USA v. Filip et al

Filing 33

ORDER approving 30 Discovery Plan. ; terminating 31 Discovery Plan.. So Ordered by Magistrate Judge Landya B. McCafferty. Summary Judgment Motions due by 7/16/2012. Mediation Status Report Follow Up on 1/9/2012. (mxm)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND

United States of America
V.

Civil No. 11-cv-283-PB

MDF Properties, LLC, et al.

PRETRIAL ORDER
On today=s date, a preliminary pretrial conference was held
telephonically in this case.

Attorney Nathan L. Strup appeared

for plaintiff, Attorneys Steven J. Dutton and Scott H. Harris
appeared for defendant MDF Properties, LLC, (“MDF”), and
Attorney Martha Van Oot appeared for defendant Southern New
Hampshire Bank and Trust Company, now known as Bank of New
England (“BNE”).
Before the court are two proposed discovery plans: one is
proposed jointly by plaintiff and BNE (doc. no. 30) and the
other is proposed by MDF (doc. no. 31).

The plans are identical

except that MDF requests the court to order the parties to
attend mediation and schedule it for a date certain, while
plaintiff and BNE request that the court set a date by which the
parties are required to notify the court of the case’s
suitability for mediation.

In short, plaintiff believes it

needs discovery of key witnesses in the case before it can
commit to mediation.

Having heard the arguments

of counsel on this limited issue, the court concludes that
expedited discovery followed by a required status report is
appropriate.

Accordingly, the court approves document no. 30,

with the following modifications:
1.

Trial is scheduled for the two-week period beginning

December 4, 2012.
2.

Discovery shall be conducted in two phases, with the

second phase closing in accordance with the date selected by the
parties: November 6, 2012.
3.

Phase 1 of discovery shall occur on an expedited basis

and shall include at minimum the depositions of the three to
four critical witnesses in this case, as described by Attorney
Strup during this telephone conference.

To that end, the

parties are ordered to confer within the next thirty days to
arrange for the scheduling of those depositions and any other
discovery that they agree is critical to the case and will
assist the parties in preparing for -- or determining whether -the case is suitable for mediation.
or before December 29, 2011.

2

Phase 1 shall conclude on

4.

On or before January 9, 2012, each party shall file

with the court a status report addressing the case’s suitability
for mediation.

The court will make a decision about whether to

order mediation at this time.
SO ORDERED.

__________________________
Landya B. McCafferty
United States Magistrate Judge
Dated:
cc:

August 29, 2011

Steven J. Dutton, Esq.
Scott H. Harris, Esq.
Nathan L. Strup, Esq.
Martha Van Oot, Esq.

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