Plum Healthcare Group, LLC et al v. OneBeacon Professional Insurance et al
Filing
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ORDER Denying 39 Defendants' Application to Modify The Current Scheduling Order. Signed by Magistrate Judge Mitchell D. Dembin on 4/24/2017. (jao)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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Case No.: 15cv2747-W-MDD
PLUM HEALTHCARE GROUP,
LLC, et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
ONE BEACON PROFESSIONAL
INSURANCE, et al.,
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Defendants.
ORDER DENYING
DEFENDANTS’ APPLICATION
TO MODIFY THE CURRENT
SCHEDULING ORDER
[ECF NO. 39]
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Before this Court is Defendants’ Ex Parte Application to Modify the
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Current Scheduling Order. (ECF No. 39). The Scheduling Order set August
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29, 2016, as the deadline for motions to amend the pleadings, November 28,
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2016, as the initial expert disclosure deadline, and February 6, 2017, as the
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deadline for completion of all discovery. (ECF No. 17). On November 29,
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2016, the Court issued an Amended Scheduling Order at the parties’ joint
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request. (ECF Nos. 23 (joint motion), 24 (Amended Scheduling Order)). The
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Amended Scheduling Order set January 9, 2017, as the deadline for initial
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expert disclosures and March 7, 2017, as the deadline for completion of all
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discovery. (ECF No. 24).
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Defendants’ motion, filed March 2, 2017, seeks to reopen discovery and
motion practice for three months to relieve Defendants of their prior
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attorneys’ “gross negligence” in failing to timely designate an expert and
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conduct certain fact discovery. Though Defendants’ initial filing also sought a
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three month extension of all pretrial dates, including the June 5, 2017, Final
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Pretrial Conference before District Judge Whelan, Defendants abandoned the
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request to move pretrial dates in their reply. Defendants’ reply added a new
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request for permission to file a motion to amend their Answer.
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Plaintiffs filed their opposition on March 17, 2017. (ECF No. 44).
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Defendants filed their reply on March 24, 2017. (ECF No. 46). As provided
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herein, Defendants’ motion is DENIED.
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DISCUSSION
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A. Parties’ Contentions
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Defendants argue that good cause exists to push back the dates in the
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Amended Scheduling Order because their prior attorneys at Selman
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Breitman LLP (Selman) were “so grossly negligent in their failure to take the
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necessary steps in this litigation that Defendants were essentially abandoned
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and left without representation.” (ECF No. 39-1 at 4:2-4). Defendants
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specify that Selman:
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1) “led Defendants to believe that [Selman] would file a motion to
dismiss Plaintiff’s claims, but never did;”
2) did not inform Defendants that Plaintiffs filed a motion for
summary adjudication;
3) missed the expert disclosure deadlines;
4) misled Defendants that the expert disclosure deadlines had been
extended when they had not; and,
5) misled Defendants that the time to take percipient and expert
witness depositions had been extended when it had not.
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Defendants contend that they were diligent in filing this motion to modify the
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Scheduling Order because they did not learn of any of the issues listed above
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until February 28, 2017—one week before the discovery and pretrial motion
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cutoff date. Defendants assert that they then promptly hired new attorneys
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and filed this motion. Defendants assert, without any analysis, that Plaintiff
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will not be prejudiced by a three month extension. Finally, in their reply,
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Defendants seek leave to amend their Answer to specify additional policy
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exclusions in a non-exhaustive list of policy exclusions that is part of an
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existing affirmative defense, though they claim that this amendment is not
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necessary to assert these exclusions as defenses.
Plaintiffs argue that Defendants fail to show good cause for modifying
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the Scheduling Order because the discovery sought was not diligently
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pursued. Plaintiffs further argue that Defendants should not be relieved of
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Selman’s lack of diligence because the claimed misconduct does not amount
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to gross negligence. Plaintiffs contend that they will be severely prejudiced if
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the Scheduling Order is modified, because any delay causes them to incur
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further damages flowing from Defendants’ refusal to defend them in the
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underlying lawsuit, and they will be forced to expend additional time and
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money to conduct discovery and revise their fully-briefed MSA. Plaintiffs also
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argue that Defendants’ tardy request to amend the Answer should be denied.
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B. Legal Standard
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District Courts have broad discretion to supervise the pre-trial phase of
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litigation and to “manage the discovery process to facilitate prompt and
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efficient resolution of the lawsuit.” Crawford–El v. Britton, 523 U.S. 574, 599
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(1988). Scheduling Orders are issued pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal
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Rules of Civil Procedure to limit the time to join parties, amend the
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pleadings, complete discovery and file motions. FED. R. CIV. P. 16(b)(1)-(3).
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Once in place, “[a] schedule may be modified only for good cause and with the
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judge's consent.” FED. R. CIV. P. 16(b)(4).
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The “good cause” requirement of Rule 16 primarily considers the
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diligence of the party seeking the amendment. Johnson v. Mammoth
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Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992). A party demonstrates
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good cause for the modification of a scheduling order by showing that, even
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with the exercise of due diligence, he or she was unable to meet the deadlines
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set forth in the order. See Zivkovic v. So. Cal. Edison Co., 302 F.3d 1080,
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1087–88 (9th Cir. 2002).
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Mere substitution of counsel is insufficient cause to amend a scheduling
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order. Under Ninth Circuit precedent, “a client is ordinarily chargeable with
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his [prior] counsel's negligent acts.” Community Dental Servs. v. Tani, 282
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F.3d 1164, 1168 (9th Cir. 2002); and see Link v. Wabash R.R. Co., 370 U.S.
