1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 GRISELDA MEZA, No. 2:24-cv-01376-DAD-JDP 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. SCHEDULING ORDER 14 METROPOLITAN LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, 15 Defendant. 16

17 18 Pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the court has reviewed the 19 parties’ joint status report (Doc. No. 13) and has determined that the court need not “consult[] 20 with the parties’ attorneys and any unrepresented parties at a scheduling conference,” before 21 issuing a scheduling order in this case. Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(1)(B). Accordingly, the court 22 vacates the initial scheduling conference set for February 10, 2025 and hereby issues this 23 scheduling order. 24 I. SERVICE OF PROCESS 25 The named defendant Metropolitan Life Insurance Company has been served as required 26 by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5. No further service is permitted without leave of court, 27 good cause having been shown under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b). 28 ///// 1 II. JOINDER OF ADDITIONAL PARTIES / AMENDMENT OF PLEADINGS 2 The parties do not anticipate the joinder of additional parties or amendment of the 3 pleadings. 4 No further joinder of parties or amendments to pleadings is permitted without leave of 5 court, good cause having been shown. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b); Johnson v. Mammoth 6 Recreations, Inc.,

(9th Cir. 1992). The parties are advised that the filing of 7 motions and/or stipulations requesting leave to amend the pleadings does not imply good cause to 8 modify the existing schedule. Fed. R. Civ. P. 16 (b)(4); see also Johnson,

. 9 Moreover, any amendment requested under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a) must not be: 10 (1) prejudicial to the opposing party; (2) the product of undue delay; (3) proposed in bad faith; or 11 (4) futile. See Foman v. Davis,

(1962). 12 III. DISCOVERY PROCEDURES 13 Discovery matters that do not implicate the schedule of the case or that do not relate to 14 sealing or redaction of documents related to dispositive motions are referred to the assigned 15 United States Magistrate Judge, who will hear all discovery disputes subject to his or her 16 procedures. (The assigned magistrate judge’s initials follow the district judge’s initials next to the 17 case number.) All discovery documents must include the words “DISCOVERY MATTER” in 18 the caption to ensure proper routing. Do not direct delivery of courtesy copies of these 19 documents to the district judge. Counsel are directed to contact the magistrate judge’s courtroom 20 deputy clerk to schedule discovery matters for hearing. 21 All motions to compel discovery must be noticed on the assigned magistrate judge’s 22 calendar in accordance with the local rules of this court and the magistrate judge’s own 23 procedures. The written ruling of the assigned magistrate judge shall be final, subject to 24 modification by the district court only where it has been shown that the magistrate judge’s order 25 is clearly erroneous or contrary to law. See

