Tawakal Halal LLC et al v. United States of America

Filing 48

ORDER in Response to 46 Request; SECOND AMENDED PRETRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER: Discovery due by 5/6/2019 & Motions (non-disp) due 5/6/2019. (Written Opinion) Signed by Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung on 2/1/2019. (JRE)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA

Tawakal Halal LLC and Abdifateh Mohamed
Omar,

CIVIL NO. 17-CV-4732 (ECT/TNL)

PLAINTIFFS,
SECOND AMENDED PRETRIAL
SCHEDULING ORDER

V.

United States of America,
DEFENDANT.

Pursuant to Defendant’s request to lift the stay resulting from the lapse in appropriations
to the Department of Justice (ECF No. 46), IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Defendants’
request to lift the stay is GRANTED.
Pursuant to Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Rules of this
Court, and in order to secure the just, speedy, and less expensive determination of this action, the
following schedule shall govern these proceedings. This schedule may be modified only upon
formal motion and a showing of good cause as required by D. Minn. LR 16.3.
Based on Defendant’s Request to Lift Stay (ECF No. 46) and the record before the Court,
there is good cause to amend the Pretrial Scheduling Order.
1. Fact Discovery
a. All pre-discovery disclosures required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1) shall be
completed on or before April 1, 2018.
b. Plaintiffs shall respond to Defendant’s April 25, 2018 First Set of Interrogatories
and First Request for Production of Documents by November 16, 2018.
c. Plaintiffs shall respond to Defendant’s June 21, 2018 First Set of Requests for
Admission by November 16, 2018. Should Plaintiffs respond by that date, no
request in Defendant’s First Set of Requests for Admission shall be deemed
admitted pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 36(a)(3).
d. Defendant’s discovery responses shall be due on or before March 1, 2019.

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e. Fact discovery shall be commenced in time to be completed on or before May 6,
2019.
f. No more than 50 Interrogatories, counted in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(a),
shall be served by any party.
g. No more than 50 Document Requests shall be served by any party.
h. No more than 75 Requests for Admissions shall be served by any party.
i. No more than ten depositions, excluding expert witness depositions, shall be taken
by any side.
j. On or before April 1, 2018, the parties shall jointly CM/ECF file a proposed
stipulated Protective Order for the Court’s review. The sealing of entire pleadings,
memoranda of law, exhibits, and the like is strongly discouraged. No document
shall be filed under seal unless such document or information therein is genuinely
confidential and/or there are compelling reasons to do so. Any party seeking to file
a document under seal shall specifically review each document and the information
therein to limit sealing only to the extent necessary. If a party files a document
containing confidential information with the Court, it shall do so in compliance
with the Electronic Case Filing Procedures for the District of Minnesota and Local
Rule 5.6. Any joint motion made pursuant to Local Rule 5.6 before United
States Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung shall conform to Exhibit A attached
hereto. Counsel shall provide the Court with two courtesy copies of the unredacted
documents with the redacted information highlighted in yellow.
k. Any party claiming privilege or protection of trial-preparation materials shall serve
on the party seeking discovery a privilege log that complies with the requirements
in Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(5).
2. ESI Discovery Plan
a. The parties shall preserve all electronic documents that bear on any claims,
defenses, or the subject matter of the lawsuit.
3. Expert Discovery
a. Each side may call no more than three expert witnesses.
b. Each side shall take no more than one deposition per expert.
c. Disclosure of the identity of expert witnesses under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(A) and
the full disclosures required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(B), accompanied by the
written report prepared and signed by the expert witness, shall be made as follows:

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i. Plaintiff
1. Identification by Plaintiff on or before March 8, 2019.
2. Report by Plaintiff on or before April 19, 2019.
3. Rebuttal witness and reports shall be disclosed on or before June 5,
2019.
ii. Defendant
1. Identification by Defendant on or before April 5, 2018.
2. Report by Defendant on or before May 20, 2019.
3. Rebuttal witness and reports shall be disclosed on or before July 6,
2019.
d. Expert discovery, including depositions, shall be completed on or before August 5,
2019.
4. Non-Dispositive Motions
a. Non-dispositive motions may be scheduled for hearing by calling the Court’s
Judicial Assistant and Calendar Clerk, Holly McLelland, at 651-848-1870.
b. All motions which seek to amend the pleadings, including without limitation, a
motion for leave to amend to add parties must be served on or before May 1, 2018.
c. Motions for leave to amend to add punitive damage claims must be served and filed
on or before August 1, 2018.
d. Except as to non-dispositive motion deadlines specifically set forth elsewhere in
this Order, all non-dispositive motions and supporting documents, including those
which relate to discovery, shall be served and filed on or before May 6, 2019.
e. All non-dispositive motions and supporting documents which relate to expert
discovery shall be filed and served on or before August 5, 2019.
f. Prior to scheduling any non-dispositive motion, parties are strongly encouraged to
consider whether the motion, including motions relating to discovery and
scheduling, can be informally resolved through telephone conference with the
Magistrate Judge. All non-dispositive motions shall be scheduled, filed and served
in compliance with the Electronic Case Filing Procedures for the District of
Minnesota and in compliance with D. Minn. LR 7.1 and 37.1, and shall be presented
in a form that complies with D. Minn. LR 37.2.

