Friend v. Remac America, Inc.

Filing 69

ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION 66 TO EXTEND DEADLINES. The Court will issue a Second Amended Scheduling Order containing the extensionof the requested deadlines. Signed by District Judge Gina M. Groh on 3/12/2014. (tlg)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA
MARTINSBURG

JOSEPH FRIEND,
Plaintiff,
v.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 3:12-CV-17
(JUDGE GROH)

REMAC AMERICA, INC.,
Defendant.

ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION TO EXTEND DEADLINES
On February 28, 2014, the parties jointly filed a motion to extend certain deadlines
in the pending case [Doc. 66]. In that motion, the parties request that the Court enter an
Order extending the following deadlines in the case: examinations and inspections;
discovery completion, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(3) disclosures and objections
thereto, and motion practice/dispositive motions.
In support of their motion to extend certain deadlines, the parties state that they
have engaged in substantial discovery, including taking depositions, exchanging written
discovery in the form of interrogatories, completing requests for production of documents
and requests for admissions, and working to complete evaluations of Plaintiff’s alleged
injuries. However, the parties state that, despite their diligent efforts, there are still
depositions of witnesses that need to be taken and finished which have not been taken or
finished yet due to the respective schedules of counsel and the witnesses.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4) provides that a scheduling order “may be
modified only for good cause and with the judge’s consent.” Pursuant to Local Rule of Civil

Procedure 16.01(f), a scheduling order may be modified “for cause by order.” However,
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b) provides that although time may be extended for good
cause, if a motion is made after the time or deadline has expired, then the movant must
show “the party failed to act because of excusable neglect.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b)(1)(B).
In this case, the parties have requested the Court extend the time for a deadline
after it has expired. The examinations and inspections deadline was January 31, 2014, and
the parties did not move for its extension until February 28, 2014. However, the parties
represent that one of the key reasons for requesting the extension is due to their inability
to finish taking the depositions of REMAC’s expert witnesses and one of Plaintiff’s expert
witnesses. Additionally, due to unforeseen circumstances, REMAC’s expert witness in
Vocational Rehabilitation has recently become unavailable. Therefore, REMAC, in a
separate motion, requested that this Court permit it to substitute its witness, and the Court
granted its request in a previous order. Accordingly, the Court finds excusable neglect to
permit the extension of the examinations and inspections deadline.
The parties have also demonstrated good cause to remove the following deadlines:
discovery completion, motion practice/dispositive motions, and Federal Rule 26(a)(3)
disclosures and the objections thereto. The extension of these deadlines will not impact
the pretrial conference or trial date, and the parties agree that they are not prejudiced by
the requested extension of deadlines. Accordingly, the Court finds good cause to GRANT
the extension of the aforementioned deadlines.
The Court will issue a Second Amended Scheduling Order containing the extension
of the requested deadlines.
It is so ORDERED.
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The Clerk is directed to transmit copies of this Order to all counsel of record and/or
pro se parties.
DATED: March 12, 2014

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