Bauer v. Mailroom Personnel

The Honorable RICHARD A. JONES 2 The Honorable Magistrate Judge S. KATE VAUGHAN

7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE ADAM BAUER, et al., NO. C21-0453-RAJ-SKV 10 Plaintiffs, STIPULATED MOTION AND 11 v. [PROPOSED] ORDER FOR EXTENSION OF TIME WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS NOTE FOR: April 8, 2022 MONROE CORRECTIONAL COMPLEX MAILROOM PERSONNEL, et al., 15 Defendants.

16 I. STIPULATED MOTION 17 Pursuant to LCR 7(d)(1) and LCR 10(g), the parties respectfully submit this stipulated motion to extend the deadlines set out in the existing case scheduling order as detailed in this stipulated motion.

20 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16 and Local Civil Rule 16 permit the extension of a deadline for good cause. The good cause standard primarily considers the diligence of the party seeking the extension and whether the deadline cannot be met despite reasonable diligence.

23 Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992). LCR 10(g) also permits the party to move pursuant to LCR 7(d)(1) for an order related to their stipulation. “If a stipulated motion would alter dates or schedules previously set by the court, the parties shall clearly state the reasons justifying the proposed change.” LCR 10(g).

1 The current deadlines are set out in the Court’s most recent order. See ECF No. 27. This stipulation was entered based in part on the parties’ agreement that Defendants would make a supplemental production of documents to Plaintiffs during the extended time. See ECF No. 26, at 1.

5 Defendants and their counsel have been working to produce this supplement, and a large part of that supplement was based on the Department of Corrections’ search for vaulted emails.

7 After defining the search parameters, defense counsel learned that multiple Washington State agencies, including DOC, were in the process of a “vault migration.” As a result of this migration, some of the responsive vaulted emails exchanged during the relevant timeframe were in one “vault” and some were in another. Further, each vault uses its own search engine. The search engine associated with one set of emails is experiencing a delay in producing results.

12 DOC finally confirmed earlier this week (on April 5, 2022) that the initial searches were finished running and defense counsel had received everything from that search.

14 After defense counsel received the vaulted emails, however, they found that there were only one or two emails from 2020. To ensure that their original search terms had not unintentionally excluded the 2020 timeframe, defense counsel has now requested another, broader search. They are now awaiting the results of that search to either fully capture the set of emails Plaintiffs requested or to ensure that the search is complete and there are no other emails responsive to Plaintiffs’ discovery requests.

20 In communicating all of this to Plaintiffs’ counsel, the parties have jointly determined that the deadlines in this case should be extended further to accommodate the delay in searching for responsive emails and the additional time needed by defense counsel to ensure adequate searches have been conducted. See St. George v. Sequim Sch. Dist., No. 18-CV-05372-RJB, 2018 24 WL 6518118, at *1 (W.D. Wash. Dec. 11, 2018) (granting stipulated motion for extension of time given parties’ diligent discovery efforts in the face of technical difficulties and unexpected external delays).

1 Additional time will also allow for continued discussions between the parties regarding the possibility of an out-of-court resolution to the dispute.

3 The parties thereby stipulate and request the Court grant their request to modify the case schedule at ECF No. 27 as follows: 5 Current date Proposed dates Completion of document production: - April 28, 2022 All motions related to discovery must be filed by this date and April 14, 2022 May 12, 2022 noted for consideration no later than the third Friday thereafter (see LCR 7(d) or LCR 37(a)(2)) Discovery cutoff May 13, 2022 June 17, 2022 All dispositive motions must be filed by this date and noted for June 13, 2022 July 8, 2022 consideration no later than the fourth Friday thereafter (see LCR 7(d)) RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED this 8th day of April, 2022.

s/ Daniel A. Fiedler s/ Katherine J. Faber Davis Wright Tremaine LLP Katherine J. Faber, WSBA #49726 Bruce E.H. Johnson, WSBA #7667 Michelle M. Young, WSBA #52423 Caesar D. Kalinowski, WSBA #52650 Assistant Attorneys General Daniel A. Fiedler, WSBA #56436 Corrections Division 920 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3300 P.O. Box 40116 Seattle, WA 98104-1610 Olympia, WA 98504-0116 Telephone: 360 Telephone: 206-622-3150 586-1445 Fax: 260-757-7700 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Defendants Attorneys for Plaintiffs 1 II. [PROPOSED] ORDER The Court has considered the parties’ stipulation, and for good cause shown, the Court approves the parties’ stipulation and Orders as follows: 1. The motion for extension is GRANTED; 2. The Court adopts the case schedule as set forth in the parties’ stipulation.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

DATED this 13th day of April, 2022.

10 A S. KATE VAUGHAN United States Magistrate Judge