FOURTH JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER TO EXTEND DISCOVERY AND TRIAL DEADLINES Trial

SHEILA K. OBERTO, Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiff United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC" or "Plaintiff") and Defendant Farmers Insurance Exchange ("Farmers" or "Defendant"), through their respective counsel of record, hereby respectfully request a continuance of the Scheduling Order and accompanying deadlines.

On September 30, 2013, the EEOC filed the instant action pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title I of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss the action on January 28, 2014, EEOC filed an opposition on February 24, 2014, and Defendant filed a reply on March 3, 2014. On March 4, 2014, the Court took the matter under submission. The Court issued a ruling on the matter on May 30, 2014, denying Defendant's motion to dismiss.

Defendant filed an Answer to the Complaint on June 13, 2014, and an initial scheduling order was issued by the Court in this matter on July 11, 2014.

Since that time, the parties have submitted three stipulations to extend time with the most recent occurring on October 15, 2015. During this time, the parties have only sought the court's assistance with one discovery dispute (regarding a protective order). The parties have devoted extensive efforts to resolving this matter. Since the October 15, 2015 joint stipulation, the parties have participated in a private mediation and conducted several follow up telephonic conferences to continue the progress made at the mediation. While the parties are not ready to file a notice of settlement, the parties have come to a tentative agreement on one of the key issues (monetary relief) and are attempting to resolve the remaining issues (injunctive remedies). Accordingly, the parties now stipulate pursuant to Rules 16 and 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as follows:

1. Good Cause To Extend Discovery Deadlines

The parties come before the Court to seek a fourth and last extension of the discovery and trial deadlines. The parties seek the current extension, which extends most of the current deadlines by approximately three (3) months, to permit the parties to finalize settlement. The parties have made substantial progress on this matter, conducting a private mediation in December 2015 before the Honorable Margaret A. Nagle (Ret.) and finally coming to a tentative agreement on the monetary terms. As the EEOC contends that any EEOC settlement requires a consent decree containing both monetary and injunctive remedies, the parties cannot file a notice of settlement until they come to an agreement on the injunctive remedies. As such, the parties seek this extension, or in the alternative a stay, to permit the parties to come to a resolution on the injunctive remedies without diverting resources and attention to litigation matters. Litigation of this matter would entail discovery and dispositive motions. Providing the parties additional time to attempt to reach a resolution would thus preserve the parties as well as the court's resources. As such, the parties request that the Court, for good cause, grant the parties' fourth request for an extension of time.

2. Stipulation to Conduct Settlement Conference

The parties stipulate that the Joint Scheduling Order be amended to reflect the following new deadlines:

IT IS SO STIPULATED.

ORDER

Pursuant to the parties' stipulation, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the parties' stipulated request for continuance of all deadlines to complete settlement shall be GRANTED IN PART to allow the parties sufficient time to complete settlement negotiations while accommodating the Court's calendar. The Scheduling Order is modified as follows:

IT IS SO ORDERED.