Petrone v. Werner Enterprises, Inc. et al

Filing 103

ORDER granting ( 91 ) Motion to Extend in case 8:11-cv-00401-LES-FG3; granting ( 12 ) Motion to Extend in case 8:12-cv-00307-LES-FG3 Planning Conference set for 12/7/2012 at 08:15 AM in Chambers before Senior Judge Lyle E. Strom. Member Cases: 8:11-cv-00401-LES-FG3, 8:12-cv-00307-LES-FG3Ordered by Senior Judge Lyle E. Strom. (GJG)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
DISTRICT OF NEBRASKA
PHILLIP PETRONE,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
WERNER ENTERPRISES, INC.,
)
d/b/a WERNER TRUCKING, and
)
DRIVERS MANAGEMENT, LLC
)
)
Defendants.
)
______________________________)
PHILLIP PETRONE,
)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
WERNER ENTERPRISES, INC.,
)
d/b/a WERNER TRUCKING, and
)
DRIVERS MANAGEMENT, LLC
)
)
Defendants.
)
______________________________)

8:11CV401

8:12CV307

ORDER

This matter is before the Court on defendant’s motion
(Filing No. 91 in 8:11CV401; Filing No. 12 in 8:12CV307) for an
extension of time to file a response to plaintiff’s motion for
class certification (Filing No. 85 in 8:11CV401).

The Court

finds that the motion should be granted.
The parties agreed in their 26(f) report to engage in
an initial round of discovery aimed exclusively at class
certification.

This included a discovery deadline and a deadline

for certification motions.

A motion for conditional

certification was filed on June 29, 2012, and was later deemed

timely despite a two-week delay.

Conditional certification was

granted on October 11, 2012.
Though this suit was originally filed with both federal
and state-law claims, the Pennsylvania state-law claims were
dropped when the plaintiffs realized they had pursued the law of
the wrong state.

However, on August 28, 2012, plaintiffs filed a

separate suit based on the same facts but pressing a claim under
the law of Nebraska.

The Court consolidated the cases on October

11, 2012 -- well after the deadlines for discovery and motions on
FLSA class certification had passed.

Given the differences in

the state and federal law, an additional planning conference and
a new round of discovery are warranted now that the cases have
been combined.
Had the suits been allowed to continue separately, the
state-law case would have undergone a similar process of initial
class-certification discovery.

Further, plaintiffs, having

chosen to file separate suits would have had to proceed with
separate notices to the potential class members.

Therefore, the

Court finds no prejudice to plaintiffs if they should decide to
issue their FLSA notice before the notice for their state-law
claim.

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IT IS ORDERED:
1) The deadline for defendant’s response is extended
until a planning conference can be held wherein new discovery and
motion deadlines will be set.
2) A planning conference will be held on:
Friday, December 7, 2012, at 8:15 a.m.
Suite 3190, Roman L. Hruska United States Courthouse, 111 South
18th Plaza, Omaha, Nebraska.

The parties may participate by

telephone by advising Judge Strom’s office prior to the
conference: [phone].
DATED this 16th day of November, 2012.
BY THE COURT:
/s/ Lyle E. Strom
____________________________
LYLE E. STROM, Senior Judge
United States District Court

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