York v. Equifax Information Services LLC

1 WO 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Daniel York, No. CV-22-00500-TUC-JCH 10 Plaintiff, CASE MANAGEMENT ORDER v. Equifax Information Services LLC, et al., 13 Defendants.

15 The Court enters the following Case Management Order: 16 1. Initial Disclosures. The parties shall exchange initial disclosures required by Rule 17 26(a)1 by April 21, 2023.

18 2. Pleading Deadline. The deadline for joining parties, amending pleadings, and 19 filing supplemental pleadings is 60 days from the date of this Order.

20 3. Discovery Limitations. Depositions are limited to seven hours each as provided in 21 Rule 30(d)(1). Each side may propound up to 25 interrogatories, including 22 subparts, 25 requests for production of documents, including subparts, and 25 23 requests for admissions, including subparts.

24 4. Fact Discovery. The deadline for completing fact discovery, including discovery 25 by subpoena, is December 22, 2023. To ensure compliance with this deadline, the 26 following rules shall apply: 27 a. Depositions: All depositions shall be scheduled to commence at least five All rules reference the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure unless otherwise indicated.

1 working days before the fact discovery deadline. A deposition commenced 2 five days before the deadline may continue up until the deadline, as 3 necessary.

4 b. Written Discovery: All interrogatories, requests for production of 5 documents, and requests for admissions shall be served at least 45 days 6 before the fact discovery deadline.

7 c. Extensions: The parties may agree in writing, without Court approval, to 8 extend the time provided for discovery responses in Rules 33, 34, and 36.

9 Such agreed-upon extensions, however, do not alter or extend the Court's 10 discovery deadlines.

11 d. Special Provisions Regarding Rule 34 Responses: Objections to Rule 34 12 document production requests shall be stated with specificity; general or 13 boilerplate objections are not permitted. Document production in response 14 to a Rule 34 request shall be completed by the time specified in the request 15 or another reasonable time specified in the response. An objection to a Rule 16 34 request shall state whether any responsive materials have been withheld 17 based upon that objection.

18 5. Expert Disclosures and Discovery.

19 a. Plaintiff(s) shall complete expert disclosures required under Rule 20 26(a)(2)(A)–(C) by September 22, 2023.

21 b. Defendant(s) shall complete expert disclosures required under Rule 22 26(a)(2)(A)–(C) by September 22, 2023.

23 c. Rebuttal expert disclosures, if any, shall be made by October 27, 2023.

24 Rebuttal experts are limited to responding to opinions stated by initial 25 experts.

26 d. Expert depositions shall be completed by December 22, 2023 and shall 27 commence at least five working days before that deadline.

28 e. Disclosures under Rule 26(a)(2)(A) shall include the identities of treating 1 physicians and other witnesses who will provide testimony under Federal 2 Rules of Evidence 702, 703, or 705, but who are not required to provide 3 expert reports under Rule 26(a)(2)(B). Rule 26(a)(2)(C) disclosures are 4 required for such witnesses on the dates set forth above. Rule 26(a)(2)(C) 5 disclosures shall identify not only the subjects on which the witness will 6 testify but shall also provide a summary of the facts and opinions to which 7 the expert will testify. The summary, clearly not as detailed as a Rule 8 26(a)(2)(B) report, shall be sufficiently detailed to provide fair notice of 9 what the expert will say at trial.2 10 f. As stated in the Advisory Committee Notes to Rule 26 (1993 11 Amendments), expert reports under Rule 26(a)(2)(B) shall set forth "the 12 testimony the witness is expected to present during direct examination, 13 together with the reasons therefor." Full and complete disclosures of such 14 testimony are required on the dates set forth above; absent extraordinary 15 circumstances, parties will not be permitted to supplement expert reports 16 after these dates. The Court notes, however, that it usually permits parties 17 to present opinions of their experts that were elicited by opposing counsel 18 during depositions of the experts. Counsel should depose experts with this 19 in mind.

20 g. Each side is limited to one testifying expert witness per issue.

21 6. Expedited Procedure for Resolving Discovery and Disclosure Disputes.

22 a. The parties shall not file written discovery/disclosure motions without leave 23 of Court. This procedure applies to all disputes between parties to the 24 action that could properly be addressed in motions for protective order In Goodman v. Staples The Office Superstore, LLC, 644 F.3d 817 (9th Cir. 2011), the Ninth Circuit held that “a treating physician is only exempt from Rule 26(a)(2)(B)’s written report requirement to the extent that his opinions were formed during the course of treatment.” Id. at 826. Thus, for opinions formed outside the course of treatment, Rule 26(a)(2)(B) written reports are required. Id. For opinions formed during the course of treatment, Rule 26(a)(2)(C) disclosures will suffice.

