Wells Fargo & Company et al v. ABD Insurance & Financial Services, Inc. et al

Filing 50

Notice of Reference and Order by Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu denying 46 Motion to Quash. Joint letter due by 11/2/2012.(dmrlc1, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 10/19/2012)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 For the Northern District of California United States District Court 10 WELLS FARGO AND CO., et al., 12 13 14 No. C-12-03856 PJH (DMR) NOTICE OF REFERENCE AND ORDER RE DISCOVERY PROCEDURES Plaintiffs, v. ABD INSURANCE SERVICES, et al., & FINANCIAL 15 16 Defendants. ___________________________________/ 17 TO ALL PARTIES AND COUNSEL OF RECORD: 18 The above matter has been referred to Magistrate Judge Donna M. Ryu for resolution of 19 Defendants’ Motion to Quash or Modify Plaintiff’s Subpoenas, or in the alternative, for a Protective 20 Order ("Motion to Quash") [Docket No. 46], and for all further discovery. The Motion to Quash 21 was noticed for hearing on November 21, 2012. 22 The court VACATES the current hearing date on November 21, 2012 and DENIES the 23 Motion to Quash without prejudice. The subpoenas subject to the Motion to Quash shall not be 24 operative pending resolution of the instant dispute and the parties' compliance with the procedures 25 for resolution of discovery disputes as set forth below. Any joint letter regarding the instant 26 discovery dispute (see section below entitled "Resolution of Discovery Disputes") shall be filed no 27 28 1 later than November 2, 2012. Discovery letter briefs must be e-filed under the Civil Events 2 category of Motions and Related Filings > Motions - General > "Discovery Letter Brief." 3 Parties shall comply with the procedures in this order, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 4 and the Northern District of California’s Local Rules, General Orders, and Standing Orders. Local 5 rules, general orders, standing orders, and instructions for using the Court's Electronic Case Filing 6 system are available at http://www.cand.uscourts.gov. Failure to comply with any of the rules or 7 orders may be a ground for sanctions. 8 9 RESOLUTION OF DISCOVERY DISPUTES In order to respond to discovery disputes in a flexible, cost-effective and efficient manner, the court uses the following procedure. The parties shall not file formal discovery motions. Instead, 11 For the Northern District of California United States District Court 10 as required by the federal and local rules, the parties shall first meet and confer to try to resolve their 12 disagreements. The meet and confer session must be in person or by telephone, and may not be 13 conducted by letter, e-mail, or fax. If disagreements remain, the parties shall file a joint letter no 14 later than five business days after the meet and confer session, unless otherwise directed by the 15 court. Lead trial counsel for both parties must sign the letter, which shall include an attestation 16 that the parties met and conferred in person or by telephone regarding all issues prior to filing the 17 letter. Going issue-by-issue, the joint letter shall describe each unresolved issue, summarize each 18 party’s position with appropriate legal authority; and provide each party’s final proposed 19 compromise before moving to the next issue. The joint letter shall not exceed ten pages without 20 leave of court. Parties are expected to plan for and cooperate in preparing the joint letter so 21 that each side has adequate time to address the arguments. In the rare instance that a joint letter 22 is not possible, each side may submit a letter not to exceed four pages, which shall include an 23 explanation of why a joint letter was not possible. The parties shall submit one exhibit to the letter 24 that only sets forth each disputed discovery request in full, followed immediately by the objections 25 and/or responses thereto. No other information shall be included in any such exhibit. No other 26 exhibits shall be submitted without prior approval by the court. The court will review the 27 submission(s) and determine whether formal briefing or proceedings are necessary. Discovery 28 2 1 letter briefs must be e-filed under the Civil Events category of Motions and Related Filings > 2 Motions - General > "Discovery Letter Brief". 3 In the event that a discovery hearing is ordered, the court has found that it is often efficient 4 and beneficial for counsel to appear in person. This provides the opportunity, where appropriate, to 5 engage counsel in resolving aspects of the discovery dispute while remaining available to rule on 6 any disputes that counsel are not able to resolve. For this reason, the court expects counsel to appear 7 in person. Permission for a party to attend by telephone may be granted, in the court's discretion, 8 upon written request made at least one week in advance of the hearing if the court determines that 9 good cause exists to excuse personal attendance, and that personal attendance is not needed in order to have an effective discovery hearing. The facts establishing good cause must be set forth in the 11 For the Northern District of California United States District Court 10 request. 12 In emergencies during discovery events (such as depositions), any party may, after 13 exhausting good faith attempts to resolve disputed issues, seek judicial intervention pursuant to Civil 14 L.R. 37-1(b) by contacting the court through the courtroom deputy. If the court is unavailable, the 15 discovery event shall proceed with objections noted for the record. 16 CHAMBERS COPIES AND PROPOSED ORDERS 17 Pursuant to Civil L.R. 5-1(e)(7) and 5-2(b), parties must lodge an extra paper copy of certain 18 filings and mark it as a copy for “Chambers.” Please three-hole punch the chambers copy and 19 submit it to the Oakland Clerk’s Office. 20 Any stipulation or proposed order submitted by an e-filing party shall be submitted by email 21 to dmrpo@cand.uscourts.gov as a word processing attachment on the same day the document is e- 22 filed. This address should only be used for this stated purpose unless otherwise directed by the 23 court. 24 PRIVILEGE LOGS 25 If a party withholds information that is responsive to a discovery request by claiming that it 26 is privileged or otherwise protected from discovery, that party shall promptly prepare and provide a 27 privilege log that is sufficiently detailed and informative for the opposing party to assess whether a 28 document’s designation as privileged is justified. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(5). The privilege log shall 3 1 set forth the privilege relied upon and specify separately for each document or for each category of 2 similarly situated documents: 3 (a) the title and description of the document, including number of pages or 4 Bates-number range; 5 (b) the subject matter addressed in the document; 6 (c) the identity and position of its author(s); 7 (d) the identity and position of all addressees and recipients; 8 (e) the date the document was prepared and, if different, the date(s) on which it was 9 sent to or shared with persons other than its author(s); and 11 Communications involving trial counsel that post-date the filing of the complaint need not be 12 placed on a privilege log. Failure to furnish this information promptly may be deemed a waiver of 13 the privilege or protection. Dated: October 19, 2012 18 I M. Ryu o DONNA udgRYU nna J M. e D United States Magistrate Judge RT 19 ER H 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4 A 17 ERED ORD T IS SO R NIA 16 LI IT IS SO ORDERED. UNIT ED 15 FO S 14 S DISTRICT TE C TA RT U O For the Northern District of California (f) the specific basis for the claim that the document is privileged or protected. NO United States District Court 10 N F D IS T IC T O R C

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