g. At the Rule 16 Scheduling Conference, the Court advised the parties that it is
willing to resolve non-dispositive disputes between the parties on an informal basis
via a telephone conference. However, before the Court will agree to proceed with
this informal resolution mechanism, the "meet and confer" required by Fed. R. Civ.
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P. 37(a)(1) and D. Minn. LR 37.1 must have taken place, and all parties to the
dispute must agree to use this informal resolution process as the very nature of the
process is such that the parties are giving up rights they would otherwise have (e.g.,
the dispute is heard over the phone; there is no recording or transcript of the phone
conversation; no briefs, declarations or sworn affidavits are filed). If the parties do
agree to use this informal resolution process, one of the parties shall contact
Magistrate Judge Leung’s chambers to schedule the conference. The parties shall
submit short letters prior to the conference to set forth their respective positions.
The requesting party shall submit its letter 7 days prior to the conference; the
responding party shall submit its letter 4 days prior to the conference. The Court
will read the written submissions of the parties before the phone conference, hear
arguments of counsel at the conference, and if no one changes their decision during
the phone conference regarding their willingness to participate in this informal
resolution process, the Court will issue its decision at the conclusion of the phone
conference or shortly after the conference. Depending on the nature of the dispute,
the Court may or may not issue a written order. If there is no agreement to resolve
a dispute through this informal resolution process, then the dispute must be
presented to the Court via formal motion and hearing.
5. Dispositive Motions
a. All dispositive motions must be filed and served by the moving party on or before
August 1, 2019.
b. Counsel for the moving party should schedule the hearing shortly before filing their
motion papers by calling Rachael Morton, Courtroom Deputy for Judge Eric
Tostrud, at 651-848-1190. The parties must comply with Local Rule 7.1 and the
Electronic Case Filing Procedures Guide, Civil Cases.
c. When scheduling a summary judgment hearing, the parties must notify the Court
whether there will be cross-motions for summary judgment so that the Court may
enter an appropriate briefing order. The parties should confer about the possibility
of cross-motions before contacting chambers to schedule a summary judgment
hearing.
d. Two courtesy copies of all memoranda and one courtesy copy of all supporting
documents should be delivered to Judge Tostruds’s chambers no later than the next
business day after documents are filed on ECF. Judge Tostrud prefers that the
courtesy copies be three-hold punched; unstapled; printed double-sided, if feasible;
and, if voluminous, appropriately tabbed.

6. Status & Settlement Conferences
a. The parties shall appear for a settlement conference with the Court on November
9, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.

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b. On or shortly before June 1, 2018, August 1, 2018, and May 15, 2019, counsel for
each party shall submit three CONFIDENTIAL letters to the Court setting forth
with reasonable specificity the status of the case; the relative strengths and
weaknesses of each party’s position; an update of efforts toward settlement; the last
settlement positions of the parties; whether a settlement conference with a private
mediator or the court would be productive; and a litigation budget. Each letter shall
not exceed three pages. On or shortly before the date each such letter is due, counsel
for the parties shall meet and confer to discuss the status of the case and discuss
settlement.
c. A final settlement conference shall be scheduled by the Court on a later date when
needed.
7. Trial
a. This case shall be ready for a Court trial on December 1, 2019.
b. Anticipated length of trial is three days.
8. Prior Orders and Remedies
a. All prior consistent orders remain in full force and effect.
b. Failure to comply with any provision of this Order or any other prior consistent
Order shall subject the non-complying party, non-complying counsel and/or the
party such counsel represents to any and all appropriate remedies, sanctions and the
like, including without limitation: assessment of costs, fines and attorneys’ fees and
disbursements; waiver of rights to object; exclusion or limitation of witnesses,
testimony, exhibits and other evidence; striking of pleadings; complete or partial
dismissal with prejudice; entry of whole or partial default judgment; and/or any
other relief that this Court may from time to time deem appropriate.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: February 1, 2019

s/ Tony N. Leung
Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung
United States District Court
District of Minnesota
Tawakal Halal LLC et al. v. United States of
America
17-cv-4732 ECT/TNL

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