Dizon v. The Hertz Corporation

United States District Court for the Southern District of California

Dizon v. The Hertz Corporation

Trial Court Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 WILLIAM DIZON, Case No.: 19-cv-01993-MMA (JLB)

12 Plaintiff, SCHEDULING ORDER 13 v. REGULATING DISCOVERY AND OTHER PRETRIAL 14 THE HERTZ CORPORATION, PROCEEDINGS 15 Defendant.

16

17 18 Pursuant to Rule 16.1(d) of the Local Rules, a Case Management Conference was 19 held on November 19, 2019. After consulting with the attorneys of record for the parties 20 and being advised of the status of the case, and good cause appearing, IT IS HEREBY 21 ORDERED: 22 1. The Court understands that parties to litigation often enter into stipulations 23 that a trade secret or other confidential research, development, or commercial information 24 not be revealed or be revealed only in specified way. Any motion for a protective order 25 entering such stipulation(s) in this case shall be filed no later than December 6, 2019. The 26 motion shall comply with Section V. of Judge Burkhardt’s Civil Chambers Rules. If the 27 need for a protective order is not initially apparent to the parties and only becomes apparent 28 due to a later development in the case, the parties must seek leave to file a late motion for 1 protective order, supported by good cause which includes an explanation as to why the 2 parties could not have anticipated the need for a protective order. 3 2. Any motion to join other parties, to amend the pleadings, or to file additional 4 pleadings must be filed by December 20, 2019. 5 3. All fact discovery must be completed by all parties by August 20, 2020. 6 “Completed” means that all discovery under Rules 30-36 of the Federal Rules of Civil 7 Procedure, and discovery subpoenas under Rule 45, must be initiated a sufficient period of 8 time in advance of the cut-off date, so that it may be completed by the cut-off date, taking 9 into account the times for service, notice and response as set forth in the Federal Rules of 10 Civil Procedure. Counsel must promptly and in good faith meet and confer with 11 regard to all discovery disputes in compliance with Local Rule 26.1(a). The Court 12 expects counsel to make every effort to resolve all disputes without court intervention 13 through the meet and confer process. If the parties reach an impasse on any discovery 14 issue, counsel must file an appropriate motion within the time limit and procedures outlined 15 in the undersigned magistrate judge’s chambers rules. A failure to comply in this regard 16 will result in a waiver of a party’s discovery issue. Absent an order of the court, no 17 stipulation continuing or altering this requirement will be recognized by the court. 18 Discovery motions must be filed in the time and manner directed by Magistrate 19 Judge Burkhardt (see Judge Burkhardt’s Civil Chambers Rules on Discovery Disputes 20 available on the Court’s website). All discovery motions must be filed within 30 days of 21 the service of an objection, answer, or response which becomes the subject of dispute, or 22 the passage of a discovery due date without response or production, and only after counsel 23 (and any unrepresented parties) have met and conferred to resolve the dispute and 24 complied with Section IV.B. of Judge Burkhardt’s Civil Chambers Rules. 25 4. The parties must designate their respective experts in writing by June 25, 26 2020. The parties must identify any person who may be used at trial to present evidence 27 pursuant to Rules 702, 703 or 705 of the Fed. R. Evid. This requirement is not limited to 28 retained experts. The date for exchange of rebuttal experts must be by July 23, 2020. The 1 written designations must include the name, address and telephone number of the expert 2 and a reasonable summary of the testimony the expert is expected to provide. The list must 3 also include the normal rates the expert charges for deposition and trial testimony. 4 5. By June 25, 2020, each party must comply with the disclosure provisions in 5 Rule 26(a)(2)(A) and (B) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This disclosure 6 requirement applies to all persons retained or specially employed to provide expert 7 testimony, or whose duties as an employee of the party regularly involve the giving of 8 expert testimony. Except as provided in the paragraph below, any party that fails to 9 make these disclosures will not, absent substantial justification, be permitted to use 10 evidence or testimony not disclosed at any hearing or at the time of trial. In addition, 11 the Court may impose sanctions as permitted by Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(c). 12 6. Any party must supplement its disclosure regarding contradictory or rebuttal 13 evidence under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(D) by July 23, 2020. 14 7. All expert discovery must be completed by all parties by August 20, 2020. 15 The parties must comply with the same procedures set forth in the paragraph governing 16 fact discovery. 17 8. Failure to comply with this section or any other discovery order of the court 18 may result in the sanctions provided for in Fed. R. Civ. P. 37, including a prohibition on 19 the introduction of experts or other designated matters in evidence. 20 9. All dispositive pretrial motions, including motions for summary judgment and 21 motions addressing Daubert issues, must be filed by September 17, 2020.1 Counsel for 22 the moving party must obtain a motion hearing date from Judge Anello’s law clerk. The 23 period of time between the date you request a motion date and the hearing date may vary 24 from one district judge to another. Please plan accordingly. Failure to make a timely 25 request for a motion date may result in the motion not being heard. 26

