Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Association v. California Department of Education

Filing 91

ORDER signed by Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on 2/9/2015 ORDERING the parties to meet in person at least twice in the next twenty-one (21) days to develop a new joint report; ORDERING that said report be filed within thirty (30) days; ORDERING the parties to refrain from filing or proceeding on any discovery motions before the magistrate judge until this court approves a new fact discovery schedule. (Michel, G.)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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MORGAN HILL CONCERNED
PARENTS ASSOCIATION, an
unincorporated association, and
CONCERNED PARENTS
ASSOCIATION, an unincorporated
association,

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ORDER

Plaintiffs,

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No. 2:11-cv-03471-KJM-AC

v.
CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION, et al.,
Defendants.

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On December 17, 2014, this court issued an order, directing the parties “to engage

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in meaningful meet and confer and file a joint report with the court . . . , identifying procedures to

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ensure that discovery proceeds as efficiently and promptly as possible.” (Order at 2, ECF No.

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85.) In the same order, the court also vacated all dates previously set and stated it would set a

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new schedule after evaluating the parties’ joint report. (Id. at 3.) The parties filed their joint

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report on January 16, 2015, after obtaining an extension. (ECF No. 89.) While the parties

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identify their purported experts, and say generally that they will make their experts “available” to

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each other, their report discloses a continuing inability to reach an agreement on discovery

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procedures and practices. This inability appears to stem from a continuing inability to engage in
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meaningful meet and confer. For example, an exchange of letters by counsel as a court deadline

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approaches reflects the absence of meaningful meet and confer efforts. See, e.g., id. at 5. Despite

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the representation that technical experts will be made available to the opposing party, there is no

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indication that the experts identified have engaged in any actual discussion of software or other

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electronic tools whose application may resolve the parties’ disputes, including those reviewed in

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the joint report. Moreover, the failure of the parties to resolve the notice or redaction issue, which

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the court previously had ordered resolved by May 2014, is impeding the progress of discovery

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and this case in general.

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Accordingly, the court orders the parties to meet in person at least twice in the next
twenty-one (21) days in order to develop a new joint report reflecting that they have:

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(1) exhausted meaningful meet and confer efforts regarding whether notice or

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redaction is required by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act

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(FERPA) and related statutes, despite plaintiffs’ representation that they do not

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need to know students’ personal identifying information, including names; and

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(2) reviewed in detail the discovery both parties currently anticipate propounding

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and producing, and methods for streamlining the production required by the

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Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

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At their meetings, the parties and their experts must review in particular plaintiffs’

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past requests to review defendant’s databases unaltered and in their native format so they can

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efficiently conduct data mining. Through the meetings, and followup meetings and telephone

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discussions as needed, the parties must develop a detailed plan and schedule for future fact

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discovery in this case, setting forth any proposed phasing of fact discovery and proposing dates

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by which each phase will be completed. If the parties are not able to fully resolve the question of

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notice or redaction, they shall include in the proposed discovery plan a date, within thirty (30)

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days of the plan’s filing in the form of a joint report, by which defendant will file a motion

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proposing a method for resolution of this threshold dispute; any such motion shall be set for

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hearing on this court’s regular civil and law motion calendar, on the earliest date possible allowed

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by the applicable civil rules.
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The joint report ordered above shall be filed within thirty (30) days of the filed

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date of this order, and shall include a concise summary identifying the persons who attended the

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two meetings and the length of the meetings, any further followup meetings, and describing

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generally the meeting agendas and efforts to resolve the disputes.

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Until this court approves a new fact discovery schedule for the case, the parties
shall refrain from filing or proceeding on any discovery motions before the magistrate judge.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: February 9, 2015.

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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