Status Conference: 11/8/2021 at 8:30 a.m. 16 17 18 Non-Dispositive Motion Deadlines: Filing: 6/8/2022 Hearing: 7/6/2022 19 20 Dispositive Motion Deadlines: Filing: 7/22/2022 Hearing: 8/31/2022 21 22 23 Pre-Trial Conference: 10/26/2022 at 8:30 a.m. Courtroom 4 24 25 /// 26 /// 27 28 1 The Court finds the information provided in the Joint Scheduling Report and Scheduling Conference Worksheet (Doc. 10) is sufficient to schedule the matter without a hearing. Thus, the scheduling conference set for June 11, 2021 is VACATED. 1 1 I. Magistrate Judge Consent: 2 Notice of Congested Docket and Court Policy of Trailing 3 Due to the District Judges’ heavy caseload, the adopted policy of the Fresno Division of the 4 Eastern District is to trail all civil cases. The parties are hereby notified that for a trial before a District 5 Judge, the parties will trail indefinitely behind any higher priority criminal or older civil case set on the 6 same date until a courtroom becomes available. The Magistrate Judges’ availability is far more realistic and accommodating to parties than that 7 8 of the U.S. District Judges who carry the heaviest caseloads in the nation and who must prioritize 9 criminal and older civil cases over more recently filed civil cases. A United States Magistrate Judge 10 may conduct trials, including entry of final judgment, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636(c), Federal Rule of 11 Civil Procedure 73, and Local Rule 305. Any appeal from a judgment entered by a United States 12 Magistrate Judge is taken directly to the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit. The Fresno Division of the Eastern District of California, whenever possible, is utilizing United 13 14 States Article III District Court Judges from throughout the nation as Visiting Judges. Pursuant to the 15 Local Rules, Appendix A, reassignments will be random, and the parties will receive no advance notice 16 before the case is reassigned to an Article III District Court Judge from outside of the Eastern District. Therefore, the parties are directed to consider consenting to Magistrate Judge jurisdiction to 17 18 conduct all further proceedings, including trial. Within 10 days of the date of this order, counsel 19 SHALL file a consent/decline form (provided by the Court at the inception of this case) indicating 20 whether they will consent to the jurisdiction of the Magistrate Judge. 21 II. Pleading Amendment Deadline Any requested pleading amendments are ordered to be filed, either through a stipulation or 22 23 motion to amend, no later than December 15, 2021. 24 III. 25 26 27 28 Discovery Plan and Cut-Off Date The parties are ordered to exchange the initial disclosures required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1) on or before June 14, 2021. The parties are ordered to complete all discovery pertaining to non-experts on or before February 25, 2022, and all discovery pertaining to experts on or before May 20, 2022. 2 The parties are directed to disclose all expert witnesses, in writing, on or before March 25, 1 2 2022, and to disclose all rebuttal experts on or before April 22, 2022. The written designation of 3 retained and non-retained experts shall be made pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. Rule 26(a)(2), (A), (B), 4 and (C) and shall include all information required thereunder. Failure to designate experts in 5 compliance with this order may result in the Court excluding the testimony or other evidence offered 6 through such experts that are not disclosed pursuant to this order. 7 The written designation of retained and non-retained experts shall be made pursuant to Fed. 8 R. Civ. P. Rule 26(a)(2), (A), (B), and (C) and shall include all information required thereunder. 9 Failure to designate experts in compliance with this order may result in the Court excluding the 10 testimony or other evidence offered through such experts that are not disclosed pursuant to this order. 11 The provisions of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(4) and (5) shall apply to all discovery relating to 12 experts and their opinions. Experts must be fully prepared to be examined on all subjects and opinions 13 included in the designation. Failure to comply will result in the imposition of sanctions, which may 14 include striking the expert designation and preclusion of expert testimony. The provisions of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(e) regarding a party's duty to timely supplement 15 16 disclosures and responses to discovery requests will be strictly enforced. A mid-discovery status conference is scheduled for November 8, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. before 17 18 Judge Thurston at 510 19th Street, Bakersfield, California. Counsel SHALL file a joint mid-discovery 19 status conference report one week before the conference. Counsel also SHALL lodge the status report 20 via e-mail to JLTorders@caed.uscourts.gov. The joint statement SHALL outline the discovery 21 counsel have completed and that which needs to be completed as well as any impediments to 22 completing the discovery within the deadlines set forth in this order. Counsel SHALL discuss 23 settlement and certify that they have done so. Counsel may appear via teleconference by dialing (888) 24 557-8511 and entering Access Code 1652736, provided the Magistrate Judge's Courtroom Deputy 25 Clerk receives a written notice of the intent to appear telephonically no later than five court days 26 before the noticed hearing date. 27 IV. 28 Pre-Trial Motion Schedule All non-dispositive pre-trial motions, including any discovery motions, shall be filed no later 3 1 than June 8, 20222, and heard on or before July 6, 2022. Non-dispositive motions are heard before the 2 Honorable Jennifer L. Thurston, United States Magistrate Judge at the United States Courthouse in 3 Bakersfield, California. No motion to amend or stipulation to amend the case schedule will be entertained unless it 4 5 is filed at least one week before the first deadline the parties wish to extend. Likewise, no written 6 discovery motions shall be filed without the prior approval of the