Steven Davis and Joshua Antwine v. Brett Allred, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri grants Plaintiffs’ motion to file expert disclosures out of time. The Court finds diligence and lack of prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b), and modifies the scheduling order to extend Defendants’ expert and related discovery deadlines.

Holdings

1. Plaintiffs demonstrated good cause because they acted diligently in attempting to obtain the financial records needed for the expert analysis and promptly finalized the reports after receiving the records.
2. Permitting the late disclosures would not cause sufficient prejudice to justify denying the motion because defendants retained time before their own expert deadline and discovery remained open.
3. The court modified the scheduling order by setting new deadlines for defendants' expert designation, rebuttal expert designation, discovery-dispute motions, completion of discovery, and dispositive motions.

Questions Presented

1. Whether plaintiffs established good cause under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4) to modify the scheduling order and permit expert disclosures after the deadline.
2. Whether allowing the late expert disclosures would prejudice defendants.
3. Whether the related expert-designation and discovery deadlines should be modified if plaintiffs' motion was granted.

Disposition

other