1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 SHAWNA VELASCO, Case No.: 3:23-cv-01469-LL-AHG 13 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART JOINT MOTION TO EXTEND 14 v. DISCOVERY DEADLINES 15 FALLBROOK UNION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT, [ECF No. 14] 16 Defendant. 17 18 Before the Court are (1) the parties’ joint motion extend the fact discovery deadline, 19 and (2) the parties’ joint email request to extend the expert discovery deadlines. ECF 20 No. 14; Email to Chambers (Mar. 26, 2024, at 8:49 AM). 21 Parties seeking to continue deadlines in the scheduling order must demonstrate good 22 cause. FED. R. CIV. P. 16(b)(4) (“A schedule may be modified only for good cause and with 23 the judge’s consent”); see also ECF No. 11 at 7 (Scheduling Order, stating that “[t]he dates 24 [] set forth herein will not be modified except for good cause shown”); Chmb.R. at 2 25 (stating that any request for continuance requires “[a] showing of good cause for the 26 request”). 27 “Good cause” is a non-rigorous standard that has been construed broadly across 28 procedural and statutory contexts. Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc.,

, 1259 1 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause standard focuses on the diligence of the party seeking to 2 amend the scheduling order and the reasons for seeking modification. Johnson v. Mammoth 3 Recreations, Inc.,

(9th Cir. 1992) (“[T]he focus of the inquiry is upon 4 the moving party’s reasons for seeking modification. . . . If that party was not diligent, the 5 inquiry should end.”) (internal citation omitted). Therefore, “a party demonstrates good 6 cause by acting diligently to meet the original deadlines set forth by the court.” Merck v. 7 Swift Transp. Co., No. CV-16-01103-PHX-ROS,

, at *2 (D. Ariz. Sept. 8 19, 2018). 9 Here, the parties filed a joint motion extend the fact discovery deadline to facilitate 10 the completion of the deposition of Defendant’s Rule 30(b)(6) witness, which had been 11 delayed due to the deponent’s availability. ECF No. 14 at 2. Thus, the parties requested 12 that the fact discovery deadline be extended by one month, from April 3 to May 3, “for the 13 sole purpose of conducting [the Rule 30(b)(6)] depositions.” Id. at 1. The parties 14 represented to the Court that they “do not believe that the requested schedule will have any 15 impact on the schedule for the case, other than to extend the fact discovery deadline for the 16 limited purpose of conducting the deposition(s).” ECF No. 14-1 at 2; see also ECF No. 14 17 at 2 (“the parties do not expect the agreed-upon extension to affect the overall schedule for 18 the case”). However, the parties later clarified via email that they did intend to request an 19 extension of other overlapping discovery deadlines. Email to Chambers (Mar. 26, 2024, at 20 8:49 AM). The parties clarified that they also sought an extension of the expert deadlines 21 as follows: extending the initial expert report deadline from May 3 to June 3, the rebuttal 22 expert report deadline from June 3 to July 3, and the expert discovery cutoff from July 3 to 23 August 3.1 Id. 24 Though the Court has concerns regarding the parties’ failure to include their 25 additional requests in the original joint motion, the Court appreciates that the parties are 26 27 28 1 1 working together. Upon due consideration and good cause appearing, the Court GRANTS 2 IN PART the parties’ Joint Motion (ECF No. 14) as follows: 3 1. April 3, 2024 remains the deadline for completion of fact discovery, except 4 for the following: 5 a. The deposition(s) of Defendant’s Rule 30(b)(6) witness(es) must be taken 6 on or before May 3, 2024. 7 2. The parties must designate their respective experts in writing on or before 8 June 3, 2024. The parties must identify any person who may be used at trial to present 9 evidence pursuant to Rules 702, 703 or 705 of the Fed. R. Evid. This requirement is not 10 limited to retained experts. The date for exchange of rebuttal experts must be on or before 11 July 3, 2024. The written designations must include the name, address and telephone 12 number of the expert and a reasonable summary of the testimony the expert is expected to 13 provide. The list must also include the normal rates the expert charges for deposition and 14 trial testimony. Please be advised that failure to comply with this section or any other 15 discovery order of the Court may result in the sanctions provided for in Federal Rule of 16 Civil Procedure 37, including a prohibition on the introduction of experts or other 17 designated matters in evidence. 18 3. All expert disclosures required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2) 19 shall be served on all parties on or before June 3, 2024. Any contradictory or rebuttal 20 information shall be disclosed on or before July 3, 2024. In addition, Federal Rule of Civil 21 Procedure 26(e) imposes a duty on the parties to supplement the expert disclosures made 22 pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(B) by the time that pretrial disclosures 23 are due under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(3) (discussed below). This disclosure 24 requirement applies to all persons retained or specially employed to provide expert 25 testimony, or whose duties as an employee of the party regularly involve the giving of 26 expert testimony. Please be advised that failure to comply with this section or any other 27 discovery order of the Court may result in the sanctions provided for in Federal Rule of 28 Civil Procedure 37, including a prohibition on the introduction of experts or other 1 || designated matters in evidence. 2 4. All expert discovery must be completed by all parties on or before 3 || August 5,2024. The parties must comply with the same procedures set forth in the 4 || paragraph governing fact discovery. ECF No. 11 at §j 3. 5 5. All other deadlines set forth in the Court’s Scheduling Order (ECF No. 11) 6 ||remain unchanged, except as explicitly modified by this Order. IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 |! Dated: March 29, 2024 WaomH. Xbyolar 9 Honorable Allison H. Goddard 10 United States Magistrate Judge 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28