People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals et al v. Whole Foods Market Inc. et al

Filing 11

ORDER AS MODIFIED GRANTING STIPULATION SETTING BRIEFING SCHEDULE 10 . Defendants to file consent or declination by 11/14/2015. Case Management Statement due by 12/18/2015. Hearing on Rule 12 Motion and Case Management Conference set for 1/20/2016 01:00 PM in Courtroom 7, 4th Floor, San Jose. Signed by Judge Nathanael Cousins on 10/15/2016. (lmh, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 10/15/2015)

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1 STEVE W. BERMAN (Admitted pro hac vice) HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP 2 1918 Eight Avenue, Suite 3300 Seattle, WA 98101 3 Telephone: (206) 623-7292 steve@hbsslaw.com 4 ELAINE T. BYSZEWSKI (SBN 222304) 5 CHRISTOPHER R. PITOUN (SBN 290235) HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP 6 301 N. Lake Avenue, Suite 203 Pasadena, CA 91101 7 Telephone: (213) 330-7150 elaine@hbsslaw.com 8 christopher@hbsslaw.com 9 Attorneys for Plaintiffs and the Proposed Class 10 J.T. WELLS BLAXTER, (SBN 190222) wblaxter@blaxterlaw.com 11 BRIAN R. BLACKMAN, (SBN 196996) bblackman@blaxterlaw.com 12 BLAXTER | BLACKMAN LLP One Bush Street, Suite 650 13 San Francisco, California 94104 Telephone: (415) 550-7700 14 Attorneys for Defendants 15 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 16 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 17 PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL Case No. 15-cv-4301-NC 18 TREATMENT OF ANIMALS, INC., and LEAH WILLIAMS, on behalf of herself and STIPULATION AND MODIFIED 19 all others similarly situated, ORDER SETTING BRIEFING SCHEDULE AND CONTINUING CASE 20 Plaintiffs, MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 21 v. [Northern District Civil Local Rule 6-1(b) and 6-2(a)] 22 WHOLE FOODS MARKET, INC., a Texas corporation; WHOLE FOODS MARKET 23 CALIFORNIA, INC., a California corporation; MS. GOOCH’S NATURAL 24 FOOD MARKETS, INC., a California corporation, 25 Defendants. 26 27 28 Case No. 5:15-CV-04301-NC STIPULATION & ORDER SETTING BRIEFING SCHEDULE & CONTINUING CASE MNGMT. CONF. 1 Pursuant to Local Civil Rule 6-1(b) and 6-2(a), Plaintiffs People for the Ethical Treat of 2 Animals and Leah Williams (collectively “Plaintiffs”), and defendants Whole Foods Market, Inc., 3 Whole Foods Market California, Inc. and Mrs. Gooch’s Natural Foods Markets, Inc. (collectively 4 “Defendants”), by and through their counsel, stipulate as follows: 5 1. Plaintiffs filed this action on September 21, 2015, alleging claims for violation of 6 California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act (Civ. Code § 770, et seq.), false advertising (Bus. & 7 Prof. Code § 17500, et seq.) and unfair competition (Bus. & Prof. Code § 17200, et seq.). 8 Plaintiffs generally allege that Defendants misrepresent to customers the characteristics, standards 9 and quality of the unprepackaged meat products sold in its retail stores in California. 10 2. Defendants are in the process of investigating Plaintiffs allegations and developing 11 their response. Defendants anticipate filing a motion to dismiss on several grounds. The parties 12 previously stipulated to extend Defendants’ time to respond to the Complaint until November 4th. 1 13 3. This matter is presently scheduled for an initial case management conference on 14 December 23, 2015 with related deadlines of December 2, 2015 and December 16, 2015 for 15 discovery conferences, ADR selection, and the filing of Rule 26(f) reports. Under Local Civil 16 Rule 7-3(a), Plaintiffs opposition to Defendants’ anticipated motion would be due on November 17 18, 2015 and pursuant to Local Civil Rule 7-3(c) a reply would be on November 25, 2015, which 18 is the day before Thanksgiving. 19 4. The parties have engaged in preliminary discussions of Plaintiffs’ claims and 20 Defendants’ motion in an effort, in part, to reduce the issues that may need to be submitted to the 21 Court as part of Defendants’ anticipated motion. Namely whether all of the named Defendants are 22 proper parties to this action and subject to the Court’s personal jurisdiction. The parties have also 23 discussed, in accordance with this Divisions’ standing orders, a potential hearing date for 24 Defendants’ motion. 2 25 5. Considering the impending Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays and 26 the current case schedules and existing vacation and travel plans of counsel, including the fact that 27 28 1 Docket No. 9. 2 Declaration of Elaine T. Byszewski in Support, attached hereto, at ¶ 2.Case No. 5:15-CV-04301-NC -1STIPULATION & ORDER SETTING BRIEFING SCHEDULE & CONTINUING CASE MNGMT. CONF. 1 Plaintiffs’ primary counsel will be out of the country attending a family member’s wedding in late 2 December into January, the first available date for hearing Defendants’ anticipated motion would 3 be Wednesday, January 20, 2016. 3 4 6. In light of these issues and the fact that Plaintiff’s counsel must travel to attend the 5 hearing and case management conference, the parties have stipulated – subject to the Court’s 6 approval – to the following briefing schedule and brief continuance of the case management 7 conference (and related deadlines) to coincide with a January 20th hearing date: 8 1. November 4, 2015: Rule12 motions relating to existing Complaint due; 9 2. December 2, 2015: Opposition to Rule 12 motion due; 10 3. December 16, 2015: Reply on Rule 12 motions due; 11 4. December 4, 2015: Last day to (i) meet and confer re: initial disclosures, 12 early settlement, ADR process selection, and 13 discovery plan, (ii) file ADR Certificate and (iii) file 14 either Stipulation to ADR Process or Notice of Need 15 for ADR Phone Conference; 16 5. December 18, 2015: Last Day to file Rule 26(f) report, complete initial 17 disclosures or state objection in Rule 26(f) report and 18 file Case Management Statement; 19 6. January 20, 2016: Hearing on Rule 12 Motion; 20 7. January 20, 2016: Initial Case Management Conference. 21 7. The parties previously stipulated to extend Defendants’ time to respond to the 22 Complaint until November 4th. The parties have not previously requested any changes to the case 23 scheduling order. 24 8. This is a complex, putative class action. These requested changes to the exiting 25 case management order will not materially delay the disposition of this action and will conserve 26 27 28 3 Id. at ¶ 3. -2- Case No. 5:15-CV-04301-NC STIPULATION & ORDER SETTING BRIEFING SCHEDULE & CONTINUING CASE MNGMT. CONF. 1 party and judicial resources by coordinating hearings, briefing and filings during the busy holiday 2 season. 3 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 4 DATED: October 15, 2015 BLAXTER | BLACKMAN LLP 5 6 7 8 9 10 DATED: October 15, 2015 By: /s/ Brian R. Blackman BRIAN R. BLACKMAN Attorneys for Defendants WHOLE FOODS MARKET, INC.; WHOLE FOOS MARKET CALIFORNIA, INC.; and MRS. GOOCH’S NATURAL FOODS MARKETS, INC. HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP 11 12 13 14 15 By: /s/ Elaine T. Byszewski ELAINE T. BYSZEWSKI Attorney for Plaintiffs PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS, INC. and LEAH WILLIAMS 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -3- Case No. 5:15-CV-04301-NC STIPULATION & ORDER SETTING BRIEFING SCHEDULE & CONTINUING CASE MNGMT. CONF. 1 2 CERTIFICATION I, Elaine Bysewski, am the ECF User whose identification and password are being used to 3 file this Stipulation and [Proposed] Order Setting Briefing Schedule and Continuing Case 4 Management Conference. In compliance with Civ. L.R. 5-1(i)(3), I hereby attest that Brian 5 Blackman has concurred in this filing. 