Nelson v. The Special Administrative Board of the St. Louis Public Schools et al

Filing 57

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER -....IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendants' motion to extend the deadline for ADR referral shall be GRANTED, in part(Doc. No. 53) The parties shall have until February 29, 2012 to notify the Clerk of Court of the agree d neutral and the date, time and location of the ADR conference, and shall have until April 13, 2012, to conclude the mediation conference. ( ADR Completion Deadline due by 4/13/2012., ADR Conference Schedule due by 2/29/2012., Designation of Neutral due by 2/29/2012.). Signed by Honorable Audrey G. Fleissig on 1/19/2012. (MRC)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION
CHERYL M. NELSON,
Plaintiff,
vs.
THE SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE
BOARD OF THE ST. LOUIS PUBLIC
SCHOOLS, et al.,
Defendants.

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Case No. 4:11CV00904 AGF

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Plaintiff Cheryl Nelson brings this action against Defendants Kelvin Adams,
Rick Sullivan, and the Special Administrative Board of the St. Louis Public Schools,
charging race discrimination, retaliation, and various constitutional and statutory
violations arising out of the termination of her employment with the Special
Administrative Board of the St. Louis Public Schools. Presently before the Court is
Defendants’ motion to extend the deadline for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
referral in this matter.
Upon review of the file, the Court notes the following. Plaintiff has filed two
amended complaints since the Court held its August 26, 2011 Rule 16 conference in this
case and issued its case management order. On December 2, 2011, the Court granted
Plaintiff leave to file a second amended complaint, ordered Defendants to file their
response to that complaint not later than December 15, 2011, and scheduled oral
argument on the pending motion to dismiss for January 25, 2012. Shortly thereafter, on

December 5, 2011, the Court issued its ADR referral order setting a February 13, 2012,
deadline for completion of the referral.
Defendants seek an extension of that deadline, asserting that due to the filing of
the amended complaints and the pending motion to dismiss, the issues in the case are not
sufficiently defined to permit a fruitful mediation. In addition, Defendants note that the
deadline for filing Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures was extended by consent of the parties to
February 1, 2012, and that as a result of the extension, the parties will have little time to
review the disclosures prior to the close of the ADR referral.
Plaintiff opposes the motion, arguing that the filing of the second amended
complaint should not necessitate delay because Defendants have been aware of the
factual bases for her claims for some time, and the parties have previously engaged in
settlement negotiations which provided Defendants with additional information regarding
the factual and legal bases of her claims. In addition, Plaintiff points out that oral
argument on the motion to dismiss will conclude almost three weeks prior to the present
ADR deadline, allowing the parties sufficient time to complete the ADR referral.
The Court notes that although the Plaintiff’s second amended complaint did not
add parties or substantially alter her claims, it did set forth new legal theories. In
addition, although the general rule is that an ADR referral will not be delayed until after
the resolution of motions to dismiss, in this case the Court believes that a brief extension
of the ADR referral deadline is appropriate. The parties are advised, however, that the
pendency of a motion to dismiss does not excuse the parties from conducting discovery
and proceeding in a manner consistent with the deadlines in the Case Management Order.
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Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendants’ motion to extend the deadline for
ADR referral shall be GRANTED, in part. (Doc. No. 53.) The parties shall have until
February 29, 2012 to notify the Clerk of Court of the agreed neutral and the date, time
and location of the ADR conference, and shall have until April 13, 2012, to conclude the
mediation conference.

AUDREY G. FLEISSIG
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Dated this 19th day of January, 2012.

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