STIPULATION AND JOINT MOTION TO AMEND CASE SCHEDULING ORDER TO EXTEND DISCOVERY DEADLINE; AND ORDER THEREON

CRAIG M. KELLISON, Magistrate Judge.

This Stipulation is submitted by Plaintiffs Jesus Silva Rodriguez and Rigoberto Zepeda Loa and Defendants RCO Reforesting, Inc. and Roberto Ochoa, by and through their respective counsel. The parties respectfully submit this Stipulation to amend the case scheduling order and continue the non-expert discovery deadline as follows:

This request will not affect the September 17, 2018 motions deadline, October 22, 2018 Pretrial Conference, or December 4, 2018 jury trial. This stipulated request is made pursuant to Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for good cause.

The current discovery deadline cannot be met in light of the Court's May 1, 2018 order to refer this matter for a Settlement Conference before Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan and to stay discovery pending efforts to resolve the case. See Doc. 59. Up until that order, Plaintiffs had pursued written discovery and had taken the depositions of Defendant Roberto Ochoa and two employees of RCO Reforesting, Inc. However, Plaintiffs still need to conduct additional depositions1 and are awaiting responses to their Third Set of Interrogatories and Third Set of Requests for Production of Documents, which were both served on March 16, 2018. If the case does not resolve at the next settlement conference, it is essential that the Court grant this joint request to modify the case schedule so that outstanding discovery may be completed.

The parties demonstrate good cause for this request. On June 21, 2018, the parties, represented by their respective counsel, appeared at the Settlement Conference, where Defendants agreed to disclose confidential financial information to Plaintiffs. The Court then ordered the parties to appear for a further Settlement Conference on July 12, 2018. See Doc. 63. The parties participated in the July 12, 2018 Settlement Conference, but had to schedule a third settlement conference on August 27, 2018 due to a medical emergency affecting one of the parties. See Doc. 72. In the event the parties are unable to settle the case, defense counsel may renew their motion to withdraw as Defendants' counsel of record. See Doc. 59. Plaintiffs will have to seek a stipulation from Defendants or file a formal motion to lift the stay on discovery. The Court therefore should extend the non-expert discovery deadline to allow the parties adequate time to prepare for trial should the case not resolve at the August 27, 2018 Settlement Conference.

Although the case schedule has been modified four times,2 these continuances have been necessary, based on a showing of good cause. Here, the parties jointly move the Court to amend the case schedule once more and agree that neither will suffer any prejudice as a result of such an amendment.

For these reasons, the parties satisfy the good cause standard under Rule 16(b) and hereby stipulate that the current non-expert discovery deadline be extended to October 1, 2018.

IT IS SO STIPULATED.

IT IS SO ORDERED.