Baker et al v. Aegis Wholesale Corporation et al

Filing 92

STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES re 91 Stipulation filed by Charles B. Lowery, Virgil A. Baker, David Largent, Elizabete Lowery, Ellanore Largent. Signed by Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton on 12/20/11. (nah, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 12/20/2011)

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1 BERNS WEISS LLP Jeffrey K. Berns (SBN 131351) 2 jberns@bernsweiss.com 6303 Owensmouth Ave., 10th Floor 3 Woodland Hills, CA 91367-2263 Telephone: (818) 961-2000 4 Facsimile: (818) 936-0232 5 BERNS WEISS LLP Lee A. Weiss (admitted pro hac vice) 6 lweiss@bernsweiss.com 626 RXR Plaza 7 Uniondale, New York 11556 Telephone: (516) 222-2900 8 Facsimile: (818) 936-0232 9 ARBOGAST BOWEN LLP David M. Arbogast (SBN 167571) 10 David@Arbogastbowen.Com Chumahan M. Bowen (SBN 238168) 11 cbowen@arbogastbowen.com 11400 W. Olympic Blvd., 2nd Floor 12 Los Angeles, CA 90064 Telephone: (310) 477-7200 13 Facsimile: (310) 943-2309 14 15 Attorneys for Plaintiff and the Proposed Class [Additional counsel on signature page] 16 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 17 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 18 OAKLAND DIVISION 19 VIRGIL A. BAKER, CHARLES B. LOWERY, Case No. 4:09-cv-05280-PJH situated, JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES; [PROPOSED] ORDER 20 ELIZABETE LOWERY, ELLANORE LARGENT and DAVID LARGENT, 21 individually and on behalf of all others similarly 22 Plaintiffs, 23 24 Judge: Hon. Phyllis J. Hamilton v. AEGIS WHOLESALE CORPORATION, 25 RESIDENTIAL FUNDING COMPANY, LLC, COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS, INC., and 26 DOES 3 through 19 inclusive, 27 Defendants. 28 JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES Case No. 4:09-cv-05280-PJH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b), Plaintiffs Virgil A. Baker, Charles B. Lowery, Elizabete Lowery, Ellanore Largent and David Largent (“Plaintiffs”), and defendants named as “Countrywide Home Loans, Inc.” (“CHL”) and “Residential Funding Company, LLC” (“RFC”) (collectively, “Defendants,” and together, with Plaintiffs, the “Parties”) hereby jointly stipulate and request that this Court adjourn the class certification briefing deadlines and hearing in this case pending the outcome of a class certification motion in a related case -- Ralston v. Mortgage Investors Group, Inc., Case No. 08-CV-00536 JF (PSG) (N.D. Cal.) (“Ralston”) -- that may impact this action. In support of this Joint Stipulation, the Parties state as follows: 1. This is a putative class action brought by Plaintiffs against Defendants, asserting claims for fraudulent omissions against RFC and violation of the UCL against RFC and CHL in connection with payment option loans made by Aegis Wholesale Corporation (“Aegis”) that were later purchased by CHL and/or RFC. 2. Ralston and this case are two of several pending putative class actions brought by Plaintiffs’ counsel asserting similar claims and legal theories for recovery in the California state and federal courts against various defendants, including Countrywide. See Amparan v. Plaza Home Mortg., Inc., No. 5:07-cv-04498-JF (PSG) (N.D. Cal.); Love v. First Mortgage Corp., No. G044630 (Cal. Court of Appeal); Romero v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., No. 5:07-cv-04491JF (N.D. Cal.); Thibault v. American Mortgage Network, Inc., No. H036620 (Cal. Court of Appeal). 3. In Ralston, Plaintiff seeks to certify a putative class that, like this case, purports to encompass Aegis loans purchased by CHL. Indeed, in Ralston, plaintiff filed his class certification motion on May 20, 2011, seeking to certify a class of more than 168,000 borrowers who obtained payment option loans from more than 1,200 correspondent lenders (including Aegis) that were later purchased by CHL (including the loans made by Aegis to Plaintiffs that are the subject of this action). Thus, at this pre-certification stage, there is a potential overlap of putative class loans and claims between this case and Ralston. 28 -1– JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES Case No. 4:09-cv-05280-PJH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 4. By Order dated April 5, 2011 (Dkt. No. 82), this Court originally set September 7, 2011 as the deadline for Plaintiffs’ class certification motion, October 5, 2011 as the deadline for Defendants’ oppositions, October 26, 2011 as the deadline for Plaintiffs’ reply submissions and November 16, 2011 as the date for the hearing on Plaintiff’s class certification motion. 5. Thereafter, in light of the then scheduled July 29, 2011 class certification hearing in Ralston, this Court extended the class certification briefing and hearing deadlines as follows: (a) December 22, 2011 for Plaintiffs’ class certification motion, (b) January 31, 2012 for Defendants’ oppositions, (c) February 28, 2012 for Plaintiffs’ reply submissions, and (d) March 14, 2012 for the hearing on Plaintiffs’ class certification motion. See Order (August 19, 2011) (Dkt. No. 88). 6. Since the entry of that scheduling order, the class certification hearing in Ralston has been continued to December 9, 2011 to provide time for an unsuccessful mediation in that case and account for Judge Fogel’s schedule. 7. In light of the continuance of the class certification hearing in Ralston, and because of the potential overlap between Ralston and this case, the Parties respectfully request that this Court (a) adjourn the class certification briefing and hearing date, including the December 22, 2011 deadline for Plaintiffs’ class certification motion, the January 31, 2012 deadline for Defendants’ oppositions, the February 28, 2012 deadline for Plaintiffs’ reply submissions and the March 14, 2012 class certification hearing date; and (b) set a new schedule providing for a May 4, 2012 deadline for Plaintiffs’ class certification motion, a June 1, 2012 deadline for Defendants’ oppositions, a June 29, 2012 deadline for Plaintiffs’ replies and a July 25, 2012 class certification hearing date, subject to the Court’s availability. 8. Additionally, the Parties have also agreed to dates for the exchange of expert witness and rebuttal expert witness reports for class certification, such that they respectfully request that this Court set March 16, 2012 as the deadline for the Parties to designate class certification expert witnesses and serve their reports and April 13, 2012 as the deadline for the Parties to designation class certification rebuttal expert witnesses and serve their reports. 27 28 -2– JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES Case No. 4:09-cv-05280-PJH 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 9. The Parties respectfully submit that there is good cause for this joint request. The requested adjournment will conserve the Parties’ and this Court’s resources and avoid the potentially unnecessary expenditure of attorneys’ fees and other litigation costs while the parties in Ralston litigate the class certification motion in that case. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 1 (federal rules “should be construed and administered to secure the just, speed, and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding”). 10. No party will be prejudiced by the requested extensions. 11. There have been two prior extensions or adjustments of the deadlines set forth in this Joint Stipulation, as set forth above. WHEREFORE, for all the foregoing reasons, the Parties jointly request that this Court (a) temporarily adjourn the class certification briefing and other deadlines, including the September 7, 2011 deadline for Plaintiffs’ class certification motion, the October 5, 2011 deadline for Defendants’ oppositions, the October 26, 2011 deadline for Plaintiffs’ reply submissions and the November 16, 2011 class certification hearing date; and (b) set a new schedule providing for a March 16, 2012 deadline for the Parties to designate class certification expert witnesses and serve their reports, an April 13, 2012 deadline for the Parties to designate class certification rebuttal expert witnesses and serve their reports, a May 4, 2012 deadline for Plaintiffs’ class certification motion, a June 1, 2012 deadline for Defendants’ oppositions, a June 29, 2012 deadline for Plaintiffs’ replies and a July 25, 2012 class certification hearing date. