SECOND REQUEST AND STIPULATION TO MODIFY THE SCHEDULING ORDER; ORDER EXTENDING NON-EXPERT DISCOVERY DEADLINE

SHEILA K. OBERTO, Magistrate Judge.

REQUEST TO MODIFY THE SCHEDULING ORDER

A scheduling order may be modified upon a showing of good cause. Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b). Good cause exists when the deadline cannot be met despite due diligence. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992).

Defendants have diligently defended this action, expending time and resources challenging the sufficiency of Plaintiff's original complaint (ECF Nos. 10, 11), answering Plaintiff's amended complaint (ECF No. 19), timely responding to Plaintiff's written discovery (Miller Decl., ¶ 2), and serving written discovery on Plaintiff (Miller Decl., ¶ 3).

On October 25, 2016, Plaintiff's counsel requested additional time to respond to Defendants' written discovery. (Miller Dec., ¶ 3). Defense counsel agreed to a two-week extension of time, as long as the non-expert discovery date was extended to allow the parties sufficient time to meet and confer regarding discovery responses and have a potential motion to compel heard by the Court. (ECF No. 26). Accordingly, upon the parties' stipulation, this Court modified the scheduling order to extend the non-expert discovery deadline to January 17, 2017. (ECF No. 27.)

With the two-week extension, Plaintiff's responses to Defendants' written discovery were due by November 23, 2016. (Miller Dec., ¶ 3.) On November 17, 2016, Plaintiff's counsel informed defense counsel he was reviewing a large volume of medical records in the case, and on December 8, 2016, Plaintiff's counsel represented his intention to withdraw as Plaintiff's attorney. (Id. at ¶ 4.) Defendants have not received responses to their discovery requests. (Id. at ¶ 5.)

Due to these circumstances, the parties respectfully request that the Court extend the deadline for non-expert discovery to March 20, 2017 (the expert discovery deadline). This will allow Plaintiff's counsel sufficient time to have a motion to withdraw heard and allow Plaintiff or his substituted counsel sufficient time to review and respond to Defendants' written discovery. This will also allow the parties to avoid incurring time and expense on a potentially unnecessary motion to compel, which would otherwise be due on December 14, 2016.

STIPULATION

The parties, through their respective counsel of record, stipulate to extend the deadline non-dispositive discovery to March 20, 2017.

ORDER

Pursuant to the parties' Second Request and Stipulation to Modify the Scheduling (Doc. 28), and for good cause shown, the Court hereby amends the Scheduling Order (Doc. 22) as follows: the parties are ordered to complete all non-expert discovery on or before March 20, 2017.

This modification does not change any other existing scheduling deadlines, including the pretrial conference and trial dates.

IT IS SO ORDERED.