Chism v. Costco Wholesale Corporation

Filing 23

ORDER granting 22 Stipulation for Extension of time; Discovery due by 8/20/2021. Motions due by 9/21/2021. Proposed Joint Pretrial Order due by 10/25/2021. Signed by Magistrate Judge Brenda Weksler on 4/27/2021. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - DRS)

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Case 2:20-cv-00967-JAD-BNW Document 22 Filed 04/23/21 Page 1 of 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Edgar Carranza, Esq. Nevada State Bar No. 5902 Jacquelyn Franco, Esq. Nevada State No. 13484 BACKUS, CARRANZA & BURDEN 3050 S. Durango Drive Las Vegas, NV 89117 (702) 872-5555 (702) 872-5545 facsimile ecarranza@backuslaw.com Attorneys for Defendant COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3050 SOUTH DURANGO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89117 TELE: (702) 872-5555 FAX: (702) 872-5545 BACKUS, CARRANZA & BURDEN 10 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 11 12 MICHELLE CHISM, 13 Plaintiffs, 14 15 16 vs. COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION, DOES I – V; ROE CORPORATINS I - X; 17 Defendants. 18 19 20 ) ) ) Case No. 2:20-CV-967-JAD-BNW ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) STIPULATION AND ORDER TO EXTEND DISCOVERY PLAN AND SCHEDULING ORDER 21 (Fourth Request) 22 23 Plaintiff, MICHELLE CHISM, by and through counsel, Peter Angulo, Esq. of the Angulo 24 Law Group, LLC, and Defendant, COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION, by and through 25 counsel, Edgar Carranza, Esq. of the law firm BACKUS, CARRANZA & BURDEN, hereby submit the 26 instant stipulation and order to extend the Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order pursuant to Local 27 28 Rule II 26-4 as follows: Case 2:20-cv-00967-JAD-BNW Document 22 Filed 04/23/21 Page 2 of 9 1 2 3 4 I. GOOD CAUSE SUPPORTING THE EXTENSION. The parties come to this Court seeking a fourth extension of the Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order governing this case. And while the parties appreciate that this Court has previously indicated that “it is not inclined to grant any additional discovery extensions absent 5 6 7 extraordinary circumstances establishing good cause” the parties unanimously agree that such circumstances exist in this case so as to warrant the requested extension. 8 As this Court is well aware, this lawsuit involves allegations that Plaintiff, MICHELLE 9 CHISM (hereinafter referred to as “Plaintiff” or “Ms. Chism”) fell due to an unspecified condition 10 she encountered while walking down an aisle. The fall resulted in very serious injuries to Plaintiff 3050 SOUTH DURANGO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89117 TELE: (702) 872-5555 FAX: (702) 872-5545 BACKUS, CARRANZA & BURDEN 11 12 including traumatic brain injury with cognitive deficits, fractures to her left orbital bone, nasal fracture, bilateral subarachnoid hemorrhages, tentorial subdural hemorrhage for which she was 13 14 15 transported to University Medical Center where she was admitted and remained for 28 days. On May 11, 2020, Plaintiff filed her Complaint against Costco in the Eighth Judicial 16 District Court for Clark County, Nevada. On May 28, 2020, Defendant, COSTCO WHOLESALE 17 CORPORATION (hereinafter referred to as “Costco”) filed its Answer denying Plaintiff’s 18 allegations and denying all liability for the fall and removed the matter to this Court based on 19 diversity jurisdiction. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 The parties participated in the Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) conference on July 2, 2020 and the stipulated Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order was entered by this Court on August 12, 2020. The parties also submitted, and on September 21, 2020 this Court entered, the Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement and Protective Order providing protections for information and material deemed confidential by Costco to help facilitate the exchange of this material during discovery. This agreed upon protective order took several weeks to negotiate and agree to. Since