27 1 This deadline is not applicable to pretrial motions in limine. For further information 28 1 10. If appropriate, following the filing of an order ruling on a motion for summary 2 judgment or other dispositive pretrial motion, or in the event no such motion is filed, after 3 the expiration of the deadline set forth in paragraph 9, supra, Judge Anello will issue a 4 pretrial scheduling order setting a pretrial conference, trial date, and all related pretrial 5 deadlines. The parties must review and be familiar with Judge Anello’s Civil Chambers 6 Rules, which provide additional information regarding pretrial scheduling. 7 11. A Mandatory Settlement Conference will be conducted on June 2, 2020 at 8 1:45 p.m. in the chambers of Magistrate Judge Jill L. Burkhardt, Edward J. Schwartz U.S. 9 Courthouse, 221 West Broadway, Suite 5140, San Diego, California 92101. Counsel or 10 any party representing himself or herself must submit confidential settlement briefs directly 11 to the magistrate judge’s chambers by May 22, 2020. All parties are ordered to read and 12 fully comply with the Chambers Rules of the assigned Magistrate Judge. 13 The confidential settlement statements should be lodged by e-mail to 14 [email protected]. Each party’s settlement statement shall concisely set 15 forth the following: (1) the party’s statement of the case; (2) the controlling legal issues; 16 (3) issues of liability and damages; (4) the party’s settlement position, including the last 17 offer or demand made by that party; (5) a separate statement of the offer or demand the 18 party is prepared to make at the settlement conference; and (6) a list of all attorney and 19 non-attorney conference attendees for that side, including the name(s) and 20 title(s)/position(s) of the party/party representative(s) who will attend and have settlement 21 authority at the conference. If exhibits are attached and the total submission amounts to 22 more than 20 pages, a hard copy must also be delivered directly to Magistrate Judge 23 Burkhardt’s chambers. Settlement conference statements shall not be filed with the 24 Clerk of the Court. Settlement conference statements may be exchanged 25 confidentially with opposing counsel within the parties’ discretion. 26 /// 27 /// 28 /// 1 Pursuant to Civil Local Rule 16.3, all party representatives and claims adjusters for 2 insured defendants with full and unlimited authority2 to negotiate and enter into a binding 3 settlement, as well as the principal attorney(s) responsible for the litigation, must be present 4 and legally and factually prepared to discuss and resolve the case at the mandatory 5 settlement conference. In the case of an entity, an authorized representative of the entity 6 who is not retained outside counsel must be present and must have discretionary authority 7 to commit the entity to pay an amount up to the amount of the Plaintiff’s prayer (excluding 8 punitive damages prayers). The purpose of this requirement is to have representatives 9 present who can settle the case during the course of the conference without consulting a 10 superior. 11 Counsel for a United States government entity may be excused from this 12 requirement so long as the government attorney who attends the MSC conference (1) has 13 primary responsibility for handling the case, and (2) may negotiate settlement offers which 14 the attorney is willing to recommend to the government official having ultimate settlement 15 authority. 16 Failure to attend the conference or obtain proper excuse will be considered grounds 17 for sanctions. 18 12. A post trial settlement conference before a magistrate judge may be held 19 within 30 days of verdict in the case. 20 /// 21 22 23 2 “Full authority to settle” means that the individuals at the settlement conference must be authorized to fully explore settlement options and to agree at that time to any settlement 24 terms acceptable to the parties. Heileman Brewing Co., Inc. v. Joseph Oat Corp.,

871 F.2d 25 648

(7th Cir. 1989). The person needs to have “unfettered discretion and authority” to change the settlement position of a party. Pitman v. Brinker Int’l., Inc.,

216 F.R.D. 481

, 26 485-86 (D. Ariz. 2003). The purpose of requiring a person with unlimited settlement 27 authority to attend the conference includes that the person’s view of the case may be altered during the face to face conference.

Id. at 486

. A limited or a sum certain of authority is 28 1 13. The dates and times set forth herein will not be modified except for good cause 2 shown. 3 14. Briefs or memoranda in support of or in opposition to any pending motion 4 ||must not exceed twenty-five (25) pages in length without leave of a district court judge. 5 ||No reply memorandum will exceed ten (10) pages without leave of a district court judge. 6 || Briefs and memoranda exceeding ten (10) pages in length must have a table of contents 7 a table of authorities cited. 8 15. Plaintiff’s counsel must serve a copy of this order on all parties that enter this 9 || case hereafter. 10 IT IS SO ORDERED. 11 Dated: November 21, 2019 12 .

14 n. Jill L. Burkhardt ited States Magistrate Judge 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

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