Opinion
Stan S. Mallison, Hector R. Martinen, Marco A. Palau, Joseph D. Sutton, Eric S. Trabucco, MALLISON & MARTINEZ ATTORNEYS AT LAW, Oakland, California, Attorneys for Plaintiff.
Angel Gomez State, EPSTEIN BECKER & GREEN, P.C., Los Angeles, California, Attorneys for Defendants.
STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO CONTINUE CLASS CERTIFICATION DEADLINE
GARLAND E. BURRELL, Jr., Senior District Judge.
The Parties to the above-entitled action, through their respective counsel of record, submit this Stipulation and Proposed Order to continue the deadline to file a motion for class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, and motion to certify a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act (together the "Motion Class Certification").
On June 13, 2014, the Court issued an order setting two case deadlines: Plaintiff's Motion for Class Certification, which is due September 28, 2015, and the Pretrial Scheduling Conference, which was continued from June 23, 2014 to December 7, 2015. (Docket #12 at 2.) No other case deadline has been set by the Court, and no Scheduling Conference has taken place.
The abbreviated Scheduling Order described above was issued after Plaintiff filed an individual Scheduling Report. (Docket #11.) In that report Plaintiff explained that he was unable to submit a Joint Report because, at the time, defense counsel was unauthorized to perform any work on behalf of Defendants. (Docket #11 at 2, 11.) The Court then continued the Scheduling Conference from June 2014 to December 2015, and set a deadline for class certification.
The Parties have proceeded with discovery in this matter. Plaintiff has served interrogatories and document requests, and has conducted a first round of 30(b)(6) depositions of the entity defendants, ACX Pacific Northwest, Inc. and Pacific Leasing, LLC. In addition, the Parties are meeting and conferring with regard to certain objections that Defendants have asserted to Plaintiff's discovery requests, as well as the scheduling of the deposition of Plaintiff. The Parties have exchanged a protective order and anticipate submitting a proposed version for the Court's approval in the coming days. The Parties also anticipate that additional discovery will be conducted before Plaintiff's Motion for Class Certification is filed. In particular, the 30(b)(6) depositions have been continued while additional documents are produced and additional individual(s) are designated to testify. Additionally, Plaintiff believes that other employer-affiliated witnesses will need to be deposed, and that additional documents and electronically-stored information will be requested in anticipation of class certification. Despite the diligent efforts of the Parties, Plaintiff does not believe that he will be able to obtain the discovery necessary to meet the present certification deadline without unduly burdening the Parties and potentially the Court.
In light of the above, and after meeting and conferring, the Parties have agreed to continue the deadline for Plaintiff to file a Motion for Class Certification to January 26, 2016. The Parties submit this Stipulation and Proposed Order for the Court's approval.
[PROPOSED] ORDER
The deadline for Plaintiff to file a motion for class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, and motion to certify a collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act, is hereby continued to January 26, 2016.
IT IS SO ORDERED.