Acosta v. Evergreen Moneysource Mortgage Company

Filing 24

STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) ORDER CLASS CERTIFICATION PHASE signed by District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on 11/6/17. All class certification discovery shall be completed by 6/15/2018. Designation of Expert Witnesses due by 7/20/2018, and rebutta l expert disclosure due by 8/10/2018. Plaintiff shall file his certification motion on or before 9/11/2018, with hearing on class certification set for 10/19/2018. The parties shall participate in private mediation by 1/25/2018. (Kastilahn, A)

Download PDF
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JARED ACOSTA, 12 Plaintiff, 13 14 15 No. 2: 17-cv-0466 KJM DB v. STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) EVERGREEN MONEYSOURCE MORTGAGE COMPANY, et al., ORDER – CLASS CERTIFICATION PHASE Defendants. 16 17 18 An initial scheduling conference was held in this case on October 27, 2017. Justin 19 20 Rodriguez appeared for plaintiff; Julie Yap appeared for defendant. Having reviewed the parties’ Joint Status Report filed on October 19, 2017, and 21 22 discussed a schedule for the case with counsel at the hearing, the court makes the following 23 orders: 24 I. SERVICE OF PROCESS All named defendants have been served and no further service is permitted without 25 26 leave of court, good cause having been shown. 27 ///// 28 ///// 1 1 II. 2 ADDITIONAL PARTIES/AMENDMENTS/PLEADINGS No further joinder of parties or amendments to pleadings is permitted without 3 leave of court, good cause having been shown. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b); Johnson v. Mammoth 4 Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604 (9th Cir. 1992). 5 III. 6 JURISDICTION/VENUE Jurisdiction is predicated upon 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332, 1441 and 1446. Jurisdiction 7 and venue are not disputed. 8 IV. FACT DISCOVERY 9 Initial disclosures are postponed while the parties participate in private mediation. 10 Should the parties be unable to resolve this matter, initial disclosures are due within thirty days of 11 the failed mediation. All class certification discovery shall be completed by June 15, 2018. In 12 this context, “completed” means that all discovery shall have been conducted so that all 13 depositions have been taken and any disputes relative to discovery shall have been resolved by 14 appropriate order if necessary and, where discovery has been ordered, the order has been obeyed. 15 All motions to compel discovery must be noticed on the magistrate judge’s calendar in 16 accordance with the local rules of this court. While the assigned magistrate judge reviews 17 proposed discovery phase protective orders, requests to seal or redact are decided by Judge 18 Mueller as discussed in more detail below. In addition, while the assigned magistrate judge 19 handles discovery motions, the magistrate judge cannot change the schedule set in this order, 20 except that the magistrate judge may modify a discovery cutoff to the extent such modification 21 does not have the effect of requiring a change to the balance of the schedule. 22 V. 23 DISCLOSURE OF EXPERT WITNESSES All counsel are to designate in writing, file with the court, and serve upon all other 24 parties the name, address, and area of expertise of each expert not later than July 20, 2018. The 25 designation shall be accompanied by a written report prepared and signed by the witness. The 26 report shall comply with Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(B). By August 10, 2018, any party who 27 previously disclosed expert witnesses may submit a supplemental list of expert witnesses who 28 will express an opinion on a subject covered by an expert designated by an adverse party, if the 2 1 party supplementing an expert witness designation has not previously retained an expert to testify 2 on that subject. The supplemental designation shall be accompanied by a written report, which 3 shall also comply with the conditions stated above. 4 Failure of a party to comply with the disclosure schedule as set forth above in all 5 likelihood will preclude that party from calling the expert witness at the time of the hearing. An 6 expert witness not appearing on the designation will not be permitted to testify unless the party 7 offering the witness demonstrates: (a) that the necessity for the witness could not have been 8 reasonably anticipated at the time the list was proffered; (b) that the court and opposing counsel 9 were promptly notified upon discovery of the witness; and (c) that the witness was promptly 10 made available for deposition. 11 For purposes of this scheduling order, an “expert” is any person who may be used 12 to present evidence under Rules 702, 703 and 705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, which 13 include both “percipient experts” (persons who, because of their expertise, have rendered expert 14 opinions in the normal course of their work duties or observations pertinent to the issues in the 15 case) and “retained experts” (persons specifically designated by a party to be a testifying expert 16 for the purposes of litigation). A party shall identify whether a disclosed expert is percipient, 17 retained, or both. It will be assumed that a party designating a retained expert has acquired the 18 express permission of the witness to be so listed. Parties designating percipient experts must state 19 in the designation who is responsible for arranging the deposition of such persons. 20 All experts designated are to be fully prepared at the time of designation to render 21 an informed opinion, and give the bases for their opinion, so that they will be able to give full and 22 complete testimony at any deposition taken by the opposing party. Experts will not be permitted 23 to testify as to any information gathered or evaluated, or opinion formed, after deposition taken 24 subsequent to designation. All expert discovery shall be completed by September 11, 2018. 25 VI. 26 HEARING ON CLASS CERTIFICATION Plaintiff shall file his certification motion on or before September 11, 2018, with 27 hearing on class certification set for October 19, 2018. All further scheduling dates will be set 28 after class certification has been determined. 3 1 IX. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 2 The parties shall participate in private mediation by January 25, 2018. They shall 3 file a notice within ten (10) days of completion of the mediation informing the court of the 4 outcome. 5 X. 6 MODIFICATION OF STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) ORDER The parties are reminded that pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil 7 Procedure, the Status (Pretrial Scheduling) Order shall not be modified except by leave of court 8 upon a showing of good cause. Agreement of the parties by stipulation alone does not constitute 9 good cause. Except in extraordinary circumstances, unavailability of witnesses or counsel does 10 not constitute good cause. 11 As noted, the assigned magistrate judge is authorized to modify only the discovery 12 dates shown above to the extent any such modification does not impact the balance of the 13 schedule of the case. 14 XIII. 15 16 17 18 OBJECTIONS TO STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) ORDER This Status Order will become final without further order of the court unless objections are filed within fourteen (14) calendar days of service of this Order. IT IS SO ORDERED. DATED: November 6, 2017. 19 20 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.


Why Is My Information Online?