Ernest Maea v. Lt. A. Martinez, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted in part the parties’ stipulated motion to modify case management and scheduling deadlines in this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. The court extended the expert discovery deadline to February 3, 2026, and the dispositive motion deadline to March 4, 2026, while declining to grant the requested extensions in full.

Holdings

1. Counsel's busy schedules, vacation plans, obligations in other cases, and inability to find a mutually agreeable deposition date did not establish good cause for another broad extension of the scheduling order.
2. The unavailability of expert witnesses for deposition constituted good cause to extend the expert-discovery deadline.
3. The court granted a 45-day extension for expert discovery but granted only a 30-day extension for dispositive motions.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the parties demonstrated good cause under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 6(b) and 16(b)(4) to modify the scheduling order.
2. Whether the asserted scheduling conflicts and expert-witness unavailability justified extending the expert-discovery and dispositive-motion deadlines.

Disposition

other