STIPULATION AND ORDER EXTENDING TIME FOR DESIGNATION OF EXPERTS AND EXCHANGE OF EXPERT REPORTS (PHASE II)

MORRISON C. ENGLAND, Jr., Chief District Judge.

WHEREAS, the Court's Phase II Pretrial Scheduling Order (ECF No. 229) set the last day on which all parties to the above-captioned action are to serve on all other parties the name, address, and area of expertise of each expert that they propose to tender at trial, and exchange expert reports, as August 11, 2015, and;

WHEREAS, as part of its initial disclosures made pursuant to Federal Rule of Procedure 26(a) and the Court's Phase II Pretrial Scheduling Order, Plaintiffs United States of America, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (collectively "Plaintiffs") submitted a large volume of documents to Defendant Sterling Centrecorp, Inc. ("Sterling") via several disks, the last of which was received by Sterling on March 10, 2015, and;

WHEREAS, on May 11, 2015, after undertaking a partial review of the documents submitted by Plaintiffs as part of their initial disclosures (which review is ongoing), Sterling propounded several discovery requests on Plaintiffs, and;

WHEREAS, Plaintiffs and Sterling met and conferred with regard to Sterling's discovery requests, and have agreed that Plaintiffs will produce documents responsive to Sterling's requests on a rolling basis, which production is unlikely to be concluded before late July 2015, and;

WHEREAS, Sterling anticipates that its expert witness will require additional time to review the documents produced by Plaintiffs in response to Sterling's discovery requests, and;

WHEREAS, a thirty-day extension of time for designation of experts and exchange of expert reports will not require additional time for expert discovery; should this Stipulation be granted, the November 18, 2015 cutoff for expert discovery set by the Court's Phase II Pretrial Scheduling Order shall continue to govern; and

WHEREAS, a thirty-day extension of time for designation of experts and exchange of expert reports will carry this deadline past the existing deadline for fact discovery, obviating the need for experts to supplement reports if new facts are disclosed or discovered after the existing deadline for expert disclosure and exchange of expert reports.

NOW THEREFORE, Plaintiffs and Sterling (collectively, "Parties") hereby jointly stipulate and respectfully request that the last day the Parties may serve on all other Parties the name, address, and area of expertise of each expert they propose to tender at trial, and produce a written report prepared and signed by each expert witness, be moved back thirty days, to September 10, 2015.

SO STIPULATED.

ORDER

In light of the Parties signed stipulation (ECF No. 237), the Court finds that good cause exists for issuance of an Order extending the time for the Parties to serve on all other parties the name, address, and area of expertise of each expert they propose to tender at trial, and produce a written report prepared and signed by each expert witness, to September 10, 2015.

IT IS SO ORDERED.