Valley Health System, LLC et al v. Aetna Health, Inc. et al

Filing 91

ORDER granting 90 Motion; Discovery due by 1/20/2017., Motions due by 2/21/2017., Proposed Joint Pretrial Order due by 3/23/2017. Signed by Magistrate Judge Nancy J. Koppe on 11/1/2016. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - JM)

Case 2:15-cv-01457-JCM-NJK Document 90 Filed 11/01/16 Page 1 of 6

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Jon T. Neumann
Nevada Bar No. 12053
[e-mail]
Aaron J. Lockwood*
[e-mail]
Lisa M. Petrovsky*
[e-mail]
STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP
201 E. Washington St., Ste. 1600
Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2382
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]
*Admitted pro hac vice
Mark J. Connot
Nevada Bar No. 10010
[e-mail]
FOX ROTHSCHILD LLP
1980 Festival Plaza Drive, Suite 700
Las Vegas, Nevada 89135
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]
Attorneys for Defendants
Aetna Health, Inc. and
Aetna Health Management, LLC
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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DISTRICT OF NEVADA

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VALLEY HEALTH SYSTEM LLC et al.,

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Plaintiffs,
vs.
AETNA HEALTH, INC. et al.,
Defendants.

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No. 2:15-cv-01457-JCM-NJK
JOINT MOTION AND PROPOSED
ORDER TO AMEND SCHEDULING
ORDER AND DISCOVERY PLAN
(Fourth Request for Extension)
Trial Date: None set

Case 2:15-cv-01457-JCM-NJK Document 90 Filed 11/01/16 Page 2 of 6

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Pursuant to LR IA 6-1 and LR 26-4, Plaintiffs Valley Health System, LLC and

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Summerlin Hospital Medical Center, LLC (“Valley Health” or Plaintiffs”) and Defendants

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Aetna Health, Inc. and Aetna Health Management, LLC (“Aetna” or “Defendants”)

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(collectively, the “Parties”) jointly move to amend the October 5, 2015 Scheduling Order and

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Discovery Plan [Doc. 30], as amended on January 29, 2016 [Doc. 37], June 14, 2016 [Doc.40],

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and September 27, 2016 [Doc. 77] (the “Scheduling Order”), to extend the deadlines in this

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case as set forth below. This is the fourth motion to extend deadlines.

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Valley Health has moved to dismiss the counterclaims and compel arbitration of

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portions of it [Docs. 55 and 58.]; Aetna has responded to those motions [Docs. 59 and 60.]; and

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Valley Health replied to those motions. The full scope of the claims and defenses at issue in

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this case remains to be determined. Valley Health has also moved to compel further document

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production from Aetna [Doc. 69]. The Parties are waiting for rulings from the Court on these

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pending motions that will impact the discovery left to be completed by the Parties.

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A.

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The Parties have exchanged extensive discovery but the scope of material involved with

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the original lawsuit continues to require more work to compile and produce. This is not

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including any discovery that would be required for Aetna’s counterclaims or follow-up

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discovery related to Valley’s Health’s pending motion to compel. So even if the counterclaims

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do not proceed, the Parties’ experience with the materials produced so far supports that they

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need more time to complete discovery.

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Discovery Completed and Remaining to Be Completed

1.

Written Discovery

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As the Parties have previously noted, this is a document-intensive case involving

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voluminous sets of data and records relating to about 4,500 bills that Valley Health’s hospitals

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submitted to Aetna. To date, Aetna has produced approximately 392,044 pages of documents

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responsive to Valley Health’s requests for production and Valley Health has produced

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approximately 281,049 pages of documents responsive to Aetna’s requests for production.

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Aetna and Valley Health also recently served additional follow-up document requests on each

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other. Nevertheless, with the exception of documents subject to Valley Health’s pending
JOINT MOTION AND PROPOSED ORDER TO AMEND SCHEDULING ORDER AND DISCOVERY PLAN
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Case 2:15-cv-01457-JCM-NJK Document 90 Filed 11/01/16 Page 3 of 6

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motion to compel [Doc. 69], and subject to ongoing meet-and-confer discussions regarding

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certain categories of documents, the Parties presently anticipate completing their respective,

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rolling document productions by November 30, 2016.
2.

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Depositions

The Parties also have scheduled eleven depositions starting in mid-October 2016

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through mid-December.

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remaining seven to take place in November through mid-December. Several of the depositions

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will require travel to Connecticut and California given where the witnesses reside.

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upcoming depositions have been scheduled as follows pending the Court’s order: November 16

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(Valley Health’s witness/Las Vegas); November 17 (Valley Health’s witness/Las Vegas);

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November 18 (Valley Health’s witness/Las Vegas); November 21 (Valley Health’s witness/Las

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Vegas); December 7 (Valley Health’s witness/Orange County, California); December 14

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(Aetna’s witness/Hartford, CT); December 15 (Aetna’s witness/Hartford, CT); and December

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16 (Aetna’s witness/Hartford, CT).1
3.

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To date, the Parties have conducted four depositions with the

The

Reasons Why Current Deadlines Cannot Be Satisfied

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As described above, this case involves hundreds of thousands of documents that have

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already been produced relating to approximately 4,500 bills, and the Parties are continuing to

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produce documents on a rolling basis. Valley Health asserts money owed of over $30 million

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in underpaid bills.

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Despite the Parties’ best, good-faith efforts, including numerous calls among counsel to

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meet and confer regarding document production and to coordinate schedules for depositions,

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the Parties will be unable to complete their production of documents and depositions in advance

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of the current discovery cutoff of December 9, 2016. Due to the schedules of witnesses and

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counsel, as well as the need to substantially complete document production in advance of

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depositions, the Parties’ current deposition schedule anticipates depositions through at least

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The depositions scheduled for December 14, 15, and 16 were scheduled for November
8, 9, and 10. However, due to unforeseen scheduling issues, the earliest mutually available
dates for counsel and the witnesses to reschedule these depositions are December 14, 15, and
16, 2016.
JOINT MOTION AND PROPOSED ORDER TO AMEND SCHEDULING ORDER AND DISCOVERY PLAN
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December 16, 2016, with the possibility that additional deponents and documents may be

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identified as discovery progresses.

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B.

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Valley Health served its initial expert disclosures on August 18, 2016, and Aetna served

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its initial rebuttal expert disclosures on September 16. A dispute has arisen concerning the

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expert disclosures, wherein Valley Health disputes Aetna’s characterization of its September 16

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disclosure as being proper rebuttal. Aetna believes that its expert report appropriately provides

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only rebuttal opinions, responsive to the opinions expressed by Valley Health’s expert. The

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parties have met and conferred regarding Valley Health’s intended motion to strike Aetna’s

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“rebuttal” expert disclosure. The parties anticipate that additional modifications to expert

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witness deadlines may be warranted depending on the outcome of the anticipated motion to

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strike and fact information uncovered at fact witness depositions.

Expert Disclosures and Depositions

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Finally, because there is no trial currently set in this case, the brief extension of the

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discovery cutoff will have no impact on any other deadlines currently established by the Court,

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nor will it delay the trial of this matter. As previously noted, because of trials the Parties’

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counsel have in other matters, and because of the anticipated amount of time needed for trial in

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this case, it does not appear that the Parties are jointly available to proceed with trial until at

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least July 2017.

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For the foregoing reasons, the Parties submit that good cause exists for the extension of
the deadlines in the Scheduling Order and respectfully request the dates be revised as follows:

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A.

Close of fact discovery:

January 20, 2017

B.

Final date to file dispositive motions:

February 21, 2017

C.

Joint Proposed Pretrial Order:

March 23, 2017

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JOINT MOTION AND PROPOSED ORDER TO AMEND SCHEDULING ORDER AND DISCOVERY PLAN
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Case 2:15-cv-01457-JCM-NJK Document 90 Filed 11/01/16 Page 5 of 6

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IT IS SO STIPULATED.

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DATED this 1st day of November, 2016.

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By /s/ Amanda L. Hayes-Kibreab
(with permission)
Jennifer A. Hansen
Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, P.C.
101 W. Broadway, Ste. 1200
San Diego, California 92101

By /s/ Jon T. Neumann
Jon T. Neumann
Aaron J. Lockwood
Lisa M. Petrovsky
Steptoe & Johnson LLP
201 E. Washington St., Ste. 1600
Phoenix, Arizona 85004-2382

Glenn E. Solomon
Amanda L. Hayes-Kibreab
Jonathan H. Shin
Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, P.C.
1875 Century Park East, Ste. 1600
Los Angeles, California 90067

Mark J. Connot
Fox Rothschild LLP
1980 Festival Plaza Drive, Suite 700
Las Vegas, Nevada 89135
Attorneys for Defendants Aetna Health, Inc.
and Aetna Health Management, LLC

John H. Cotton
Melanie Bernstein Chapman
John H. Cotton & Associates, Ltd.
7900 W. Sahara Ave., Ste. 200
Las Vegas, Nevada 89117
Attorneys for Plaintiffs Valley Health System,
LLC and Summerlin Hospital Medical Center,
LLC

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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November 1,2016
October 11, 2016
DATED: ____________________________

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JOINT MOTION AND PROPOSED ORDER TO AMEND SCHEDULING ORDER AND DISCOVERY PLAN
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