One West Owners Association v. Allstate Insurance Company

Filing 22

ORDER granting 21 Stipulated Motion for Extension of Time to Complete Discovery; Discovery completed by 6/30/2017, by Judge Ricardo S Martinez. (PM)

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1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ONE WEST OWNERS ASSOCIATION, a Washington nonprofit corporation, 15 16 17 18 19 2:16-cv-00225-RSM STIPULATED MOTION TO CONTINUE DEADLINE TO COMPLETE DISCOVERY Plaintiff, v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, an Illinois corporation, Defendant. 13 14 NO. STIPULATED MOTION Come now, the Parties to the above-entitled action, by and through their respective counsel, and stipulate to this Motion for a continuance of the amended deadline for the completion of discovery. The extension of the discovery cutoff date will not change any other dates or events contained in the Order Setting Trial Date and Related Dates. (See Dkt. #15). Currently, the amended discovery cutoff is set for June 5, 2017. The parties jointly 20 stipulate to a continuance of the deadline to complete discovery to June 30, 2017 in order to 21 provide counsel additional time to complete depositions, written discovery, and to resolve, if 22 necessary, any discovery disputes that may arise between the parties; hopefully with minimal 23 court intervention. Current Deadline 24 25 Discovery Cutoff Date Proposed Deadline June 5, 2017 June 30, 2017 26 Pursuant to LR 16(b)(5) a scheduling Order may be modified “only for good cause and 27 with the judge’s consent.” Here the parties agree that good cause exists to extend the discovery 28 cutoff date to June 30, 2017. STIPULATION AND ORDER - 1 1 The parties in this matter have diligently pursued discovery and worked toward 2 resolution of the case. Both Allstate Insurance Company (“Allstate”) and the One West Owners’ 3 Association (the “Association”) have propounded discovery. The Association has responded to 4 Allstate’s discovery requests. Allstate has not yet responded to the Association’s requests, but 5 has informed counsel that it intends to respond no later than May 10, 2017. 1 6 7 8 9 10 On May 2, 2017, the parties engaged in mediation, but were unfortunately unable to resolve this matter. Moving forward, the parties seek to conduct depositions, finish depositions and if necessary resolve any discovery disputes that may arise between the parties. Thus far, the parties have conducted several depositions, including:     11 12 13 The Association’s Expert Consultant, Kris Eggert; The Association’s Fed.R.Civ.P. 30(b)(6); The Association’s Property Manager (Venita Longley); Mark Schaefer, Allstate disclosed expert witness. The depositions of both Mark Schaefer and the Association’s Fed.R.Civ.P. 30(b)(6) are 14 15 incomplete and will require further deposition testimony. The parties also intend to conduct 16 additional depositions, including but not limited to the following: 17 20       21 The Allstate 30(b)(6) deposition was set for May 10, 2017. However, Allstate recently 18 19 Carol Tatman, Allstate’s Fed.R.Civ.P. 30(b)(6); Brian Johnson, the Association’s Cost Estimator; Barry Goodell, Allstate’s Rebuttal Expert; Donald Schellberg, Allstate’s Expert; Don Patton, Association Member and Past President J. Kay Thorne, Association’s Insurance Expert 22 served objections to the proposed categories within the deposition notice and Allstate has yet to 23 answer the Association’s discovery. Currently the parties are trying to reach an amicable 24 25 26 27 28 1 Allstate’s counsel elected to hold off on responding to the Association’s written discovery until after the mediation date. Plaintiff’s counsel reserves the right to file a motion to compel if Allstate does not substantially respond to the Association’s discovery requests. Additionally, the parties have so far been unable to agree whether or not it is appropriate for Allstate to redact two documents in its claim file or whether it will be necessary for an in camera review pursuant to Cedell v. Farmers Ins. Co., 176 Wn.2d 686, 295 P.3d 239 (2013). STIPULATION AND ORDER - 2 1 resolution of these issues without Court intervention. The parties are negotiating a new date for 2 the Allstate 30(b)(6) deposition. 3 Furthermore, substantive rebuttal opinions of experts Goodell and Schellberg were 4 recently disclosed by Allstate on April 17, 2017, 2 with supplemental rebuttal opinions disclosed 5 on April 27, 2017. As these opinions are substantive and form the basis of a recent motion to 6 7 8 9 10 11 exclude the Association’s expert, Kris Eggert, the Association requires additional time to schedule and take these depositions. Finally, Plaintiff’s counsel is preparing for an upcoming trial (Eagle Harbour Condominium Association v. Allstate Insurance Company, et al.) which is set to begin on May 22, 2017 3 and is estimated to take approximately seven days. Due to scheduling concerns 12 around the time of trial, Plaintiff’s counsel will have limited scheduling ability to take the 13 depositions necessary in this matter during the current discovery period. 14 Respectfully submitted this 8th day of May, 2017. 15 STEIN, SUDWEEKS & HOUSER, PLLC 16 /s/ Justin Sudweeks Justin Sudweeks, WSBA #28755 Daniel Houser, WSBA 32237 2701 First Avenue, Suite 430 Seattle, WA 98121 Telephone: (206) 388-0660 Facsimile: (206) 286-2660 justin@condodefects.com dhouser@condodefects.com Attorney for Plaintiff One West Owners Association 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 Allstate recently filed a motion to exclude the Association’s expert consultant, Kris Eggert. Dkt. #19. This motion is based on assertions supported by Mr. Goodell and Mr. Schellberg in rebuttal reports. As a result, the Association must depose both Mr. Schellberg and Mr. Goodell in opposing Allstate’s Motion. 3 The cause number for the Eagle Harbour matter is 3:15-cv-05312-RBL. STIPULATION AND ORDER - 3 1 WILSON SMITH COCHRAN DICKERSON 2 /s/ Rich Gawlowski_____________________ Alfred E. Donohue, WSBA # 32774 Richard Gawlowski, WSBA # 19713 901 Fifth Avenue, Suite 700 Seattle, Washington 98164 Telephone: (206) 623-4100 Facsimile: (206) 623-9273 donohue@wscd.com gawlowski@wscd.com Attorney for Defendant Allstate Insurance Company 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 STIPULATION AND ORDER - 4 1 2 3 4 ORDER Based on the above stipulation, IT IS SO ORDERED that the deadline to complete discovery is continued from June 5, 2017 to June 30, 2017. No other deadlines or events are altered. DATED THIS 8th day of May, 2017. 5 6 7 8 A 9 RICARDO S. MARTINEZ Chief UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 STIPULATION AND ORDER - 5

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