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9 || SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 || CLAUDIA ALCARAZ, Case No.: 20-cv-01377-DMS-RBM. 12 | Plaintiff) | wep: 13 || v. 14 |] LOWE’S HOME CENTERS, LLC, etal. MODIFY __ Defendants.) SCHEDULING ORDER; 16 . AND 17 18 (2) FIRST AMENDED SCHEDULING ORDER 19 20 . . [Doc. 17 . 21 22 Before the Court is Plaintiff Claudia Alcaraz (“Plaintiff”) and Defendant Lowe’s 23 ||Home Centers, LLC’s (“Defendant”) Joint Stipulation Modifying Civil Trial Preparation 24 || Order (“Joint Motion”). (Doc. 17.) The Joint Motion requests that the Court continue the 25 || expert disclosure deadline by 60 days, the related expert discovery deadlines by 30-60 days, 26 ||and the mandatory settlement conference by 90 days. (Id. at 1-3.) This is the parties’ first 27 |Irequest for a continuance of the Court’s September 11, 2020 Scheduling Order 28 (“Scheduling Order”). (Doc. 16.) The parties allege good cause exists for a continuance,

1 || because they are scheduling a private mediation for April/May 2021 and wish to save on 2 ||expert expenditures. (Doc. 17 at 1-2.) 3 A scheduling order may be modified only upon a showing of good cause and with 4 || the judge’s consent. FED. R. CIv. P. 16(b)(4); see, e.g., Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, 5

(9th Cir. 1992) (stating, “the focus of [the good cause] inquiry is 6 upon the moving party’s reasons for seeking modification.”). The parties have diligently 7 || conducted discovery including service of written discovery requests and subpoenas, as well 8 conducted the deposition of Plaintiff along with an independent medical exam. (Doc. 9 at 2.) A continuance of the dates requested allows the parties additional resources to 10 explore meaningful settlement. As such, good cause exists to grant a continuance of time. 11 Accordingly, the Joint Motion (Doc. 17) is GRANTED. The September 11, 2020 12 ||Scheduling Order (Doc. 16) is hereby AMENDED AS FOLLOWS: 13 1. The parties shall designate their respective experts in writing by May 25, 14 ||2021. The parties must identify any person who may be used at trial to present. □□□□□□□□ 15 || pursuant to Rules 702, 703 or 705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. This requirement is 16 ||not limited to retained experts. The date for exchange of rebuttal experts shall be by June 17 2021. The written designations shall include the name, address and telephone number 18 || of the expert and a reasonable summary of the testimony the expert is expected to provide. 19 || The list shall also include the normal rates the expert charges for deposition and trial 20 || testimony. 21 2. A Mandatory Settlement Conference shall be conducted on September 29, 22 ||2021 at 9:30 a.m. in the chambers of Magistrate Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro, 23 || United States Courthouse, 2003 W. Adams Ave., El Centro, California 92243. Counsel 24 ||or any party representing himself or herself shall submit confidential settlement briefs 25 || directly to chambers by September 20, 2021. All parties are ordered to read and to fully 26 ||comply with the Chamber Rules of the assigned magistrate judge. . 27 3. By July 8, 2021, each party shall comply with the disclosure provisions in 28 ||Rule 26(a)(2)(A) and (B) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. This disclosure

1 ||requirement applies to all persons retained or specially employed to provide expert 2 testimony, or whose duties as an employee of the party regularly involve the giving of 3 || expert testimony. Except as provided in the paragraph below, any party that fails to 4 ||make these disclosures shall not, absent substantial justification, be permitted to use 5 evidence or testimony not disclosed at any hearing or at the time of trial. In addition, 6 || the Court may impose sanctions as permitted by FED. R. CIv. P. 37(c). 7 Any party shall supplement its disclosure regarding contradictory or rebuttal 8 || evidence under FED. R. CIV. P. 26(a)(2)\(D) by July 23, 2021, 5. All expert discovery shall be completed by all parties by July 16, 2021. The 10 || parties shall comply with the same procedures set forth in the paragraph governing fact 11 |/discovery. 12 6. Failure to comply with this section or any other discovery order of the Court 13 ||may result in the sanctions provided for in FED. R. Civ. P. 37, including a prohibition on 14 introduction of experts or other designated matters in evidence. IT ISSO ORDERED. 16 || DATE: March 9, 2021

Ig HON. RUTH BERMUDEY. MOMTENEGRO UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 19 20 21 22 23 24 . 25 . □ .

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