assigned Magistrate Judge. A party 7 with a discovery dispute must first confer with the opposing party in a good faith effort to resolve by 8 agreement the issues in dispute. If that good faith effort is unsuccessful, the moving party promptly 9 shall seek a telephonic hearing with all involved parties and the Magistrate Judge. It shall be the 10 obligation of the moving party to arrange and originate the conference call to the court. To schedule 11 this telephonic hearing, the parties are ordered to contact the Courtroom Deputy Clerk, Susan Hall, at 12 (661) 326-6620 or via email at SHall@caed.uscourts.gov. At least three days before the conference, 13 counsel SHALL file informal letter briefs detailing their positions. The briefs may not exceed 7 pages, 14 excluding exhibits. Counsel must comply with Local Rule 251 with respect to discovery disputes or 15 the motion will be denied without prejudice and dropped from the Court’s calendar. Counsel may appear and argue non-dispositive motions via teleconference by dialing (888) 557- 16 17 8511 and entering Access Code 1652736, provided the Magistrate Judge's Courtroom Deputy Clerk 18 receives a written notice of the intent to appear telephonically no later than five court days before the 19 noticed hearing date. All dispositive pre-trial motions shall be filed no later than July 20, 2022, and heard no later 20 21 than August 31, 2022, in Courtroom 4 at 8:30 a.m. In scheduling such motions, counsel shall comply 22 with Fed. R. Civ. P. 56 and Local Rules 230 and 260. 23 V. Motions for Summary Judgment or Summary Adjudication 24 At least 21 days before filing a motion for summary judgment or motion for summary 25 adjudication, the parties are ORDERED to meet, in person or by telephone, to confer about the issues 26 to be raised in the motion. 27 28 2 Non-dispositive motions related to non-expert discovery SHALL be filed within a reasonable time of discovery of the dispute, but in not later than 30 days after the expiration of the non-expert discovery deadline. 4 1 The purpose of the meeting shall be to: 1) avoid filing motions for summary judgment where a 2 question of fact exists; 2) determine whether the respondent agrees that the motion has merit in whole 3 or in part; 3) discuss whether issues can be resolved without the necessity of briefing; 4) narrow the 4 issues for review by the court; 5) explore the possibility of settlement before the parties incur the 5 expense of briefing a motion; and 6) to develop a joint statement of undisputed facts. The moving party SHALL initiate the meeting and SHALL provide a complete, proposed 6 7 statement of undisputed facts at least five days before the conference. The finalized joint statement of 8 undisputed facts SHALL include all facts that the parties agree, for purposes of the motion, may be 9 deemed true. In addition to the requirements of Local Rule 260, the moving party shall file the joint 10 statement of undisputed facts. In the notice of motion, the moving party SHALL certify that the parties have met and 11 12 conferred as ordered above or set forth a statement of good cause for the failure to meet and confer. 13 Failure to comply may result in the motion being stricken. 14 VI. Pre-Trial Conference Date 15 October 26, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. in Courtroom 4. 16 The parties are ordered to file a Joint Pretrial Statement pursuant to Local Rule 281(a)(2). 17 The parties are further directed to submit a digital copy of their pretrial statement in Word format via 18 email at NONEorders@caed.uscourts.gov. Counsels' attention is directed to Rules 281 and 282 of the Local Rules of Practice for the 19 20 Eastern District of California, as to the obligations of counsel in preparing for the pre-trial conference. 21 The Court will insist upon strict compliance with those rules. In addition to the matters set forth in the 22 Local Rules the Joint Pretrial Statement shall include a Joint Statement of the case to be used by the 23 Court to explain the nature of the case to the jury during voir dire. 24 VII. Settlement Conference The parties may file a joint written request for a settlement conference if they believe that such 25 26 a conference would be fruitful. 27 /// 28 /// 5 1 VIII. Request for Bifurcation, Appointment of Special Master, or other 2 Techniques to Shorten Trial 3 Not applicable. 4 IX. There are no pending related matters. 5 6 Related Matters Pending X. Compliance with Federal Procedure All counsel SHALL familiarize themselves with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the 7 8 Local Rules of Practice of the Eastern District of California, and to keep abreast of any amendments 9 thereto. The Court must insist upon compliance with these Rules if it is to efficiently handle its 10 increasing case load and sanctions will be imposed for failure to follow both the Federal Rules of Civil 11 Procedure and the Local Rules of Practice for the Eastern District of California. 12 XI. 13 Effect of this Order The foregoing order represents the best estimate of the court and counsel as to the agenda most 14 suitable to dispose of this case. The trial date reserved is specifically reserved for this case. If the 15 parties determine at any time that the schedule outlined in this order cannot be met, counsel are ordered 16 to notify the court immediately of that fact so that adjustments may be made, either by stipulation or by 17 subsequent status conference. 18 The dates set in this order are firm and will not be modified absent a showing of good 19 cause even if the request to modify is made by stipulation. Stipulations extending the deadlines 20 contained herein will not be considered unless they are accompanied by affidavits or 21 declarations, and where appropriate attached exhibits, which establish good cause for granting 22 the relief requested. 23 Failure to comply with this order may result in the imposition of sanctions. 24 25 26 27 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: June 7, 2021 _ /s/ Jennifer L. Thurston CHIEF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 28 6

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