Hamblen v. Hartford Financial Services Group

1 WRIGHT, FINLAY & ZAK, LLP Darren T. Brenner, Esq.

2 Nevada Bar No. 8386 Stephanie A. Garabedian, Esq.

Nevada Bar No. 9612 8337 W. Sunset Rd., Suite 220 Las Vegas, NV 89113 (949)477-5050; Fax: (702) 946-1345 [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Defendant, Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest DAVID R. SIDRAN, ESQ.

Nevada Bar No. 7517 SIDRAN LAW CORP 7251 West Lake Mead Boulevard, Suite 300 Las Vegas, Nevada 89128 Phone/Facsimile: (702) 551-2015 [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Plaintiff, Leslie R. Bakke 16 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 17 DISTRICT OF NEVADA LESLIE R. BAKKE, an individual, ROBERT Case No.: 2:23-cv-01098-GMN-EJY HANBLEN, an individual STIPULATION AND ORDER TO 21 Plaintiff, EXTEND THE CLOSE OF v. DISCOVERY, DISPOSITIVE 22 MOTIONS DEADLINE, AND JOINT HARTFORD INSURANCE COMPANY OF PRETRIAL ORDER DEADLINE THE MIDWEST, Does 1 through 10, inclusive, 24 Defendant. FIFTH REQUEST 27 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED, by and between Plaintiff Leslie R. Bakke, through her counsel of record, the law firm of Sidran Law Corp and Defendant Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest, through its counsel of record, the law firm of WRIGHT, FINLAY & ZAK, LLP, that the discovery deadlines in this matter shall be extended ninety (90) days pursuant to LR 26-3. This is the Parties’ fifth request for an extension of the discovery deadlines. The Parties set forth the following information in support of their stipulation.

I.

DISCOVERY COMPLETED TO DATE A.FRCP 26(a) Disclosures and Supplements Title Date Served Plaintiff’s Initial Disclosure of Documents and Witnesses Pursuant to September 28, 2023 FRCP 26(a)(1) Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s Initial Disclosure of September 14, 2023 Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. RULE 26.1(a)(1) Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s First Supplemental January 30, 2024 Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. RULE 26.1(a)(1) Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s Second Supplemental May 23, 2024 Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. RULE 26.1(a)(1) Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s Third Supplemental September 11, 2024 Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. RULE 26.1(a)(1) Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s Fourth Supplemental November 15, 2024 Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. RULE 26.1(a)(1) Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s Fifth Supplemental November 7, 2024 Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. RULE 26.1(a)(1) Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s Initial Disclosure of November 8, 2024 Expert Witnesses Plaintiff Leslie Bakke’s Initial Disclosure of Expert Witnesses November 8, 2024 Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s Rebuttal Expert December 18, 2024 Witnesses and Reports Plaintiff Leslie Bakke’s Rebuttal Disclosure of Expert Witnesses December 20, 2024 Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s Sixth Supplemental January 29, 2025 Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FED. R. CIV. P. RULE 26.1(a)(1) Plaintiff’s First Supplemental Disclosure of Documents and Witnesses February 21, 2025 Pursuant to FRCP 26(a)(1) Plaintiff’s Second Supplemental Disclosure of Documents and March 3, 2025 Witnesses Pursuant to FRCP 26(a)(1) B. Written Discovery Title Date Served Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s First Set of October 6, 2023 Interrogatories to Plaintiff Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s First Set of Requests October 6, 2023 for Admissions to Plaintiff Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s First Set of Requests October 6, 2023 for Production of Documents to Plaintiff Plaintiff’s Responses to Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s December 22, 2023 First Set of Requests for Production of Documents to Plaintiff Plaintiff’s Responses to Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s December 22, 2023 First Set of Requests for Admissions to Plaintiff Plaintiff’s Responses to Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s December 22, 2023 First Set of Interrogatories to Plaintiff Plaintiff’s First Set of Requests for Production of Documents to August 26, 2024 Defendant Plaintiff’s First Set of Requests for Admissions to Defendant August 26, 2024 Plaintiff’s First Set of Interrogatories to Defendant August 26, 2024 Defendant’s Response to Plaintiff’s First Set of Requests for October 15, 2024 Production of Documents to Defendant Defendant’s Response to Plaintiff’s First Set of Requests for October 15, 2024 Admissions to Defendant Defendant’s Response to Plaintiff’s First Set of Interrogatories to October 15, 2024 Defendant Defendant’s Second Set of Requests for Admissions to Plaintiff November 20, 2024 Defendant’s Second Set of Interrogatories to Plaintiff November 20, 2024 Defendant’s Third Set of Requests for Admissions to Plaintiff December 5, 2024 Defendant’s Third Set of Interrogatories to Plaintiff December 5, 2024 Bakke’s Responses to Defendant’s Second Set of Requests for January 10, 2025 Admissions Bakke’s Responses to Defendant’s Third Set of Interrogatories January 10, 2025 Bakke’s Responses to Defendant’s Third Set of Requests for January 10, 2025 Production of Documents C.Depositions Deponent Date Plaintiff Leslie Bakke January 31, 2024 Robert Hamblen January 27, 2025 Hartford employee Michelle Burruel January 30, 2025 Hartford employee Will Shade January 31, 2025 2 D.Subpoenas Issued Subpoena Date Stanford Healthcare January 4, 2024 5 E. Expert Disclosure Initial Expert Disclosure Date Both Sides Served Initial Expert Disclosures November 8, 2024 Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest’s Rebuttal Expert December 18, 2024 Witnesses and Reports Plaintiff Leslie Bakke’s Rebuttal Disclosure of Expert Witnesses December 20, 2024 Plaintiff’s First Supplemental Disclosure of Documents and Witnesses February 21, 2025 Pursuant to FRCP 26(a)(1) II.