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626, 633–34 (1962). Courts must distinguish, however, between “a client's
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accountability for his counsel's neglectful or negligent acts—too often a
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normal part of representation—and his responsibility for the more unusual
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circumstances of his attorney's extreme negligence or egregious conduct.” Id.;
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and see Cardenas v. Wittemore, Case No. 13cv1720-LAB-KSC, 2015 WL
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4410643, at *1-2 (S.D. Cal. July 16, 2015) (declining to modify scheduling
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order where prior counsel’s errors did not amount to gross negligence); Steel
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v. Stoddard, Case No. 11cv2073-H-RBB, 2013 WL 12064545, at *12 (S.D. Cal.
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Feb. 15, 2013) (same), order amended on denial of reconsideration, Case No.
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11cv2073-H-RBB, 2013 WL 12064546 (S.D. Cal. Apr. 12, 2013). Parties may
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be able to satisfy the “good cause” requirement of Rule 16(b)(4) when they can
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show that prior counsel's actions amount to “gross negligence or
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abandonment.” See, e.g., Matrix Motor Co., Inc. v. Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki
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Kaisha, 218 F.R.D. 667, 674 (C.D. Cal. 2003).
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C. Analysis
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Defendants fail to show good cause to amend the Scheduling Order
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under Rule 16(b)(4). Although prior counsel was not diligent in filing a
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motion to dismiss, designating an expert, or in pursuing certain discovery,
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Defendants fail to show that Selman’s performance was grossly negligent.
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Defendants’ assertion that they were unaware that Selman did not file
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a motion to dismiss until February 28, 2017, rings hollow. Selman filed an
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Answer in June 2016, and Selman’s client representative, Daniele Freanor,
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personally attended the Early Settlement Conference in October 2016, at
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which point the case was well into the discovery phase. In any event,
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Selman’s failure to file a motion to dismiss did not forfeit Defendants’ right to
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conduct discovery or otherwise prejudice Defendants.
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Regarding discovery, Defendants assert that Selman mistakenly
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believed that Defendants would not need the discovery and that Defendants
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had agreements with the opposing party about the substance or deadline for
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the discovery. Selman’s mistaken beliefs do not excuse its lack of diligence.
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Had Selman been diligent, its attorneys would have memorialized the alleged
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agreements or preserved the clients’ discovery rights by taking the
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depositions and filing the motion to compel. Selman was not diligent with
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respect to this discovery.
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Although Selman was not always diligent, Selman’s performance does
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not amount to gross negligence. The record reflects that Selman vigorously
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represented Defendants. Selman filed Defendants’ Answer. Selman
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appeared before this Court for a telephonic Case Management Conference, an
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Early Settlement Conference and a Mandatory Settlement Conference,
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during which this Court observed that Selman zealously and effectively
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represented the interests of Defendants. Selman submitted a settlement
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conference brief. Selman participated in the preparation and submission of
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the Joint Discovery Plan. Selman successfully sought extensions of time to
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file the Answer, of discovery deadlines, and of time to file an opposition to the
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Plaintiff’s summary adjudication motion. Selman filed an opposition to
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Plaintiff’s motion for summary adjudication. Selman served and responded
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to written discovery, took and defended depositions, and engaged in
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substantial meet and confer negotiations with opposing counsel.
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Selman’s failure to designate an expert and complete certain discovery
does not erase Selman’s substantial and continuous efforts on behalf of
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Defendants. The Ninth Circuit has found gross negligence where the
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attorney “virtually abandoned” the client such that they client “receiv[ed]
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practically no representation at all.” Tani, 282 F.3d at 1168. In Tani, the
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attorney engaged in “inexcusable and inexplicable” conduct that included
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failure to follow court orders, failure to make court appearances, failure to file
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and serve pleadings, failure to oppose motions, and resulted in a default
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judgment. Unlike the attorney in Tani, Selman obeyed all court orders, made
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all court appearances, filed and served the Answer, and opposed all motions.
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Selman did not virtually abandon Defendants.
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This finding is consistent with the results in similar cases, such as
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Matrix Motor and Cardenas. In Matrix Motor, District Judge Morrow denied
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a similar motion for failure to show prior counsel’s gross negligence, even
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though the attorney in that case “propounded no discovery, did not designate
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experts, and failed to respond to [the opponent’s] discovery requests in a
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timely fashion” because the attorney “made court appearances, filed
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necessary pleadings, and responded to some discovery.” Matrix Motor, 218
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F.R.D. at 672-675. In Cardenas, Magistrate Judge Crawford denied a similar
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motion because “the defendant’s interests were adequately represented by his
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prior counsel,” who filed a timely counterclaim and “zealously and effectively”
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represented his client at settlement conferences. Cardenas, Case No.
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13cv1720-LAB-KSC, 2015 WL 4410643, at *1-2.
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Defendants’ request to extend the time to file a motion to amend the
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Answer was tacked on to their reply and not properly raised in their moving
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papers. Regardless, the Court denies this request for failure to show good
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cause under Rule 16. The deadline for amending pleadings passed more than
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six months before Defendants brought this motion. The proposed
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amendment is based on facts that were known to Defendants at the start of
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litigation. Defendants elected to be represented by Selman, who made the
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decision to omit specific mention of the exclusions Defendants now seek to
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add. Though Defendants may now regret the decision, under the law of the
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Ninth Circuit, Defendants are bound by the performance of Selman. See, e.g.,
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Tani, 282 F.3d at 1168. Finally, Defendants have not shown good cause to
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extend the time to file a motion to amend the Answer, because the
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amendment Defendants seek either is unnecessary (according to Defendants)
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or would necessitate additional discovery and delay this action, thereby
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prejudicing Plaintiffs (according to Plaintiffs).
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CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Defendants’ motion to modify the Scheduling
Order is DENIED.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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Dated: April 24, 2017
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