Martinez v. Cargill Meat Solutions

Filing 78

AMENDED MEMORANDUM AND ORDER - By agreement of the defendant, conditional class certification is granted in Haferland, et. al. v. Cargill, 8:09CV00247, with the conditional class defined to include: All current and former non-exempt hourly employees who have been employed at any time by Defendant at its Schuyler, NE facility during the time period from April 20, 2006 to the present, who were compensated on a gang time system and wore or used personal protective equipment. Plaintiff Martinez 9; motion to restrict, (4:09CV3079, filing no. 63 ), and his unopposed motion for approval of notice and opt-in consent form, (4:09CV3079, filing no. 69 ), are granted. Plaintiff Martinez' motion for hearing, (4:09CV3079, filing no. 65 ), is denied. The deadline for opting into this case is forty-five (45) days from the date the Notice and consent form is actually mailed, and the court-approved Notice will include that deadline. Putative plaintiffs who have not consented to opt-in wit hin the forty-five (45) day deadline will not be included in the conditional class. On or before March 12, 2010, counsel for Martinez and Haferland shall confer to discuss how discovery and case progression can be coordinated among the plaintiffs in this case, the goal being to develop cooperative discovery methods which avoid duplicating discovery requests, depositions, and effort, including possibly withdrawing the written discovery already served on the defendant in favor of sending a single non-repetitive set. On or before March 17, 2010, the parties shall confer to develop a joint stipulation for setting progression deadlines in this case. The joint stipulation shall address what is outlined in this Order. The parties' propose d progression schedule shall be emailed to the undersigned at [e-mail]. If any case progression issues cannot be jointly resolved by the parties, the proposed progression schedule shall identify those issues and set forth the parties respective positions. Member Cases: 4:09-cv-03079-RGK-CRZ, 8:09-cv-00247-RGK-CRZ. Ordered by Magistrate Judge Cheryl R. Zwart. (KBJ) Modified on 3/5/2010 to add text "amended" (KBJ).

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT F O R THE DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA J U A N MARTINEZ, on behalf of th e m se lv e s and all others similarly s itu a te d , Plaintiff, V. C A R G IL L MEAT SOLUTIONS, C o rp o ra tio n , Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

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AM ENDED M E M O R A N D U M AND ORDER

D A L E HAFERLAND, on behalf of ) th e m se lv e s and all other similarly ) s itu a te d individuals, JUAN MUNOZ, on ) b e h a lf of themselves and all other ) s im ila rly situated individuals, KARLA ) V E L A S Q U E Z , on behalf of themselves ) a n d all other similarly situated ) in d iv id u a ls , and MANUE CORONA, on ) b eh alf of themselves and all other ) s im ila rly situated individuals, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) V. ) ) C A R G IL L MEAT SOLUTIONS, Corp., ) ) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ D e f en d a n t. ____ ) __________________________________ )

8:09CV00247

A telephonic conference was held today to discuss the current status and future p ro g re ss io n of this case. In accordance with the parties' discussion:

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B y agreement of the defendant, conditional class certification is granted in H a f erla n d , et. al. v. Cargill, 8:09CV00247, with the conditional class defined to include: A ll current and former non-exempt hourly employees who have b e e n employed at any time by Defendant at its Schuyler, NE f a cility during the time period from April 20, 2006 to the p rese n t, who were compensated on a gang time system and wore o r used personal protective equipment.

2)

P lain tiff Martinez' motion to restrict, (4:09CV3079, filing no. 63), and his u n o p p o s e d motion for approval of notice and opt-in consent form, (4 :0 9 C V 3 0 7 9 , filing no. 69), are granted. Plaintiff Martinez' motion for h e a rin g , (4:09CV3079, filing no. 65), is denied. P l a in tif f Martinez' counsel shall mail an English and Spanish version of the c o u rt-a p p ro v e d notice and opt-in consent form to putative plaintiffs who have n o t previously completed an opt-in form to join either the Martinez or H a f e rla n d case. As to those plaintiffs who have already signed forms to opt in to either the Martinez or Haferland case, notices need not be re-sent and o p tin g in again using the court-approved consent form is unnecessary. T h e deadline for opting into this case is forty-five (45) days from the date the N o tice and consent form is actually mailed, and the court-approved Notice will in c lu d e that deadline. Putative plaintiffs who have not consented to opt-in w ith in the forty-five (45) day deadline will not be included in the conditional c la s s . T h e deadline for responding to written discovery served on the defendant by M a rtin e z is extended by thirty days. O n or before March 12, 2010, counsel for Martinez and Haferland shall confer to discuss how discovery and case progression can be coordinated among the p la in tif f s in this case, the goal being to develop cooperative discovery methods w h ic h avoid duplicating discovery requests, depositions, and effort, including

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p o ss ib ly withdrawing the written discovery already served on the defendant in f a v o r of sending a single non-repetitive set. 7) O n or before March 17, 2010, the parties shall confer to develop a joint s tip u la tio n for setting progression deadlines in this case. The joint stipulation s h a ll address, at a minimum: a. b. T h e deadline for Haferland's service of mandatory disclosures; T h e deadline for disclosure of experts and expert reports. By agreement o f the parties, expert disclosure deadlines may be staggered. T h e discovery and deposition deadline. The deadline for filing motions to certify the conditional classes and to c r e a te , if appropriate, subclasses. T h e deadline for filing any Rule 23 class certification motion. T h e deadline for filing motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment or motions to exclude expert testimony on Daubert and related grounds. A proposed pretrial conference deadline (by week and month); and A proposed trial deadline (by month), along with a statement indicating th e anticipated length of the trial.

c. d.

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8)

T h e parties' proposed progression schedule shall be emailed to the u n d e rsig ned at [e-mail]. If any case progression issues cannot b e jointly resolved by the parties, the proposed progression schedule shall id e n tif y those issues and set forth the parties respective positions.

D A T E D this 4th day of March, 2010. B Y THE COURT: S / Cheryl R. Zwart United States Magistrate Judge

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