Delgado v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company et al

Filing 76

SCHEDULING ORDER by Magistrate Judge Gregory J. Fouratt. Discovery due by 8/20/2018. Dispositive Motions due by 9/18/2018. Proposed Pretrial Order due by 11/20/2018. (kdj)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO
RICARDO DELGADO,
Plaintiff,
Civ. No. 15-196 JCH/GJF
v.
FARMERS INSURANCE
COMPANY OF ARIZONA,
Defendant.
ORDER SETTING PRETRIAL DEADLINES
AND BRIEFING SCHEDULE
The Court held a Rule 16 initial scheduling conference on January 25, 2018. The Joint
Status Report filed by Defendant, after consultation with the parties, is adopted as an order of the
Court, except as provided below.
The deadline for Plaintiff to amend pleadings and/or join additional parties is February
23, 2018. The deadline for Defendants to amend pleadings and/or join additional parties is
March 9, 2018.
Each side shall be limited to serving thirty (30) interrogatories to another side and each
side shall be limited to serving thirty (30) requests for production to the other side. There shall
be no limit on requests for admission to another side. All responses shall be served within thirty
(30) days. Depositions shall be limited to fifteen (15) per side. There shall be a four-hour limit
on all depositions, unless extended by agreement of both parties, except for depositions of
experts and parties, for which there shall be a seven-hour limit on all depositions, unless
extended by agreement of both parties.

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All expert witnesses must be disclosed by the parties, even if the expert is not required to
submit an expert report. See Musser v. Gentiva Health Servs., 356 F.3d 751, 756-57 (7th Cir.
2004); FED. R. CIV. P. 26(a)(2)(B) & (C); D.N.M.LR-Civ. 26.3(b). Plaintiff shall identify to
Defendant in writing any expert witness to be used by Plaintiff at trial and provide expert reports
or other disclosures pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(B) & (C) no later than
May 22, 2018. Defendant shall identify in writing any expert witness to be used at trial and
provide expert reports or other disclosures pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
26(a)(2)(B) & (C) no later than July 6, 2018.
The termination date for discovery is August 20, 2018, and discovery shall not be
reopened, except by an order of the Court upon a showing of good cause. This deadline shall be
construed to require that discovery be completed on or before the above date. Service of
interrogatories or requests for production shall be considered timely only if the responses are due
prior to the deadline.

A notice to take deposition shall be considered timely only if the

deposition takes place prior to the deadline. The pendency of dispositive motions shall not stay
discovery.
Motions relating to discovery (including, but not limited to, motions to compel and
motions for protective order) shall be filed with the Court and served on opposing parties by
September 4, 2018. Local Rule of Civil Procedure 7 provides motion practice requirements and
timing of responses and replies. This deadline shall not be construed to extend the twenty-day
time limit in Local Rule of Civil Procedure 26.6. 1

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Of course, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 26(c)(1) and 37(a)(1) require parties to “in good faith confer[] or
attempt to confer” prior to filing such motions. The mere imminence of the twenty-day time limit does not excuse
this obligation, so parties must initiate the attempts to confer promptly to ensure they have sufficient time to
adequately discuss the dispute. Nonetheless, if the parties are actively conferring on the matter, the Court will
liberally grant motions to extend the Local Rule 26.6 deadline.

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Pretrial motions, other than discovery motions, shall be filed with the Court and served
on opposing parties by September 18, 2018. Local Rule of Civil Procedure 7 shall also control
their form and timing. Any pretrial motions, other than discovery motions, filed after the above
dates may be considered untimely in the discretion of the Court.
If documents are attached as exhibits to motions, affidavits, or briefs, those parts of the
exhibits that counsel want to bring to the attention of the Court must be highlighted in
accordance with Local Rule of Civil Procedure 10.6.
Motion practice must be conducted in accordance with the local rules. In particular, the
Court would highlight Local Rule of Civil Procedure 7.4, which provides that response and reply
deadlines “may be extended by agreement of all parties. For each agreed extension, the party
requesting the extension must file a notice identifying the new deadline and the document
(response or reply) to be filed. If an extension of time is opposed, the party seeking the
extension must file a separate motion within the applicable fourteen (14) day period.”
D.N.M.LR-Civ. 7.4(a).

Of course, any extension of briefing time must not interfere with the

case management deadlines established herein. Id.
Counsel are directed to submit a consolidated final pretrial order as follows: Plaintiffs to
Defendants on or before November 6, 2018; Defendants to Court on or before November 20,
2018. Counsel are directed that the pretrial order will provide that no witnesses except rebuttal
witnesses, whose testimony cannot be anticipated, will be permitted to testify unless the name of
the witness is furnished to the Court and opposing counsel no later than thirty (30) days prior to
the time set for trial. Any exceptions thereto must be upon order of the Court for good cause
shown.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.

____________ _____________________________
THE HONORABLE GREGORY J. FOURATT
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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