STIPULATION TO ENLARGE TIME FOR EXPERT DISCOVERY AND TO CONTINUE PRETRIAL CONFERENCE AND ORDER

BARBARA A. McAULIFFE, Magistrate Judge.

Pursuant to Local Rule 143 of the Local Rules of the District Court for the Eastern District of California and this Court's Amended Scheduling Conference Order (ECF Dkt. No. 41), Plaintiff Country Fresh Batter, Inc., doing business as Hope's Cookies ("Plaintiff" or "Hope's") and Defendant Lion Raisins, Inc. ("Defendant" or "Lion") hereby submit the following Stipulation to enlarge the time for expert discovery.

RECITALS

WHEREAS, on November 16, 2018, this Court held a Telephonic Status Conference in which the parties addressed the scheduling of new case management deadlines, including trial;

WHEREAS, on November 19, 2018, the Court entered an Amended Scheduling Conference Order (ECF Dkt. No. 41), which requires the parties to serve initial expert witness disclosures no later than February 19, 2019, to serve supplemental expert witness disclosures no later than March 8, 2019, and to complete all expert discovery, including motions to compel, no later than April 19, 2019, and set a pretrial conference for July 22, 2019;

WHEREAS, the Amended Scheduling Conference Order also requires the parties to complete all non-expert discovery, including motions to compel, no later than March 29, 2019;

WHEREAS, the parties have engaged in non-expert discovery after the Court entered the Amended Scheduling Conference Order (see Declaration of Andrew M. Hutchison ("Hutchison Decl.") at ¶ 2);

WHEREAS, on February 15, 2019, this Court entered an Order granting the parties' stipulation to an extension of time to serve initial expert witness disclosures no later than March 12, 2019, to serve supplemental expert witness disclosures no later than March 29, 2019, and to complete all expert discovery, including motions to compel, no later than April 26, 2019 (ECF Dkt. No. 46);

WHEREAS, although the parties have been actively engaged in settlement discussions, Plaintiff has renewed its motion to compel regarding various fact discovery disputes. The motion is currently set for hearing with this Court on March 22, 2019, with an informal discovery dispute conference set with this Court for March 20, 2019 (ECF Dkt. Nos. 47, 49; Hutchison Decl., ¶¶ 3, 4);

WHEREAS, Plaintiff asserts that all expert discovery, including the initial disclosures required under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26, are necessarily impacted by the current fact discovery disputes (see Hutchison Decl., ¶ 5);

WHEREAS, based on the current disputes regarding fact discovery and Plaintiff's pending motion to compel, and given the parties' ongoing settlement discussions, the parties' respective counsel have met and conferred and have agreed to request an enlargement of time of four (4) weeks to April 9, 2019 for serving initial expert disclosures, an enlargement of time of four (4) weeks to April 29, 2019 for serving supplemental expert disclosures, and an enlargement of time of four (4) weeks to May 24, 2019, to complete all expert discovery, including motions to compel (see Hutchison Decl., ¶ 6);

WHEREAS, on March 8, 2019, Plaintiff's counsel was assigned a trial date of July 18, 2019 through August 2, 2019, in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona, in and for the County of Maricopa, in the action entitled Wickenburg Unified Sch. Dist. No. 9 v. Turner Construction Co., et al., Consolidated Case No. CV2015-011304 (see Hutchison Decl., ¶¶ 8, 9);

WHEREAS, the parties respective counsel have met and conferred and have agreed to request that the pretrial conference currently scheduled for July 22, 2019, be continued to August 5, 2019, at 2:30 p.m., or a date and time thereafter that is convenient for the Court (see Hutchison Decl., ¶ 10);

WHEREAS, the parties' request for an enlargement of time for expert discovery is not made to cause undue delay and does not change the dates for the non-expert discovery cutoff, the pretrial motion filing deadline, or the jury trial scheduled for September 24, 2019, and is not related to the independent request to reschedule the pretrial conference currently set for July 22, 2019 (see Hutchison Decl., ¶ 11).

STIPULATION

THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY AGREED AND STIPULATED that the time for expert discovery will be enlarged as follows: the parties to serve initial expert witness disclosures no later than April 9, 2019, to serve supplemental expert witness disclosures no later than April 29, 2019, and to complete all expert discovery, including motions to compel, no later than May 24, 2019.

IT IS FURTHER AGREED AND STIPULATED that the pretrial conference currently set for July 22, 2019, at 2:30 p.m. in Courtroom 5, be continued to August 5, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. in Courtroom 5, or a date and time thereafter that is convenient to the Court.

ORDER

On March 20, 2019, the Court held an informal telephonic conference to address issues raised in Plaintiff's renewed motion to compel (Doc. No. 47). At the conference, the Court and parties discussed the proposed stipulation for modification of the Amended Scheduling Conference Order (Doc. No. 41). For the reasons stated on the record, the parties' stipulation is adopted in part, and the deadlines in the Amended Scheduling Conference Order are extended as follows: The parties' initial expert witness disclosures shall be served no later than April 9, 2019, the parties' supplemental expert witness disclosures shall be served no later than April 29, 2019, and all expert discovery, including motions to compel, shall be completed no later than May 24, 2019. All other dates shall remain as previously set, including the pretrial conference and trial.

IT IS SO ORDERED.