DISCOVERY TO BE COMPLETED 1. Plaintiff will take the deposition of the FRCP 30(b)(6) witness for Defendant.

15 2. Plaintiff will take the deposition of Defendant’s medical expert, Dr. Fish.

16 3. Plaintiff will take the deposition of Defendant’s liability expert, Mr. Titus 17 4. Defendant will take the deposition of Plaintiff’s medical expert, Dr. Oliveri.

18 5. Defendant will take the deposition of Plaintiff’s liability expert, Mr. Zalma.

19 6. Defendant will take the deposition of Plaintiff’s treating physicians.

20 7. The parties will engage in additional written discovery and notice any additional depositions.

22 The parties anticipate that they may need to conduct other forms of discovery not specifically delineated herein on an as-needed basis. Therefore, the list outlined above is in no way intended to be a comprehensive list of the outstanding discovery that remains to be completed.

1 III.

REASONS DISCOVERY WAS NOT COMPLETED WITHIN THE TIME LIMITS 2 AND NEEDS TO BE EXTENDED “[D]istrict courts . . . retain broad discretion to control their dockets . . . .” Shahrokhi v. Harter, No. 2:21-cv-01126-RFB-NJK, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 247936, at *4 (D. Nev. Dec. 30, 2021). To prevail on a request to extend discovery deadlines, the parties must establish good cause. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 608-09 (9th Cir. 1992).

8 “Good cause to extend a discovery deadline exists if it cannot reasonably be met despite the diligence of the party seeking the extension.” Las Vegas Skydiving Adventures LLC v. Groupon, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-02342-APG-VCF, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166073, at *6 (D. Nev. Sep. 10, 2020) (internal quotations omitted). For the reasons set forth below, the parties respectfully submit that good cause supports their request for an extension of the close of discovery, dispositive motions deadline and joint pretrial order deadline.

The parties respectfully request an extension of the discovery deadlines in this matter for several reasons.

1. The parties intend to depose at least five (5) witness as listed above including four (4) experts and several treating providers witnesses necessitating extension of the April 7, 2025 discovery cutoff.

2. The parties intend to participate in a mediation in hopes of resolving the matter without incurring the additional costs of taking expert and doctor depositions.

An extension of the discovery deadlines will preserve the status quo, and will minimize the expense of the Parties’ resources and those of the Court until such mediation can be concluded. Mediterranean Enterprises, Inc. v. Ssangyong Corp., 708 F.2d 1458, 1465 (9th Cir. 1983). Additionally, it will prevent the risk of the court needlessly expending its energies to further manage the case when the case may well settle as a result of the parties' own accord at the upcoming mediation. Sommers v. Cuddy, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12430 (D.Nev. 2013).

28 Discovery should be continued as stipulated between the Parties to allow for a full and complete effort to mediate this dispute. Moreover, as no trial in this matter has been set, the requested extension of discovery does not require a change to any trial date. The Parties jointly request to extend the stay. Neither Party to this lawsuit will be prejudiced by the extension of the deadlines.

IV.

PROPOSED SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETING DISCOVERY Current Date Proposed Date Amend Pleadings and Add Parties: Closed Closed Initial Expert Disclosures: Completed Completed Rebuttal Expert Disclosures: Completed Completed Close of Discovery: April 7, 2025 July 7, 2025 Dispositive Motions May 9, 2025 August 8, 2025 Joint Pretrial Order May 9, 2025 August 8, 2025 Based on the foregoing, the parties respectfully request this Court grant their Stipulation and Order to Extend the Close of Discovery, Dispositive Motions Deadline, and Joint Pretrial Order Deadline (Fifth Request).

18 DATED this 7th day of March, 2025. DATED this 7th day of March, 2025.

By: /s/ David R. Sidran By: /s/ Stephanie Garabedian DAVID R. SIDRAN, ESQ. STEPHANIE GARABEDIAN, ESQ.

21 Nevada Bar No. 7517 Nevada Bar No. 9612 SIDRAN LAW CORP WRIGHT, FINLAY & ZAK, LLP 22 7251 West Lake Mead Boulevard, #300 8337 W. Sunset Rd., #220 Las Vegas, Nevada 89128 Las Vegas, NV 89113 Attorney for Plaintiff, LESLIE R. BAKKE Attorney for Defendant HARTFORD 24 INSURANCE COMPANY OF THE MIDWEST ORDER IT IS SO ORDERED.

27 Dated this 7th day of March, 2025.

28 _______________________________________ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE