Lytle v. Lowe's Home Centers, Inc.

Filing 415

ORDER: The parties' Joint Motion for Enlargement of Time Under Case Management Order to Secure Experts and Motion for Reconsideration Regarding Fourth Amended Case Management and Scheduling Order 413 is GRANTED in part. The deadline for both parties to disclose expert reports is July 1, 2014. All remaining deadlines in the Fourth Amended Case Management and Scheduling Order 409 remain in place. Signed by Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington on 5/7/2014. (KNC)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
TAMPA DIVISION
LIZETH LYTLE, individually
and on behalf of all others
similarly situated who consent
to their inclusion in a
collective action,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No. 8:12-cv-1848-T-33TBM

LOWE’S HOME CENTERS, INC.,
ET AL.,
Defendants.
______________________________/
ORDER
This matter comes before the Court pursuant to the
parties’ Joint Motion for Enlargement of Time Under Case
Management

Order

to

Secure

Experts

and

Motion

for

Reconsideration Regarding Fourth Amended Case Management and
Scheduling Order (Doc. # 413), filed on May 6, 2014. For the
reasons that follow, the Motion is granted in part.
On August 15, 2012, Lytle initiated this collective
action pursuant the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). (Doc. #
1). Thereafter, on December 7, 2012, this Court entered a
Case Management Scheduling Order (Doc. # 19), and then entered
an Amended Case Management and Scheduling Order on March 8,
2013.

(Doc.

#

34).

In

the

Amended

Case

Management

and

Scheduling

Order

the

deadline

for

disclosure

of

expert

reports for both parties was April 15, 2013. (Id.).
On April 15, 2013, the parties filed a joint motion for
enlargement of deadline to disclose expert reports, wherein
the parties requested an Order enlarging the deadline to
disclose expert reports until forty-five days after a ruling
from this Court certifying the action as a collective action.
(Doc. # 83). On May 6, 2014, Thomas B. McCoun, United States
Magistrate Judge, entered an Order granting the parties’
joint motion nunc pro tunc. (Doc. # 120).
This Court entered a Second Amended Case Management and
Scheduling Order on June 20, 2013 (Doc. # 174), a Third
Amended Case Management and Scheduling Order on October 8,
2013 (Doc. # 264), and the operative Fourth Amended Case
Management and Scheduling Order (Doc. # 409) on April 29,
2014. In the Fourth Amended Case Management and Scheduling
Order, the Court indicates that the disclosure of expert
reports is “Already Completed.”
Discussion
In the present Motion, the parties request that the Court
reconsider the Fourth Amended Case Management and Scheduling
Order, specifically the deadline for expert disclosures.
According to the parties:

2

Because the Parties were unsure of the ultimate
size of the collective class, and were unsure about
the scope of discovery, they did not obtain experts
or complete expert reports as it was premature to
expend expert costs prior to class certification.
As such, the Parties intended to secure experts
after the collective class was certified.
However, the Parties have not obtained experts or
disclosed Expert Reports because, as previously
stated, they were unsure of the size of this
collective action, as well as whether this action
would be conditionally certified at all, and it was
premature for the parties to expend costs on
obtaining experts and preparing expert reports
until both parties were certain as to size of the
collective class and the scope of discovery.
The Parties are now in the process of obtaining
payroll records for those Opt-In Plaintiffs that
are continuing to opt-into this lawsuit, as the
Class period is still not over, and it would be
premature to obtain experts without knowing the
full scope of the Class.
(Doc. # 413 at ¶¶ 4, 6, 8).
This Court conditionally certified the collective class
on January 10, 2014. (Doc. # 340).

Therefore, the parties

had forty-five days – until February 24, 2014, – to disclose
their experts in compliance with Judge McCoun’s Order. This
should have already been completed. However, the parties
admittedly have failed to do so.

3

Although the Court acknowledges the challenges inherent
in managing a collective action, these challenges do not
justify the parties’ continuous disregard of the deadlines
imposed by this Court.1 The Court, not the parties, sets the
deadlines that are to be adhered to, and the Court expects
counsel and the parties to comply with these deadlines.
Furthermore, the parties may not independently extend any
deadline imposed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or
this Court. If the parties seek an extension, they are
required to file an appropriate motion explaining the relief
sought, in accordance with Local Rule 3.01. It is apparent
from the Motion that for their own convenience counsel for
both parties have disregarded the deadlines imposed by this
Court as well as the requirements set forth in the Local
Rules. This method of practice will not be permitted.
Nonetheless, in light of the parties’ omission, this
Court finds that the ends of justice would be best served by
modifying the Fourth Amended Case Management and Scheduling

1

This is not the first time the parties have disregarded
this Court’s direct Orders. For instance, without seeking
leave of Court to do so, the individual parties and corporate
representatives appeared by phone at the Court-ordered
mediation conference despite the Court’s repeated instruction
that personal attendance at mediation is required. (See Doc.
## 48, 174).

4

Order to allow for a brief extension of the deadline to
disclose expert reports. Accordingly, the deadline for both
parties to disclose expert reports is July 1, 2014. The
discovery deadline remains September 15, 2014, and this Court
will not grant any further extensions of this deadline under
any circumstances. Therefore, the parties are advised to
conduct discovery well in advance of this deadline, so they
can adequately react to any challenges that may arise. The
parties are free to stipulate to the deadline by which the
parties are to obtain and name experts.
Accordingly, it is now
ORDERED, ADJUDGED, and DECREED:
(1)

The parties’ Joint Motion for Enlargement of Time Under
Case Management Order to Secure Experts and Motion for
Reconsideration Regarding Fourth Amended Case Management
and Scheduling Order (Doc. # 413) is GRANTED in part.

(2)

The deadline for both parties to disclose expert reports
is July 1, 2014.

(3)

All

remaining

deadlines

in

the

Fourth

Amended

Case

Management and Scheduling Order (Doc. # 409) remain in
place.
DONE and ORDERED in Chambers in Tampa, Florida, this 7th
day of May, 2014.

5

Copies: All Counsel of Record 

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