Botts v. Sheppard

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA || DDPRON BOTTS, Case No.: 3:19-cv-01387-DMS-RBM Plaintift,) ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION |] v. TO CONTINUE DISCOVERY CUT-OFF |} CORRECTIONAL OFFICER 15 SHEPPARD, et al., 16 Defendants. Docs. 36, 37] 18 Before the Court is Plaintiff D’Ron Botts (“Plaintiff”) and Defendants J. Newman, ||C. Legge, R. Rodriguez, F. Camacho, A. Shepherd, and D. Paramo’s (collectively || “Defendants”) Joint Motion to Extend the Discovery Cut-Off (“Joint Motion”). (Doc. 37.)

21 || The parties seek a thirty-day continuance of the fact discovery cutoff due to difficulties ||rescheduling the deposition of inmate witness, Gary Grubbs (“Mr. Grubbs”), and finding ||mutually-agreeable dates to depose two of the Defendants. (/d. at 1-2.) The parties || originally scheduled Mr. Grubbs’s deposition in advance of the original discovery cutoff || date, but the night before Mr. Grubbs’s deposition, Mr. Grubbs was taken to the hospital 26 subsequently quarantined for fourteen days. (/d. at 2.)

27 This is the parties’ fourth request to continue dates. (Docs. 28, 31, 35, 37.) The || August 25, 2020 Order Granting Joint Motion to Continue Trial-Related Dates required ] ||fact discovery be completed by November 2020. (Doc. 36 at 2.) The instant ||continuance is only needed to conduct three depositions. (Doc. 37 at 2.) The parties do 3 seek to continue any other dates. (/d. at 1.) .

4 A scheduling order may be modified only upon a showing of good cause and with ||the judge’s consent. FED. R. CIV. P. 16(b)(4); see, e.g., Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, || Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992) (stating, “the focus of [the good cause] inquiry is upon the moving party’s reasons for seeking modification.”). Here, Mr. Grubbs’s sudden ||illness and fourteen-day quarantine were unforeseeable and have impeded the parties’ || ability to complete discovery. (Doc. 37 at 2.) Thus, the Court finds good cause to grant a ||continuance of the discovery cut-off date.

11 Accordingly, the Joint Motion is GRANTED. The Court’s August 25, 2020 Order 12 Granting Joint Motion to Continue Trial-Related Dates (Doc. 36) is hereby AMENDED 13 follows: 14 1. All fact discovery shall be completed by all parties by December 9, 2020.

15 ||“Completed” means that all discovery under Rules 30-36 of the Federal Rules of Civil || Procedure, and discovery subpoenas under Rule 45, must be initiated a sufficient period of ||time in advance of the cut-off date, so that it may be completed by the cut-off date, taking || into account the times for service, notice and response as set forth in the Federal Rules of ||Civil Procedure. Counsel shall promptly and in good faith meet and confer with ||regard to all discovery disputes in compliance with Local Rule 26.1(a). The Court ||expects counsel to make every effort to resolve all disputes without court intervention ||through the meet and confer process. If the parties reach an impasse on any discovery ||issue, counsel shall file an appropriate motion within the time limit and procedures outlined 24 the undersigned magistrate judge’s chambers rules. A failure to comply in this regard || will result in a waiver of a party’s discovery issue. Absent an order of the Court, no ||stipulation continuing or altering this requirement will be recognized by the Court.

27 2. The dates and times set forth herein will not be modified except for good cause ||shown.

1 3. All other dates in the Court’s August 25, 2020 Order Granting Joint Motion ||to Continue Trial-Related Dates (Doc. 35) remain unchanged.

3 4. Plaintiff's counsel shall serve a copy of this order on all parties that enter this || case hereafter.

5 IT IS SO ORDERED.

6 || DATE: November 10, 2020 9 4ON. RUTH BERMUDEZ MONTENEGRO UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE