Julian v. MetLife, Inc. et al

Filing 188

ORDER: Extended Deadlines. In light of the pre-certification discovery yet to becompleted, the Court extends certain pending deadlines as follows: a. Close of pre-certification class discovery August 28, 2020. b. Due date for plaintiffs' Rule 23 class certification motion September 30, 2020. (As further set forth in this Order.) ( Discovery due by 8/28/2020., Motions due by 9/30/2020.) (Signed by Magistrate Judge Barbara C. Moses on 6/30/2020) (cf)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

06/30/2020

DEBRA JULIAN, et al.,
Plaintiffs,

17-CV-957 (AJN) (BCM)

-againstMETROPOLITAN LIFE INS. CO.,

ORDER

Defendant.
BARBARA MOSES, United States Magistrate Judge.

For the reasons stated on the record at the June 29, 2020 conference, it is hereby
ORDERED as follows:
1.

Opt-in Depositions. Defendant may conduct depositions of 13 additional opt-in
plaintiffs, for a total of 20 opt-in depositions (25% of the 80 opt-in plaintiffs).
Defendant may select 10 of the 13 deponents; plaintiffs may select the remaining
three. Each deposition is limited to one day of seven hours. The parties shall
identify the additional opt-in deponents promptly no later than July 2, 2020, so
that the depositions can be scheduled and completed – with adequate time for predeposition written discovery, as discussed below – by the close of precertification discovery.

2.

Written Discovery. Defendant is not precluded from serving well-tailored and
non-burdensome written discovery requests, in accordance with the Federal Rules
of Civil Procedure, on the opt-in deponents. Any disputes concerning those
requests should be promptly presented to the Court, in accordance with Local
Civil Rule 37.2 and this Court's Individual Practices, so as not to delay the
depositions. Defendant may not require the opt-in deponents to fill out its
proposed survey (Dkt. No. 178-1) or employ similar informal written discovery
devices.

3.

Connecticut Class Size. Defendant shall supplement its response to Request for
Admission (RFA) No. 3, contained within plaintiffs' Second Requests for
Admissions (Dkt. No. 186-5 at ECF page 5), no later than July 6, 2020. If at that
time defendant cannot admit or deny whether there are "at least forty (40) fulltime LTD Claims Specialists [that] worked for MetLife in the State of
Connecticut during the CMWA Class Period," RFA No. 3, it shall instead
stipulate that for class certification purposes in this case, it will not contest
numerosity with respect the proposed Connecticut class.

4.

Remaining Unscheduled Fact Depositions. The parties report that two Rule
30(b)(6) depositions have been scheduled but not yet completed, and that
plaintiffs have identified five additional fact witnesses, associated with defendant,

whose depositions have not yet been scheduled. Those depositions shall be
scheduled as promptly as possible, so as to enable defendant to produce all ESI
associated with each such deponent no later than one week prior to his or her
deposition.
5.

Remaining Document Production. All remaining document production in
response to pending requests, including ESI, shall be substantially completed no
later than July 29, 2020. Any remaining disputes with respect to ESI search terms
shall be should be promptly presented to the Court, in accordance with Local
Civil Rule 37.2 and this Court's Individual Practices, so as not to delay the
substantial completion date. Defendant is not required to produce individualized
plan documents or plan descriptions for each employer/company within the
responsibility of each opt-in deponent.

6.

Extended Deadlines. In light of the pre-certification discovery yet to be
completed, the Court extends certain pending deadlines as follows:
a.

Close of pre-certification class discovery – August 28, 2020.

b.

Due date for plaintiffs' Rule 23 class certification motion – September 30,
2020.

No further extensions shall be granted absent compelling circumstances. The
parties shall meet and confer (remotely) and propose a schedule to the Court for
opposition and reply papers with regard to class certification.
Dated: New York, New York
June 30, 2020
SO ORDERED.

________________________________
BARBARA MOSES
United States Magistrate Judge

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