JOINT STIPULATION AND ORDER CONTINUING PRETRIAL AND TRIAL DEADLINES

LAWRENCE J. O'NEILL, Chief District Judge.

Plaintiff Christopher Sullivan, Defendant Costco Wholesale Corporation, and Defendant Tricam Industries, Inc., constituting all the parties appearing in this action, through undersigned counsel of record hereby stipulate to continue the Final Pretrial Conference from September 7, 2018 to November 9, 2018, and to continue Trial from October 30, 2018, to January 7, 2019. The parties further stipulate to reopening discovery and expert discovery and to a new Discovery Deadline of October 15, 2018, and Expert Discovery Deadline of October 30, 2018. This is the first request to continue in this case.

Pursuant to Rule 16(b)(4), good cause exists for the Court to modify the Scheduling order entered on October 16, 2017, and continue the pretrial and trial deadlines. GOOD CAUSE for this continuance exists in that prior to August 9, 2018, Plaintiff believed his left shoulder/arm pain and neurologic symptoms were solely related to his left shoulder. However, on August 9, 2018, his physicians informed him that they suspected this pain and associated neurologic symptoms were at least partially related to his cervical spine injury. On August 15, 2018, Plaintiff underwent an x-ray of his cervical spine which showed evidence of a severe degenerative disc disease and spondylosis at C5-C6, and C6-C7. These findings were confirmed in a subsequent MRI taken on August 16, 2018. On August 20, 2016, Plaintiff was told by his physicians that he required a 3-level cervical fusion (C3-C7), and they recommended he undergo that procedure sooner rather than later. Plaintiff's cervical fusion surgery is scheduled for September 24, 2018, and will entail a 4 to 6 week recovery period.

Plaintiff is informed and believes and thereon alleges the above-described cervical injury is related to his fall from the Tricam stepstool model RM-SLA-3 at issue in this case. However, as Plaintiff Sullivan's cervical injury came to light after the close of non-expert and expert discovery this contention has not been investigated through formal discovery. The parties stipulate to reopening discovery and expert discovery in order to depose Plaintiff's healthcare providers and establish whether his cervical injury was related to or caused by his fall from the Tricam stepstool model RM-SLA-3 on January 2, 2016.

Further GOOD CAUSE for this continuance exists in that with Defendants' motion for summary judgment now ruled on, the parties wish to mitigate costs associated with bringing Plaintiff's retained expert to trial. R. Kevin Smith resides and works in Indiana. In order to mitigate the costs associated with his attendance at trial, the parties have agreed to record R. Kevin Smith's deposition by audiovisual means for use at trial.

Based on the forgoing, the parties respectfully request that this Court continue the pretrial and trial deadlines in the following manner:

ORDER

Based on the Joint Stipulation of the parties, and good cause appearing therefore, IT IS ORDERED that the Final Pretrial Conference currently set for September 7, 2018 be and hereby is continued to November 9, 2018, at 8:30 a.m. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Trial currently set for October 30, 2018 be and hereby is continued to January 8, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that nonexpert and expert discovery are reopened and that a new Discovery Deadline of October 15, 2018, and Expert Discovery Deadline of October 30, 2018 be and hereby are established.

IT IS SO ORDERED.