STIPULATION AND PROPOSED ORDER TO CONTINUE NON-EXPERT DISCOVERY DATES TO BE CONCURRENT WITH EXPERT DISCOVERY DATES

(Doc. 60)

JENNIFER L. THURSTON, Magistrate Judge.

The parties hereby jointly submit, and stipulate and agree, as follows:

1. The parties have diligently engaged in discovery. After extensive interrogatory and document production exchanges, the depositions of the plaintiffs were notices. The deposition of plaintiff's mother and guardian took the entirety of a day, resulting in the depositions of S.V. and her step-father to be reset for another date and are currently pending (they were set to take place this week, but have been continued so that the parties can mediate).

2. The plaintiff has taken the deposition of Ms. Pelayo and Superintendent Ms. Rivera. Those depositions led the plaintiff attorney to additional names at the District which the plaintiff attorney set for deposition this week, but which have been continued out to allow for a mediation.

3. The Independent Medical Examination of S.V. had been scheduled for this week, but due to its expense, the parties have agreed to move the Independent Medical Examination to a later date in order to allow for the mediation to take place before the expense is occurred.

4. The parties had due time within the existing discovery cut off to complete their discovery, all of which was properly noticed and pending, but the parties determined after the recent depositions and disclosures, that it would be in the best interest of all sides to proceed to a mediation now, without incurring significant additional costs (believed to total in excess of $10,000) on pending discovery this week, so that the parties can attempt to mediate and put those resources towards a resolution of the case which may not be possible if all of those funds are expended before the mediation.

5. The parties, before submitting this request and stipulation, agreed to use Retired Federal Magistrate Stephen Larson as the mediator. The parties and Mr. Larson have agreed on April 11, 2019, for the mediation date. In the initial stipulation, the parties advised the Court that the mediation would conclude by the end of May, simply to allow for any continuances or calendar conflicts that may arise, or if a second session is required. It is the intention of the parties to proceed to mediation on April 11, 2019, and if, for some reason, Judge Larson is not available in the month of April, the parties intend to find another mediator to hear the case in the month of April.

6. The parties believe there is good cause to extend the time for discovery in order to allow for a mediation to take place before these expenses are incurred, as the parties were invited to request and stipulate in Judge O'Neil's original order. The parties believe their best opportunity to settle this case entirely would be to extend the time for non-expert discovery until after the mediation.

7. Based upon the magistrate's prior order, the parties now stipulate and agree that the only date that shall be extended is the non-expert disclosure (it is noted that there was a typographical error in the original stipulation and proposed order to continue all discovery dates, wherein the phrase "non-expert" was inadvertently listed as "new expert" discovery cut off).

The parties stipulate and agree that non-expert discovery, and expert discovery, shall run concurrently and no other dates or deadlines in this case shall be moved.

ORDER

Based upon the stipulation of counsel, the representation of the parties, and the description of the mediation pending by the parties, the Court ORDERS:

1. All non-expert discovery cut off SHALL be completed no later than May 17, 2019.

IT IS SO ORDERED.