Gotham Insurance Company v. West Coast Fire Protection Corp. et al

Filing 48

ORDER granting 47 The Joint Motion to Enlarge Pretrial Deadlines and Trial Period. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol Mirando on 1/11/2017. (HJ)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
FORT MYERS DIVISION
GOTHAM INSURANCE COMPANY,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No: 2:16-cv-15-FtM-99CM

WEST COAST FIRE
PROTECTION CORP., GIOVANNI
R. BLANCO, MARIA FORESTE
and RAYMOND FORESTE,
Defendants.
ORDER
This matter comes before the Court upon review of the Joint Motion to Enlarge
Pretrial Deadlines and Trial Period (Doc. 47) filed on January 11, 2017.

On January

7, 2016, Plaintiff initiated this lawsuit by filing a Complaint against Defendants.
Doc. 1. The parties seek to extend the Court-ordered deadlines by forty-five (45)
days because they have not been able to schedule depositions.

Doc. 47 at 2.

Furthermore, the parties state that Plaintiff’s counsel will undergo surgery at the
end of January.

Id.

On March 14, 2016, Senior United States District Judge John E. Steele entered
a Case Management and Scheduling Order (“CMSO”) setting the deadlines for
Plaintiff’s disclosure of expert reports to February 1, 2017 and Defendant’s disclosure
of expert reports to March 1, 2017, the discovery deadline to March 31, 2017, the
mediation deadline to April 14, 2017, the deadline for dispositive motions to May 1,
2017, and a trial term of August 21, 2017. Doc. 36 at 1-2.

District courts have broad discretion when managing their cases in order to
ensure that the cases move to a timely and orderly conclusion.

Chrysler Int’l Corp.

v. Chemaly, 280 F.3d 1358, 1360 (11th Cir. 2002). Rule 16 requires a showing of
good cause for modification of a court’s scheduling order.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(4).

“This good cause standard precludes modification unless the schedule cannot be met
despite the diligence of the party seeking the extension.”

Sosa v. Airprint Sys., Inc.,

133 F. 3d 1417, 1418 (11th Cir. 1998) (internal quotations and citations omitted).
Here, the Court finds good cause to grant the requested extension because this
is the first extension of the CMSO deadlines requested by the parties, and the motion
is unopposed.

The Court, however, reminds the parties that this matter has been

pending since January 7, 2016. Doc. 1. Given the length of time that this case has
been pending, the Court expects the parties to exercise their diligence in meeting the
extended deadlines.

The parties’ continued diligence and coordination will help

avoid the parties’ future need to file additional motions to extend the deadlines.
ACCORDINGLY, it is hereby
ORDERED:
1.

The Joint Motion to Enlarge Pretrial Deadlines and Trial Period (Doc. 47)

is GRANTED.
2.

An amended case management and scheduling order will be issued under

separate cover.
DONE and ORDERED in Fort Myers, Florida on this 11th day of January,
2017.

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Copies:
Counsel of record

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