1 under Rule 26(c), disclosure under Rule 37(a), or motions to compel.3 2 b. When the parties have a dispute that could properly be addressed under 3 Rule 26(c), Rule 37(a), or motions to compel, they shall file with the court 4 a joint statement of discovery/disclosure dispute. The joint statement shall 5 not exceed 3 pages of explanatory text, with each party entitled to submit 6 one and one-half pages of that text. Parties shall not file a joint statement 7 without first seeking to resolve the matter through personal consultation 8 and sincere effort as required by Local Rules of Civil Procedure 7.2(j). The 9 purposes of the joint statement are to notify the court of the dispute, and to 10 make a record of the discovery or disclosure sought. Briefing on the dispute 11 is permitted only if ordered by the Court.

12 c. Unless the court orders otherwise, the parties may jointly contact the court 13 by telephone to request a hearing on the joint statement of 14 discovery/disclosure dispute. The court will schedule the matter at the 15 earliest convenient time, whether by telephone or in-person. The Court may 16 order written briefing if it does not resolve the dispute during the 17 conference. Any briefing ordered by the Court shall also comply with Local 18 Rule of Civil Procedure 7.2(j).

19 d. The Court may issue a minute entry setting forth the resolution of the 20 discovery dispute. After resolution, a party may file with the Court those 21 materials necessary to create a record of the discovery or disclosure the 22 Court permitted or denied.

23 e. Absent extraordinary circumstances, the Court will not entertain fact 24 discovery disputes after the deadline for completion of fact discovery and 25 will not entertain expert discovery disputes after the deadline for 26 completion of expert discovery.

3 The prohibition on “written discovery motions” includes any written materials delivered, emailed or faxed to the Court, including hand-delivered correspondence with attachments.

1 7. Dispositive Motions.

2 a. Dispositive motions shall be filed by January 26, 2024. Such motions shall 3 comply in all respects with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the 4 Local Rules.

5 b. No party shall file more than one motion for summary judgment under Rule 6 56 unless permission is first obtained from the Court.

7 c. Statements of fact required by Local Rule of Civil Procedure 56.1 shall not 8 exceed fifteen (15) pages in length, exclusive of exhibits.

9 d. The parties shall not notice oral argument on any motion. Instead, a party 10 desiring oral argument shall place the words "Oral Argument Requested" 11 immediately below the title of the motion as required under Local Rule of 12 Civil Procedure 7.2(f). The Court will issue an order scheduling oral 13 argument as it deems appropriate.

14 8. Good Faith Settlement Talks. All parties and their counsel shall meet in person 15 and engage in good faith settlement talks by December 1, 2023. Upon completion 16 of such settlement talks, and in no event later than five working days after the 17 deadline set forth above, the parties shall file with the Court a joint report on 18 settlement talks. The report shall confirm that good faith settlement talks have 19 occurred and report the outcome. The parties shall promptly notify the Court at 20 any time when settlement is reached during the course of this litigation.

21 9. Request for Settlement Conference.

22 a. At a party's request or on its own, the Court may require the parties to 23 participate in a pretrial settlement conference held before a Magistrate 24 Judge.

25 b. Each party and its counsel shall attend a settlement conference unless 26 specifically excused by the Court for good cause. Additionally, each party 27 shall have a representative present who has actual settlement authority and 28 may enter into a binding settlement agreement. All participants shall appear 1 in person unless the parties agree or the Court orders otherwise.

2 c. If the matter is referred to a settlkement conference, each party shall submit, 3 but not file, a setthement conference memorandum to the Magistrate Judge 4 no later than five (5) days before the settlement conference. Unless the 5 Magistrate Judge orders otherwise, settlement conference memoranda shall 6 be served on every other party and include: 7 i. a general description of the claims, defenses, and issues in the 8 action, and the party's position on each claim, defense, and issue; 9 li. a general description of the evidence the party anticipates presenting 10 at trial; 11 iii. a summary of any settlement negotiations that have already 12 occurred; 13 iv. the party's assessment of the likely outcome if the action proceeds to 14 trial; and 15 v. any other information that might be helpful in settling the action 16 10. The Deadlines are Real. The Court will enforce these deadlines. The parties should 17 plan their litigation activities accordingly.

18 11. Briefing Requirements.

19 a. All memoranda filed with the Court shall comply with Local Rule of Civil 20 Procedure 7.1(b) requiring 13-point font in text and footnotes.

21 b. Citations to supporting authority shall be included in the text, not in 22 footnotes.

23 IT IS SO ORDERED.

24 Dated this 15th day of May, 2023.

26 □ 27 9S MH herb onorable John C. Hinderaker 28 United States District Judge -6-