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -3– JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES Case No. 4:09-cv-05280-PJH 1 Dated: November 28, 2011 2 3 4 5 Jeffrey K. Berns jberns@law111.com BERNS WEISS LLP 6303 Owensmouth Ave., 10th Floor Woodland Hills, CA 91367-2263 6 7 8 David M. Arbogast david@arbogastbowen.com Chumahan B. Bowen cbowen@arbogastbowen.com ARBOGAST BOWEN LLP 11400 W. Olympic Blvd., 2nd Floor Los Angeles, CA 90064 9 10 11 12 Attorneys for Plaintiffs Virgil A. Baker, Charles B. Lowery, Elizabete Lowery, Ellanore Largent and David Largent and the Proposed Class 13 14 Dated: November 28, 2011 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 /s/ Lee A. Weiss______________ Lee A. Weiss lweiss@bernsweiss.com BERNS WEISS LLP 626 RXR Plaza Uniondale, NY 11556 /s/ Brooks R. Brown Brooks R. Brown bbrown@goodwinprocter.com Steven A. Ellis sellis@goodwinprocter.com GOODWIN PROCTER LLP 601 S. Figueroa Street, 41st Floor Los Angeles, CA 90017 Tel.: (213) 426-2500 Fax: (213) 623-1673 Robert B. Bader rbader@goodwinprocter.com GOODWIN PROCTER LLP Three Embarcadero Center, 24th Floor San Francisco, California 94111 Tel.: 415.733.6000 Fax: 415.677.9041 Attorneys for Defendant Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. 25 26 27 28 -4– JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES Case No. 4:09-cv-05280-PJH 1 2 Dated: November 28, 2011 3 4 5 6 /s/ Erik Kemp____________ Erik Kemp ek@severson.com SEVERSON & WERSON One Embarcadero Center, Suite 260 San Francisco, California 94111 Attorneys for Defendant Residential Funding Company, LLC 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -5– JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES Case No. 4:09-cv-05280-PJH 1 2 ORDER Upon consideration of the Parties’ Stipulation and having good cause therefore, IT IS 3 HEREBY ORDERED that (a) the existing class certification deadlines and hearing date in the 4 case are adjourned; and (b) the new class certification briefing schedule and hearing date are as 5 follows: The Parties shall designate class certification expert witnesses and serve their reports by 6 March 16, 2012, the Parties shall designate class certification rebuttal expert witnesses and serve 7 their reports by April 13, 2012, Plaintiffs shall file their class certification motion by May 4, 2012, 8 Defendants’ shall file their opposition submissions to the motion by June 1, 2012, Plaintiffs’ shall 9 file their reply submissions in further support of the motion by June 29, 2012, and the class 10 certification hearing will be held at 9:00 A.M. on July 25, 2012. 11 19 S ER R NIA lton J. Hami FO hyllis Judge P H 18 RT 17 NO 16 LI 15 ________________________________ HON. PHYLLIS J. HAMILTON DERED UnitedT IS SO OR Judge States District I A 14 December 20 Dated: ________________, 2011 S DISTRICT TE C TA RT U O 13 IT IS ORDERED. UNIT ED 12 N F D IS T IC T O R 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -6– JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES Case No. 4:09-cv-05280-PJH C 1 2 ECF CERTIFICATION Pursuant to General Order No. 45, § X.B., the filing attorney attests that he has obtained 3 concurrence regarding the filing of this document from the signatories to the document. 4 6 Lee A. Weiss BERNS WEISS LLP 626 RXR Plaza Uniondale, NY 11556 7 By: /s/ Lee A. Weiss 8 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 5 Dated: November 28, 2011 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -7– JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES Case No. 4:09-cv-05280-PJH 1 2 PROOF OF SERVICE I certify that this document filed through the ECF system will be sent electronically to the 3 registered participants as identified on the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) and paper copies will 4 be sent to those indicated as non registered participants on this November 28, 2011. 5 6 /s/ Lee A. Weiss Lee A. Weiss 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -1– JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: ADJOURNING CASE DEADLINES PENDING MEDIATION Case No. 4:09-cv-05280-PJH

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