Ochoa et al v. McDonald's Corp et al

Filing 334

Minutes. Jury Trial set for 12/5/2016 at 09:00 AM in Courtroom 11, 19th Floor, San Francisco before Hon. James Donato. Pretrial Conference set for 11/17/2016 10:00 AM in Courtroom 11, 19th Floor, San Francisco before Hon. James Donato. Signed by Judge James Donato on 8/4/2016. (jdlc3S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 8/4/2016) Modified on 8/4/2016 (hdjS, COURT STAFF).

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
Civil Minutes

Date: August 3, 2016

Judge: Hon. James Donato

FTR Time: 2:29-2:59

Case No.
Case Name

C-14-02098-JD
Ochoa et al. v. McDonald's Corp et al.

Attorney(s) for Plaintiff(s):
Attorney(s) for Defendant(s):

Matthew Murray/Barbara Chisholm/Joseph Sellers
Jonathan Bunge/Lawrence C. DiNardo/Fred Alvarez

Deputy Clerk: Lisa Clark
PROCEEDINGS
Case Management Conference - Held
RESULT OF CONFERENCE
The Court sets a jury trial for December 5, 2016, at 9:00 am. The parties are directed to the
Court’s Standing Order for Civil Jury Trials, which governs the pretrial procedures unless
modified in these minutes. The parties are reminded that the trial date will not be vacated unless
they jointly advise the Court that they have entered into a binding settlement agreement, even if
subject to Court approval for a class. The trial date will not be vacated for settlements “in
principle” or similar reasons.
The Court will stay the case if the Rule 23(f) petition for interlocutory review is granted by the
Ninth Circuit. Defendants should not respond to plaintiffs’ conditional motion for an
interlocutory appeal unless directed to by the Court.
The Court sets a pretrial conference for November 17, 2016, at 10:00 am. Jury instructions and
all other pretrial issues will be resolved at the conference. The parties should adhere as closely
as possible to the Ninth Circuit’s Manual of Model Civil Jury Instructions and California model
jury instructions, and avoid proposing any custom instructions unless absolutely necessary.
The Court discusses anticipated expert testimony with the parties. The parties state their
intention to call a damages expert each and possibly one additional expert each on the uniform
cleaning issue. In light of that, the Court sets this schedule for Daubert motions and expert
discovery:
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Event

Deadline

Expert disclosures

September 16, 2016

Rebuttal expert disclosures

September 30, 2016

Expert discovery cut-off

October 14, 2016

Daubert motions

October 21, 2016

Daubert response briefs

October 31, 2016

Daubert reply briefs

November 7, 2016

Trial days are from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm, Monday through Thursday. There will be two fifteenminute breaks per day, but no lunch break. Each party will be allowed up to thirty minutes for
opening statement, twelve hours for a case-in-chief, and up to one hour for closing argument.
The Court understands that translation time for Spanish language witnesses may require some
additional trial time but the parties should plan for now on the twelve-hour case-in-chief
allotment.
The Court will empanel eleven jurors. The parties will each present a five-minute “miniopening” at the outset of voir dire. The Court will conduct the voir dire based on questions
submitted by the parties and the Court’s own standard background questions. Jury selection will
use the strike and replace method described by the Court. If a potential juror is passed over for
challenge by either party, that juror is deemed seated and may not be challenged later.
The Court strongly encourages the parties to agree to participate in our Cameras in Courts pilot
program. Counsel for plaintiffs consented at the conference. Defendants will advise the Court
of their position by August 10, 2016.
Trial will not be bifurcated. For the PAGA claims, the Court sets a briefing schedule to resolve
defendants’ contention that plaintiffs cannot proceed with a PAGA representative action on
claims for meal period and rest break violations. Defendants’ deadline to file a Rule 12(f)
motion is August 12, 2016. Plaintiff’s response deadline is August 26, 2016. Defendants’ reply
deadline is September 2, 2016. Each side gets 8 pages for their main briefs, and defendants get 5
pages for a reply.
At plaintiffs’ request, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC is appointed co-class counsel.
Altshuler Berzon LLP is lead class counsel.
The Parties will be referred to Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley for another settlement
conference.
A pretrial scheduling order will issue.

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