Western National Life Insurance Company v. Woldemariam et al

Filing 50

DISREGARD ENTRY. ATTACHMENT INCOMPLETE. SEE DKT. NO. 52 ORDER REGARDING DECLARATION OF ROGER L. MEREDITH IN RESPONSE TO UNFILED ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE. Signed by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on 12/20/12. (fs, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 12/20/2012) Modified on 12/21/2012 (fs, COURT STAFF).

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1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 5 6 7 8 WESTERN NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE CO., Plaintiff, 9 10 11 Case No.: 11-cv-06668-YGR ORDER REGARDING DECLARATION OF ROGER L. MEREDITH IN RESPONSE TO UNFILED ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE vs. ROMA WOLDEMARIAM, et al., Northern District of California United States District Court 12 Defendants. 13 14 The Court has reviewed the Declaration of Roger L. Meredith in Response to Unfiled Order to 15 Show Cause (“Meredith Declaration”). (Dkt. No. 49.) The Court finds that the Meredith Declaration 16 is minimally sufficient. 17 All counsel are on notice that to comply with the Court’s Standing Order in Civil Cases, any 18 attorney appearing at a Case Management Conference must be sufficiently knowledgeable of his or 19 her case and fully prepared to address matters listed in the Northern District CMC Order and Civil 20 L.R. 16-10(b). Here, the attorney that appeared in place of Mr. Meredith was not and could not 21 answer questions posed by the Court. 22 In addition, failure to follow motion practice rules is strictly enforced. An attorney has an 23 independent obligation to check the docket for filings and case status, and to familiarize himself with 24 the Local Rules. All attorneys have such continuing obligations until a substitution is approved. 25 While Mr. Meredith characterizes the changes in the briefing schedule as being done sua sponte, the 26 docket reflects that the pending motion for judgment on the pleadings was filed and re-noticed twice 27 by Defendant Roma Woldemariam. The “change” in the opposition deadline appears to have been a 28 correction by Defendant Woldemariam to reflect the proper opposition date under Local Rules. More 1 importantly, and regardless of whether a deadline in ECF was improperly entered and subsequently 2 corrected, counsel had an independent obligation to verify the opposition deadline under the Local 3 Rules. 4 In light of the Meredith Declaration, the Court VACATES the Order to Show Cause hearing on 5 January 7, 2013. No further action will be taken with respect to that Order. The Case Management 6 Conference scheduled for January 7, 2013 is also VACATED. 7 8 9 The Court will separately approve the stipulated consent order regarding substitution of attorney. IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 11 Dated: December 20, 2012 Northern District of California United States District Court 12 __________________________________________ 13 YVONNE GONZALEZ ROGERS UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

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