N. L. v. Hanford Joint Union High School District

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California partially granted and partially denied the parties’ stipulated motion to modify the scheduling order. The court denied the request to reopen non-expert discovery for lack of diligence but extended the expert-disclosure, expert-discovery, and dispositive-motion deadlines based on good cause related to plaintiff’s counsel’s medical procedure. The court also set the pretrial conference for September 14, 2026, and trial for December 1, 2026.

Holdings

1. The parties failed to show the diligence required for good cause under Rule 16(b)(4), so the court denied the stipulated request to reopen non-expert discovery.
2. The court found good cause to extend the expert-disclosure, supplemental-expert-disclosure, expert-discovery, and dispositive-motion deadlines by approximately six months.
3. The court set a pretrial conference for September 14, 2026, and a trial for December 1, 2026, before District Judge Kirk E. Sherriff.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the parties established good cause and diligence sufficient to retroactively reopen non-expert discovery after the deadline had expired.
2. Whether the parties established good cause to extend the expert-disclosure, expert-discovery, and dispositive-motion deadlines.
3. Whether the court should set pretrial-conference and trial dates because those dates had not previously been set.

Disposition

other