Johnson v. Reliant Property Mgt., Inc.

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 Kaitlyn Johnson, No. 2:23-cv-01817-KJM-CKD 12 Plaintiff, ORDER 13 v. 14 Reliant Property Management, Inc., 1S Defendant.

18 Plaintiff Kaitlyn Johnson moves to remand this case to state court. See Mot. Remand, | ECF No. 7. Defendant Reliant Property Management, Inc. moves to vacate the hearing date for | the motion to remand because plaintiff did not meet and confer before filing the motion. Mot.

21 | Vacate, ECF No. 10. For the reasons below, the court vacates the motion hearing for failure to | meet and confer.

23 This court’s standing order requires attorneys to meet and confer with one another before | they file motions. See Standing Order at 3, ECF No. 6-1; Mollica v. County of Sacramento, | No. 19-2017, 2022 WL 15053335, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 26, 2022). Attorneys who intend to file | motions must “discuss thoroughly the substance of the contemplated motion and any potential | resolution.” Standing Order at 3. “Counsel should discuss the issues sufficiently so that if a | motion of any kind is filed . . . the briefing is directed only to those substantive issues requiring | resolution by the court.” /d. If a motion is necessary after meeting and conferring, the moving | party must include a certification by an attorney “that meet and confer efforts have been | exhausted, with a brief summary of meet and confer efforts.” /d. (emphasis omitted). “Meeting | and conferring saves time and money for all involved—if done correctly. Productive discussions | spare both the moving and opposing party the time they would otherwise have devoted to writing | unnecessary or ineffective arguments.” Mollica, 2022 WL 15053335, at *1.

7 With respect to the pending motion to remand, the court is not willing to excuse | noncompliance with its standing order. Meeting and conferring would likely help narrow the | parties’ disputes. For example, the parties appear to disagree where plaintiff is domiciled.

10 | Compare Mot. Vacate at 2-8 with Opp. at 2, 4-8.

11 For these reasons, the court vacates the motion hearing on plaintiff's motion to | remand set for November 3, 2023. The court further directs the parties to meet and confer | and file a joint report within 21 days. If necessary, the court will reschedule the motion | hearing.

15 This order resolves ECF No. 10.

16 IT IS SO ORDERED.

17 DATED: October 17, 2023. / CHIEF ED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE