McAllister v.St. Louis Rams, LLC

Filing 103

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER re: 92 MOTION for Extension of: Expert Deadlines filed by Defendant The St. Louis Rams, LLC, Defendant The St. Louis Rams, LLC motion is GRANTED..IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Case Management Order is MODIFI ED as follows: Expert disclosures and reports as required by Rule 26(a)(2) are due May 5, 2017, with depositions of any such experts to take place no later than May 19, 2017. Plaintiffs' rebuttal witnesses and reports as required by Rule 26(a)(2 ) are due May 26, 2017, with depositions of such witnesses to take place no later than June 5, 2017.The ADR Compliance Report Deadline shall be extended to July 1, 2017( ADR Compliance Report Deadline due by 7/3/2017.). Signed by District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr on 4/18/16. (MRS)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION
RONALD MCALLISTER,
Plaintiff,
v.
THE ST. LOUIS RAMS, LLC,
Defendants.

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No. 4:16-CV-172 SNLJ
No. 4:16-CV-189
No. 4:16-CV-262
No. 4:16-CV-297
CONSOLIDATED

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
On January 24, 2017, the Court entered a Case Management Order providing that
defendant must “disclose any expert(s) and provide reports required by Rule 26(a)(2) no
later than April 7, 2017,” with depositions of any such experts to “take place no later than
April 28, 2017.” (#78 at 2). Under the Order, plaintiffs “may identify rebuttal
expert witnesses and provide rebuttal reports required by Rule 26(a)(2) no later than May
5, 2017,” with depositions of such experts to take place no later than May 15, 2017.”
(Id.)
Defendant states that it believes expert opinions may be necessary to address
issues regarding class certification. However, the parties are scheduled to mediate on
April 21, 2017. Defendant seeks an extension of time through May 5, 2017 to disclose
experts and provide reports, with depositions to take place no later than May 19.
Defendants agreed to provide the identity of its experts and provide “general topics” of
expert opinions to the plaintiffs now, before mediation, with formal opinions to follow.
The Arnold plaintiffs have agreed to those terms, but the McAllister and Envision
plaintiffs have not. The objecting plaintiffs state that they need information about
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defendant’s expert witness opinions in order to mediate the case effectively. They thus
request that defendant disclose, along with the experts’ identities, information regarding
the “general opinions” of plaintiff’s experts. Alternatively, they suggest that the Court
delay the mediation until after expert discovery can occur.
The briefing on this basic motion became more complicated when the Arnold
plaintiffs filed their objection on April 12, 2017. Despite having initially agreed with
defendant that defendant could provide the identity of its experts and those experts’
“general topics” of opinion, defendant has not done so. Defendant claims that its “deal”
with Arnold dissolved when the other plaintiffs would not accept the offer. Arnold’s
mediation memoranda was due to the mediator on April 11, and Arnold wanted the
information defendant promised in order to properly analyze class certification in the
memorandum.
Mediation is set to begin on April 21. It appears that a short continuance to allow
defendant time to produce its expert reports, along with a short continuance of the
mediation deadline, would be preferable to continuing with mediation with only partial
information about defendant’s experts.
Thus, the Court will grant defendant’s motion but will accept plaintiffs’ invitations
to extend the mediation deadline.

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Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that defendant’s motion for to extend expert
deadlings (#92) is GRANTED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Case Management Order is MODIFIED
as follows:
Expert disclosures and reports as required by Rule 26(a)(2) are due May 5, 2017,
with depositions of any such experts to take place no later than May 19, 2017.
Plaintiffs’ rebuttal witnesses and reports as required by Rule 26(a)(2) are due May
26, 2017, with depositions of such witnesses to take place no later than June 5, 2017.
The ADR Compliance Report Deadline shall be extended to July 1, 2017.

Dated this 18th

day of April, 2017.

STEPHEN N. LIMBAUGH, JR.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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