then, the parties have ben engaged in discovery. Initially, they exchanged their respective Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 disclosures. Next, the parties each served a first set of written discovery requests to each other which have been responded to. Discovery disputes emerged from 2 Case 2:20-cv-00967-JAD-BNW Document 22 Filed 04/23/21 Page 3 of 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 3050 SOUTH DURANGO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89117 TELE: (702) 872-5555 FAX: (702) 872-5545 BACKUS, CARRANZA & BURDEN 11 12 the initial wave of written responses, which the parties addressed via a sincere efforts conference and which was successful in resolving the same without the intervention of this Court. As a result, supplemental responses have been served. A second set of written discovery has been served by Costco to Plaintiff for which responses are due next month. The second set of discovery is intended to follow up on and secure additional information based on the responses to the initial set of written discovery and the testimony from the parties secured via their respective depositions. The deposition of Costco Rule 30(b)(6) designee on 19 different topics was taken by Plaintiff. In addition, Plaintiff took the depositions of Costco Administrative Manager, Michael Le, Costco Night Floor Manager, Mark Mans and Costco Front End Supervisor, Taylor Price. Costco has completed the comprehensive deposition of Plaintiff and has noticed the deposition of Plaintiff’s boyfriend, Eddiee Diaz, who was with Plaintiff at the Costco warehouse 13 on the day of the fall. Costco is also in the process of noticing the depositions of Plaintiff’s sister, 14 Jaime Burns and her three daughters. 15 The shut down and subsequent limitations brought on by the COVID 19 pandemic initial 16 led to some delays in the parties’ respective ability to participate in the deposition process. Since 17 those initial delays, the parties have diligently begun deposing the parties and witnesses involved. 18 Moreover, this is a significant personal injury matter that will require significant effort by 19 both parties. Plaintiff has already identified over $254,000.00 in past medical expenses, unknown 20 future medical expenses, unknown past wage loss claim and unknown future wage loss claim, to 21 name some of the damage components identified thus far. Significant effort will be required to 22 address each of the damage components, and the liability portion of this case. 23 Finally, the fruits of the discovery completed thus far has resulted in the parties beginning 24 to discuss a potential resolution to this case. Additional time granted by this Court will further 25 facilitate the discussions. 26 As the parties are only several months into the discovery process and have meaningfully 27 committed themselves to move discovery forward as expediently as possible, good cause exists to 28 extend the current Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order to allow the parties to continue to move 3 Case 2:20-cv-00967-JAD-BNW Document 22 Filed 04/23/21 Page 4 of 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 this case forward. Added to the above good cause is the fact that this case is less than 12 months from its initial filing and no unwarranted delay has been experienced, especially considering the overlay of the COVID-19 pandemic on top of this case. II. DISCOVERY COMPLETED TO DATE. In accordance with LR II 26-4(a), the Parties provide the following statement of discovery completed to date: A. 8 1. 3050 SOUTH DURANGO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89117 TELE: (702) 872-5555 FAX: (702) 872-5545 Plaintiff’s First Set of Requests for Admission to Costco served 08-12-20. 5. 12 Plaintiff’s First Set of Requests for Production to Costco served 08-12-20. 4. 11 Plaintiff’s First Set of Interrogatories to Costco served 08-12-20. 3. 10 Plaintiff’s FRCP 26 initial disclosures served 08-03-20. 2. 9 BACKUS, CARRANZA & BURDEN Plaintiff’s Discovery. Plaintiff’s Answers to Costco’s First Set of Interrogatories served on 12-07- 13 20. 14 6. 