(b)(1)(A). Pursuant to Local Rule 26 303, any party may file and serve a “Request for Reconsideration by the District Court of 27 Magistrate Judge’s Ruling.” See L.R. 303(c). The requesting party must file and serve any such 28 request within fourteen (14) days of service of a written ruling. L.R. 303(b). The request must 1 specify which portions of the ruling are clearly erroneous or contrary to law and the basis for that 2 contention with supporting points and authorities. L.R. 303(c). 3 In addition, the assigned magistrate judge reviews proposed discovery phase protective 4 orders sought by the parties pursuant to Local Rule 141.1. However, requests to seal or redact in 5 connection with dispositive motions or trial are decided by Judge Drozd and any such requests 6 must comply with Judge Drozd’s Standing Order and Local Rules 140 and 141. 7 IV. DISCOVERY DEADLINES 8 A. Rule 26(a) Initial Disclosures 9 The parties contend that this action is exempt from initial disclosure under Federal Rule of 10 Civil Procedure Rule 26(a)(1)(B) because this is an action for review on the administrative 11 record. (Doc. No. 13 at 3.) Defendant will produce the administrative record to plaintiff by 12 February 24, 2025, which is a date proposed by the parties. (Id.) 13 B. Fact Discovery 14 All fact discovery shall be completed1 no later than August 5, 2025. 15 Plaintiff does not anticipate engaging in discovery. (Doc. No. 13 at 3.) Defendant 16 contends that there is no basis to conduct additional discovery, and the court should not permit 17 any discovery beyond production of the administrative record. (Id.) 18 C. Expert Discovery 19 Disclosures of expert witnesses, if any, must be made pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil 20 Procedure 26(a)(2)(A), (B) and (C), and shall include all information required thereunder. Each 21 expert witness must be fully prepared to be examined on all subjects and opinions included in the 22 disclosures. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the imposition of 23 ///// 24 1 As used herein, the word “completed” means that all discovery shall have been conducted so 25 that all depositions have been taken and any disputes relevant to discovery shall have been resolved by appropriate order if necessary and, where discovery has been ordered, the order has 26 been obeyed. The parties are advised that motions to compel must be filed in advance of the 27 discovery completion deadlines so that the court may grant effective relief within the allotted discovery time. A party’s failure to have a discovery dispute heard sufficiently in advance of the 28 discovery cutoff may result in denial of the motion as untimely. 1 appropriate sanctions, including the preclusion of the expert’s testimony, or of other evidence 2 offered through the expert. 3 The parties agree that no expert discovery is required in this ERISA matter. (Doc. No. 13 4 at 4.) 5 V. MOTIONS 6 All motions, except motions for continuances, temporary restraining orders, or other 7 emergency applications, shall be filed on or before September 2, 2025, a date proposed by the 8 parties, and shall be noticed for hearing before Judge Drozd on a date not more than 60 days from 9 the date the motion is filed and on a date that is consistent with Judge Drozd’s Standing Order. 10 Counsel are directed to refer to the local rules regarding the requirements for noticing and 11 opposing such motions on the court’s regularly scheduled law and motion calendar. The court 12 notes that the parties do not currently anticipate filing any dispositive motions, electing instead to 13 brief all issues for resolution pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52. (Doc. No. 13 at 2.) 14 The deadline for the parties to file their cross-motions for judgment under Federal Rule of Civil 15 Procedure 52 shall be October 21, 2025. 16 Prior to filing a motion for summary judgment or motion for partial summary judgment 17 (summary adjudication), the parties are ordered to meet and confer, in person or by telephone, to 18 discuss the issues to be raised in the motion. In addition to complying with the requirements 19 of Local Rule 260, the parties must prepare a Joint Statement of Undisputed Facts, which 20 identifies all relevant facts subject to agreement by all parties. The moving party is 21 responsible for filing the joint statement concurrently with the motion. In the notice of motion, 22 the moving party shall certify that the parties have met and conferred as ordered above or provide 23 a statement of good cause for the failure to do so. 24 VI. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 25 The undersigned requires parties to participate in a court-supervised settlement conference 26 with a settlement judge before the action may proceed to trial. A settlement conference has not 27 been set at this time. The parties stipulate to use private mediation to assist in resolving this 28 dispute. (Doc. No. 13 at 4.) The parties propose August 19, 2025 as the deadline to complete 1 mediation. (Id.) At any time before the mediation deadline proposed by the parties, the parties 2 may file a joint request that this action be referred to a settlement judge for the setting of a 3 settlement conference. If the parties have not participated in mediation efforts by the mediation 4 deadline proposed by the parties, the court will refer the action at that time to the assigned 5 magistrate judge for the setting of a settlement conference. The parties shall contact the 6 designated settlement conference judge’s chambers to ascertain that judge’s settlement 7 conference procedures, including the procedure for submitting confidential settlement statements, 8 which shall not be filed and will not otherwise be disclosed to the trial judge. 9 Unless otherwise permitted in advance by the court, the attorneys who will try the case 10 shall appear at the settlement conference. Pertinent evidence to be offered at trial, documents or 11 otherwise, should be brought to the settlement conference for presentation to the settlement judge. 12 Of course, neither the settlement conference statements nor communications during the settlement 13 conference with the settlement judge can be used by either party in the trial of this case. 14 Absent permission from the court, in addition to counsel who will try the case being 15 present, the individual parties shall also be present, and in the case of corporate parties, 16 associations or other entities, and insurance carriers, a representative executive with unrestricted 17 authority to discuss, consider, propose and agree, or disagree, to any settlement proposal or offer 18 shall also be present. If for any reason the representative with unlimited authority cannot attend, 19 such a person must be available by phone or video throughout the conference. In other words, 20 having settlement authority “up to a certain amount” is not acceptable. 21 VII. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE 22 The parties agree that this case is appropriate for waiver of the pretrial conference, given 23 the streamlined procedures and evidentiary limitations required by ERISA. (Doc. No. 13 at 5.) 24 The court will not set a final pretrial conference at this time. 25 VIII. BENCH TRIAL 26 A bench hearing on the cross-motions for judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 27 52 is set for March 24, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom 4 before District Court Judge Dale A. 28 ///// 1 Drozd. The hearing is anticipated to last half of one court day. The parties agree that ERISA 2 does not provide a right to a jury trial. (Doc. No. 13 at 5.) 3 IX. REQUEST FOR BIFURCATION, APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL MASTER, OR 4 OTHER TECHNIQUES TO SHORTEN TRIAL 5 The parties have not made any such requests at this time and do not anticipate any such 6 requests. 7 X. RELATED MATTERS PENDING 8 There is no related litigation. 9 XI. OBJECTIONS AND MODIFICATIONS TO THE SCHEDULING ORDER 10 This case schedule will become final without further order of the court unless 11 objections are filed within fourteen (14) days of the entry of this order. The schedule, once 12 final, shall not be modified except by leave of court upon showing of good cause. The assigned 13 magistrate judge is authorized to modify only the discovery dates to the extent any such 14 modification does not impact the balance of the schedule of the case. 15 The parties are reminded that pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil 16 Procedure, no stipulations extending scheduling requirements or modifying applicable rules are 17 effective until and unless the court approves them. Agreement of the parties by stipulation alone 18 does not constitute good cause. Any request or stipulation to modify this scheduling order must 19 set forth: 20 (1) the existing due date or hearing date as well as the discovery cutoff date, the last 21 date for hearing motions, the final pretrial conference date, and the trial date; 22 (2) whether there have been prior requests for extensions, and whether these were 23 granted or denied by the court; and 24 (3) specific, concrete reasons supporting good cause for granting of the extension. For 25 example, if the reason for the requested extension is that it “will promote 26 settlement,” the requesting party or parties must indicate the status of ongoing 27 ///// 28 ///// 1 negotiations, 1.e., have written proposals been exchanged; is counsel in the process 2 of reviewing a draft settlement agreement; has a mediator been selected. 3 IT IS SO ORDERED. * | Dated: _ January 29, 2025 Dab A. 2, sxe 5 DALE A. DROZD ‘ UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28