Gutierrez v. Otero County Board of County Commissioners et al

Filing 41

Rule 16 SCHEDULING ORDER by Magistrate Judge Kevin R. Sweazea. Fact Discovery due by August 11, 2025. Expert Discovery due by October 24, 2025. Dispositive Motions due by November 18, 2025. Consult attached order for additional deadlines. (ldm)

Case 2:24-cv-00555-GJF-KRS

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO
REBECCA GUTIERREZ, as personal
representative to the Estate of Jacob Gutierrez
,
Plaintiff,
v.

No. 2:24-cv-555-GJF/KRS

OTERO COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS; NENA SISLER; SUSIE
LOEWEN; VITAL CORE HEALTH
STRATEGIES, LLC; ANDREA STAFFORD;
and MARK LAIN,
Defendants.
SCHEDULING ORDER
THIS MATTER comes before the Court following a telephonic Rule 16 scheduling
conference held on March 12, 2025. At the hearing, the Court adopted the parties’ proposed Joint
Status Report and Provisional Discovery Plan, with slight modifications, as reflected in the dates
below:
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the parties shall adhere to the following
discovery plan:
(a)

Maximum of twenty-five (25) interrogatories by Plaintiff to the County

Defendants; 1 twenty-five (25) interrogatories by Plaintiff to the Vital Core Defendants 2; twenty-

1

The County Defendants include Otero County Board of County Commissioners, Nena Sisler, and
Susie Loewen.
2

The Vital Core Defendants include Vital Core Health, Strategies, LLC, Andrea Stafford, and
Mark Lain.
Scheduling Order
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Case 2:24-cv-00555-GJF-KRS

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five (25) interrogatories by the County Defendants to Plaintiff; and twenty-five (25) interrogatories
by the Vital Core Defendants to Plaintiff. Responses due thirty (30) days after service.
(b)

Maximum of twenty-five (25) requests for admission by Plaintiff to the County

Defendants; twenty-five (25) requests for admission by Plaintiff to the Vital Core Defendants;
twenty-five (25) requests for admission by the County Defendants to Plaintiff; and twenty-five
(25) requests for admission by the Vital Core Defendants to Plaintiff. Responses due thirty (30)
days after service.
(c)

Maximum of twenty-five (25) requests for production by Plaintiff to the County

Defendants; twenty-five (25) requests for production by Plaintiff to the Vital Core Defendants;
twenty-five (25) requests for production by the County Defendants to Plaintiff; and twenty-five
(25) requests for production by the Vital Core Defendants to Plaintiff. Responses due thirty (30)
days after service.
(d)

Maximum of ten (10) depositions by Plaintiff, ten (10) depositions by the County

Defendants, and ten (10) depositions by the Vital Core Defendants. Each deposition is limited to
a maximum of four (4) hours unless extended by agreement of the parties, except depositions of
parties, Rule 30(b)(6) designees, and experts, which are limited to seven (7) hours unless extended
by agreement of the parties.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the following case management deadlines shall
govern:
(a)

Deadline for Plaintiff to move to amend pleadings or join additional parties: April

11, 2025;
(b)

Deadline for Defendants to move to amend pleadings or join additional parties:

May 12, 2025.
Scheduling Order
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(c)

Termination of fact discovery: August 11, 2025.

(d)

Motions relating to fact discovery: September 2, 2025.

(e)

Deadline for Plaintiff’s expert reports: August 26, 2025. 3

(f)

Deadline for Defendants’ expert reports: September 25, 2025.

(g)

Termination of expert discovery: October 24, 2025.

(h)

Motions relating to expert discovery: November 7, 2025.

(i)

Deadline for supplementing discovery/disclosures: Due within thirty (30) days

of receipt of information giving rise to the need for supplementation.
(j)

All other motions: 4 November 18, 2025.

(k)

Pretrial order: To be set by the presiding judge.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Court must approve any changes to the timing or
scope of discovery, other than the parties’ agreement to extend the length of a deposition made
during the deposition in question. Requests by a party to change the timing or scope of discovery,
other than a mutual agreement to extend a deposition reached during the deposition, must be made
by motion and before the termination of discovery or the expiration of any applicable deadline.
Discovery must be completed on or before the termination of the discovery deadline. A written
discovery request must be propounded by a date which ensures that the response to that request is
due on or before the discovery deadline. The parties are further reminded that the cutoff for
3

The parties must have their experts ready to be deposed at the time they identify them and produce
their reports.
4

This deadline applies to motions related to the admissibility of experts or expert testimony that
may require a Daubert hearing, but otherwise does not apply to motions in limine. The Court will
set a motions in limine deadline in a separate order. Counsel should review and comply with the
chambers-specific guidelines for the presiding and referral judges assigned to this case, which are
available at https://www.nmd.uscourts.gov/judges. Each judge may have practices and submission
procedures that counsel are expected to follow.
Scheduling Order
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motions related to discovery does not relieve the party of the twenty-one (21) day time-period
under Local Rule 26.6 to challenge a party’s objections to answering discovery. The parties are
encouraged to review Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2) to ensure they properly disclose all
testifying witnesses, not just those for whom a report is required.
SO ORDERED THIS 12th day of March 2025.

______________________________
KEVIN R. SWEAZEA
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Scheduling Order
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