1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 ROBIN WYATT, on behalf of herself and Case No.: 3:23-cv-01241-LL-AHG others similarly situated, 13 ORDER GRANTING JOINT Plaintiff, MOTION TO CONTINUE EARLY 14 NEUTRAL EVALUATION v. 15 CONFERENCE AND CASE UNIFI AVIATION, LLC, MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 16

Defendant. 17 [ECF No. 8] 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Before the Court is the parties’ joint motion to continue the Early Neutral Evaluation 27 Conference (“ENE”) and Case Management Conference (“CMC”), currently scheduled for 28 August 31, 2023. ECF No. 8. 1 Parties seeking to continue an ENE must demonstrate good cause. ECF No. 6 at 6 2 (“An ENE may be rescheduled only upon a showing of good cause”); Chmb.R. at 2 (stating 3 that any request for continuance requires “[a] showing of good cause for the request”); see, 4 e.g., FED. R. CIV. P. 6(b) (“When an act may or must be done within a specified time, the 5 court may, for good cause, extend the time”). 6 “Good cause” is a non-rigorous standard that has been construed broadly across 7 procedural and statutory contexts. Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc.,

, 1259 8 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause standard focuses on the diligence of the party seeking to 9 amend the scheduling order and the reasons for seeking modification. Johnson v. Mammoth 10 Recreations, Inc.,

(9th Cir. 1992) (“[T]he focus of the inquiry is upon 11 the moving party’s reasons for seeking modification. . . . If that party was not diligent, the 12 inquiry should end.”) (internal citation omitted). Therefore, “a party demonstrates good 13 cause by acting diligently to meet the original deadlines set forth by the court.” Merck v. 14 Swift Transp. Co., No. CV-16-01103-PHX-ROS,

, at *2 (D. Ariz. 15 Sept. 19, 2018). 16 The ENE and CMC in this case are set for August 31, 2023. ECF No. 6. The parties 17 represent to the Court that they have been meeting and conferring regarding whether 18 Plaintiff will submit her claims to arbitration on an individual basis. ECF No. 8 at 3; ECF 19 No. 8-1 at 2. If the parties cannot reach a resolution regarding arbitration, Defendant 20 intends to file a motion to compel arbitration.

Thus, the parties seek to continue the 21 ENE and CMC until after the Court rules on the forthcoming arbitration motion. ECF No. 8 22 at 3. 23 Upon due consideration, good cause appearing, the Court GRANTS IN PART the 24 parties’ joint motion as follows: 25 1. The ENE and CMC set for August 31, 2023 are CONTINUED. 26 2. Depending on the outcome of the parties’ meet and confer efforts, one of three 27 things must occur. Thereafter, if it deems appropriate, the Court will reschedule the ENE 28 and CMC. 1 A. — The parties’ joint motion to dismiss, or similar joint notice of attending 2 || arbitration, must be filed by September 15, 2023; or 3 B. Defendant’s motion to compel arbitration must be filed by 4 ||September 15, 2023; or 5 C. The parties’ joint status report, explaining that neither side will be 6 || pursuing arbitration, must be filed by September 15, 2023. 7 8 IT IS SO ORDERED. 9 Dated: August 16, 2023 10 _Abiomt. Xl Honorable Allison H. Goddard 11 United States Magistrate Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28