15 Plaintiff’s Responses to Costco’s Request for Production served on 12-0720. 16 7. 17 Plaintiff’s Supplemental Answers to Costco’s First Set of Interrogatories served on 04-09-21. 18 8. 19 Plaintiff’s Supplemental Responses to Costco’s First Set of Requests for Production served on 04-09-21. 20 9. 21 Deposition of Costco Administrative Manager, Michael Le taken on 03-2421. 22 10. Deposition of Costco’s Rule 30(b)(6) designee taken on 03-25-21. 23 11. Deposition of Costco Night Floor Manager, Mark Mans taken on 03-26-21. 24 12. Deposition of Costco Front End Supervisor, Taylor Price taken on 03-26- 25 26 21. B. Defendant’s Discovery. 27 1. Costco’s FRCP 26 initial disclosures served 10-14-20. 28 2. Costco’s First Set of Interrogatories to Plaintiff served 10-19-20. 4 Case 2:20-cv-00967-JAD-BNW Document 22 Filed 04/23/21 Page 5 of 9 1 3. 4. 3 Costco’s Answers to Plaintiff’s First Set of Interrogatories served 10-19-20. 5. 2 Costco’s First Set of Requests for Production to Plaintiff served 10-19-20. Costco’s Responses to Plaintiff’s First Set of Requests for Production 4 served 10-19-20. 5 6. 6 served 10-19-20. 7 7. 8 8. 10 Costco’s Supplemental Answers to Plaintiff’s First Set of Interrogatories served on 01-08-21. 11 3050 SOUTH DURANGO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89117 TELE: (702) 872-5555 FAX: (702) 872-5545 Costco’s Supplemental Responses to Plaintiff’s First Set of Request for Production served on 01-08-21. 9 BACKUS, CARRANZA & BURDEN Costco’s Responses to Plaintiff’s First Set of Requests for Admissions 9. 12 Costco secured independent copies of Plaintiff’s medical records via the depositions of custodian of records for each medical provider from January 13 through March 2021. 14 10. Costco’s First Supplement to FRCP 26 disclosures served on 03-25-21. 15 11. Costco’s Second Supplement to FRCP 26 disclosures served o 04-21-21. 16 12. Deposition of Plaintiff taken on 04-21-21. 17 13. Costco’s Second Set of Interrogatories to Plaintiff served on 04-23-21. 18 14 Costco Second Set of Requests for Production to Plaintiff served 04-23-21. 19 15. Costco is securing independent copies of Plaintiff’s employment records, 20 tax records, 911 Emergency records and counseling records via custodian of 21 records depositions for the entities involved noticed on 04-22-21. 22 23 24 25 26 III. DISCOVERY REMAINING TO BE COMPLETED. In accordance with LR II 26-4(b), the Parties provide the following statement of discovery remaining to be completed: A. Plaintiff’s remaining discovery. 1. 27 28 Plaintiff must designate initial experts and produce the required report and materials. 2. Plaintiff must designate rebuttal experts and produce the required report and 5 Case 2:20-cv-00967-JAD-BNW Document 22 Filed 04/23/21 Page 6 of 9 1 materials. 2 3. 4. 3 4 B. 5 Deposition of Costco’s employee of Roxanne Thomas. Deposition(s) of Costco’s expert must be taken. Defendant’s remaining discovery: 1. 2 6 Depositions of percipient witnesses must be taken including Eddiee Diaz. Depositions of Plaintiff’s family members including Trinity Chism, Payton 7 Chism, Kadie Chism and Jaime Burns. 8 3. 9 physicians and staff at UMC who attended to Plaintiff during her 28 day 10 admittance. 3050 SOUTH DURANGO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89117 TELE: (702) 872-5555 FAX: (702) 872-5545 BACKUS, CARRANZA & BURDEN 11 4. 12 Costco must designate initial experts and produce the required report and materials. 13 5. 14 Costco must designate rebuttal experts and produce the required report and materials. 15 16 Depositions of Plaintiff’s treating providers must be taken including the 6. IV. Deposition(s) of Plaintiff’s expert must be taken. WHY REMAINING DISCOVERY HAS NOT BEEN COMPLETED. 17 As referenced above, initially, the limitations related to the COVID 19 pandemic led to 18 some delays and conflicts with counsel’s availability/schedule. Nonetheless, good faith efforts 19 were made by both parties to meet the obligations required of both of them. 20 The parties also initially devoted several weeks to negotiating and ultimately agreeing to 21 the Stipulated Confidentiality Agreement and Protective Order, which was entered on September 22 21, 2020. Be agreeing to the same, the parties hope to facilitate the exchange of confidential 23 and/or proprietary material during discovery which could avoid delays as this case moves forward. 24 Once the parties embarked on discovery, they have been able to move this matter forward 25 with the appropriate diligence. As detailed above, significant discovery has been completed 26 including the completion of multiple waves of written discovery, securing independent copies of 27 Plaintiff’s medical records, completing the party deposition (Plaintiff and Costco’s Rule 30(b)(6) 28 designee), completing percipient witness depositions (Michael Le, Marks Mans and Taylor Price). 6 Case 2:20-cv-00967-JAD-BNW Document 22 Filed 04/23/21 Page 7 of 9 1 2 Despite the diligent efforts, significant discovery remains to be completed. V. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 3050 SOUTH DURANGO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89117 TELE: (702) 872-5555 FAX: (702) 872-5545 BACKUS, CARRANZA & BURDEN 11 12 13 PROPOSED SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETING DISCOVERY. This request for an extension of time is not sought for any improper purpose or other purpose of delay. The parties respectfully submit that this constitutes good cause for the extension. The following is a list of the current discovery deadlines and the parties’ proposed extended deadlines. Scheduled Event Current Deadline Proposed Deadline Discovery Cut Off June 21, 2021 August 20, 2021 Amend Pleadings/Add Parties Closed Closed Initial Expert Disclosures April 23, 2021 June 22, 2021 Rebuttal Expert Disclosures May 21, 2021 July 20, 2021 Dispositive Motions July 23, 2021 September 21, 2021 Joint Pre-Trial Order August 26, 2021 October 25, 2021 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... .... 7 Case 2:20-cv-00967-JAD-BNW Document 22 Filed 04/23/21 Page 8 of 9 1 This is the fourth request for extension of time in this matter and no trial date will be 2 impacted by the extension as no such trial date has been set. The parties submit that the reasons 3 set forth above constitute good cause for the requested extension. 4 5 6 DATED this 23rd day of April, 2021. DATED this 23rd day of April, 2021. BACKUS, CARRANZA & BURDEN 7 Angulo Law Group 8 9 10 3050 SOUTH DURANGO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89117 TELE: (702) 872-5555 FAX: (702) 872-5545 BACKUS, CARRANZA & BURDEN 11 12 13 By: By: /s/ Edgar Carranza____________ Edgar Carranza, Esq. Nevada Bar No. 5902 3050 South Durango Drive Las Vegas, Nevada 89117 Attorney for Defendants COSTCO WHOLESALE CORPORATION /s/ Peter M. Angulo_________ Peter M. Angulo, Esq. Nevada Bar No. 3672 5545 S. Mountain Vista Street, Suite F Las Vegas, Nevada 891206 Attorneys for Plaintiff MICHELLE CHISM 14 15 16 17 IT IS SO ORDERED… 18 19 20 DATED this 26th day of April, 2021. ____ ____________________________________ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 8 Case 2:20-cv-00967-JAD-BNW Document 22 Filed 04/23/21 Page 9 of 9 Patti Sherretts From: Sent: To: Subject: manthis@angulolawgroup.com Friday, April 23, 2021 11:19 AM Patti Sherretts RE: Chism It is good.  Please use Peter’s e‐signature.      Margaret Anthis, Legal Secretary  Angulo Law Group, LLC  5545 S. Mountain Vista Street, Suite F  Las Vegas, Nevada  89120   (702) 384‐8000  manthis@angulolawgroup.com     This email transmission and any attachments are for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain  confidential and privileged information that is the sole property of the sender. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure  or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy and delete all  copies of this email and any attachments.    From: Patti Sherretts <pattisherretts@backuslaw.com>   Sent: Friday, April 23, 2021 11:18 AM  To: manthis@angulolawgroup.com  Subject: Chism    See attached. Thanks. Patti Sherretts Legal Assistant to: Edgar Carranza, Esq., Leland Eugene Backus, Esq., Backus, Carranza & Burden 3050 South Durango Las Vegas, Nevada 89117 (702) 872-5555 (702) 872-5545 Facsimile 1

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