6 DATED: October 15, 2015 HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP 7 8 9 10 By: /s/ Elaine T. Byszewski ELAINE T. BYSZEWSKI Attorney for Plaintiffs PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS, INC. and LEAH WILLIAMS 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -4- Case No. 5:15-CV-04301-NC STIPULATION & ORDER SETTING BRIEFING SCHEDULE & CONTINUING CASE MNGMT. CONF. 1 I, ELAINE T. BYSZEWSKI, declare as follows: 2 1. I am an attorney duly licensed to practice before all of the courts of the State of 3 California. I am a partner with the law firm of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, counsel of 4 record for Plaintiffs. I am making this declaration in support of the parties’ Stipulation Setting 5 Briefing Schedule and Continuing Case Management Conference. I have personal knowledge of 6 the matters stated herein and, if called upon, I could and would competently testify thereto. 7 2. The parties have engaged in preliminary discussions of Plaintiffs’ claims and 8 Defendants’ motion in an effort, in part, to reduce the issues that may need to be submitted to the 9 Court as part of Defendants’ anticipated motion. Namely whether all of the named Defendants are 10 proper parties to this action and subject to the Court’s personal jurisdiction. The parties have also 11 discussed, in accordance with this Divisions’ standing orders, a potential hearing date for 12 Defendants’ motion. 13 3. Directly following the holidays I will be traveling to Taipei for my brother’s 14 wedding and will be gone through January 11, 2015. Considering the impending Thanksgiving, 15 Christmas and New Year’s holidays and the current case schedules and existing vacation and 16 travel plans of counsel, the first available date for all counsel for hearing Defendants’ anticipated 17 motion would be Wednesday, January 20, 2016. 18 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that the foregoing is 19 true and correct. Executed this 15th day of October 2015, at Pasadena, California. 20 /s/ Elaine T. Byszewski ELAINE T. BYSZEWSKI 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -5- Case No. 5:15-CV-04301-NC STIPULATION & ORDER SETTING BRIEFING SCHEDULE & CONTINUING CASE MNGMT. CONF. 1 2 ORDER Good cause appearing therefore, and pursuant to stipulation, the Court sets the following 3 briefing and case management schedule: 4 1. November 4, 2015: Rule12 motions relating to existing Complaint due; 5 2. November 14, 2015: Defendants to file consent or declination to proceed before 6 magistrate judge; 7 3. December 2, 2015: Opposition to Rule 12 motion due; 8 4. December 16, 2015: Reply on Rule 12 motions due; 9 5. December 4, 2015: Last day to (i) meet and confer re: initial disclosures, early 10 settlement, ADR process selection, and discovery plan, (ii) 11 file ADR Certificate and (iii) file either Stipulation to ADR 12 Process or Notice of Need for ADR Phone Conference; 13 6. December 18, 2015: Last Day to file Rule 26(f) report, complete initial 14 disclosures or state objection in Rule 26(f) report and file 15 Case Management Statement; 16 7. January 20, 2016: Hearing on Rule 12 Motion at 1:00 PM; 17 8. January 20, 2016: Initial Case Management Conference at 1:00 PM. 18 IT IS SO ORDERED. 19 DATED: October 15, 2015 S ________________________________________ MAGISTRATE RED RDE JUDGE NATHANAEL COUSINS S SO O IT I ED DIFI RT 25 NO 24 thanael M Judge Na ER 27 28 -1- A H 26 . Cousins FO 23 R NIA AS MO LI 22 UNIT ED 21 RT U O 20 S DISTRICT TE C TA N F D IS T IC T O R C Case No. 5:15-CV-04301-NC STIPULATION & ORDER SETTING BRIEFING SCHEDULE & CONTINUING CASE MNGMT. CONF.

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