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Ellis v. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., 4:12-cv-3897-YGR (2014)

Court: District Court, N.D. California Number: infdco20141203897 Visitors: 7
Filed: Dec. 02, 2014
Latest Update: Dec. 02, 2014
Summary: JOINT STATEMENT AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO EXTEND CASE DEADLINES BY 60-DAYS PURSUANT TO COURT'S NOVEMBER 20, 2014 ORDER YVONNE GONZALEZ ROGERS, District Judge. Consistent with the Court's November 20, 2014 "Order Setting Compliance Hearing" (ECF No. 130), Plaintiffs Diana Ellis, James Schillinger and Ronald Lazar ("Plaintiffs") and JPMorgan Chase & Co. and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., for itself and as the successor by merger to Chase Home Finance ("Chase" or "Defendants") (together, the "Par
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JOINT STATEMENT AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO EXTEND CASE DEADLINES BY 60-DAYS PURSUANT TO COURT'S NOVEMBER 20, 2014 ORDER

YVONNE GONZALEZ ROGERS, District Judge.

Consistent with the Court's November 20, 2014 "Order Setting Compliance Hearing" (ECF No. 130), Plaintiffs Diana Ellis, James Schillinger and Ronald Lazar ("Plaintiffs") and JPMorgan Chase & Co. and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., for itself and as the successor by merger to Chase Home Finance ("Chase" or "Defendants") (together, the "Parties") respectfully submit: (i) a Joint Statement "summarizing the status of the litigation and apprising the Court" of the need for a 60-day extension of the remaining pretrial deadlines; and (ii) "an accompanying proposed form of order" (the "Proposed Order").

I. JOINT STATEMENT

On November 25, 2014, the Parties conducted a meet and confer and reached an agreement to submit this Joint Statement "summarizing the status of the litigation and apprising the Court of [the] need for deadline extensions." The Parties agree that the following pretrial dates should be extended by 60 days as follows:

Event Current Deadline Proposed Extension Disclosure of Experts: Opening December 22, 2014 February 20, 2015 Mediation Cutoff January 15, 2015 March 16, 2015 Disclosure of Experts: Rebuttal January 23, 2015 March 24, 2015 Expert Discovery Cutoff February 20, 2015 April 21, 2015 Class Certification Motion March 6, 2015 May 5, 2015 Class Certification Opposition April 6, 2015 June 5, 2015 Class Certification Reply May 6, 2015 July 6, 2015 Class Certification Hearing May 26, 2015 July 24, 2015

The Parties believe that this extension is warranted for the following reasons:

First, although Chase has produced transactional level data relating to 1.5 million loans going back to January 1, 2008, Chase contends that ongoing work is being done to validate that data. By way of background, Plaintiffs sought information concerning the number of property inspection fees Chase charged to borrowers and the amounts paid by those borrowers. In response, Chase represents that it began a data excavation and mining project that has required Chase to undertake, design, and program multiple iterations and queries in connection with millions of lines of data. Chase contends that, due to the complexity of the data mining project and the need to retrieve and mine data relating to legacy entities that Chase acquired by merger or other acquisitions, it is engaged in ongoing work to validate and verify the post-2008 datasets it produced prior to the discovery cutoff.

Chase represents that it is also in the process of producing pre-2008 data pursuant to an order of Magistrate Judge Spero. The Parties disagreed about whether loan level data should be provided for the time period from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2007 and submitted that dispute to Magistrate Judge Spero on October 21, 2014. (ECF No. 114.) On October 29, 2014, Judge Spero ordered Chase to produce damages data back to 2001 by January 27, 2015. (ECF No. 119.) As a result, Chase will not complete its production of loan level data going back to 2001 until well after the December 22, 2014 deadline for initial expert reports and disclosures.

Extending the remaining pretrial deadlines for 60 days will ensure that each of the Parties' damages experts will have a complete, validated data set, including the pre-2008 data subject to a production deadline of January 27, 2015, before expert witness reports are due. Moreover, to the extent that discussions between the Parties reveal a need for the production of any supplemental or corrected data, the extension would provide sufficient time for such productions to occur before expert reports are due.

Second, for similar reasons set forth in Chase's Response to and Joinder in Plaintiffs' Renewed Request for Pretrial Conference (ECF 115), extending the pretrial deadlines will enable the Parties to review and digest more than a million pages of ESI. Chase was able to produce the vast majority of responsive ESI documents by the November 21 deadline. However, due to the unanticipated large number of documents that Chase contends require redaction, the Parties stipulated to, and Judge Spero granted, an order allowing Chase to complete its production of redacted ESI by December 2, 2015. (ECF No. 129.) This leaves the Parties and their experts less than three weeks to review and consider ESI in connection with their expert reports. Therefore, extending the deadlines by 60 days will provide the Parties and their experts with time to conduct their review of ESI and incorporate that information into their expert reports.

Third, there are four 30(b)(6) deposition topics which, although served and noticed for dates prior to the discovery cutoff deadline, have not yet been completed due to scheduling issues. One 30(b)(6) deposition topic relates to Chase's Broker's Price Opinion ("BPO") charges, as discussed in Plaintiffs' Renewed Request for Pretrial Conference. (ECF No. 111.) This deposition is scheduled to be taken on December 10, 2014. Another 30(b)(6) topic relates to the relationship between J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Chase Bank, N.A. The Parties disagreed as to whether Plaintiffs were entitled to take the deposition and after submitting their dispute to Judge Spero, the Court ordered Chase to produce a witness for the deposition. (ECF No. 119.) The deposition is scheduled to be held on December 12, 2014. Another 30(b)(6) topic relates to the loan level data discussed above. Plaintiffs took this deposition on November 13, 2014, but the parties have agreed to continue that deposition to a second day in December that they are in the process of setting. Finally, a deposition concerning Chase's policies for charging borrowers fees for property inspections is scheduled to be taken on December 9, 2014. Extending the pretrial deadlines will allow the parties to complete these depositions on a cooperative basis and in time to allow for the incorporation of such discovery into the Parties' expert reports.1

The Parties therefore respectfully request that the following deadlines set in the May 19, 2014 Order (ECF No. 95) be extended by 60 days as follows:

1. Mediation Cutoff: March 16, 2015 2. Disclosure of Experts — Opening: February 20, 2015 3. Disclosure of Experts — Rebuttal: March 24, 2015 4. Expert Discovery Cutoff: April 21, 2015 5. Class Certification Motion to be Filed: May 5, 2015 6. Class Certification Opposition to be Filed: June 5, 2015 7. Class Certification Reply to be Filed: July 6, 2015 8. Hearing on Motion for Class Certification: July 24, 2015 at 2 p.m.

In accordance with L.R. 5-4.3.4(a)(2)(i), the above signatory attests that the signatory below concurs in the contents of this filing and has authorized this filing.

[PROPOSED] ORDER

The Court, having reviewed the contents of the Parties' Joint Statement, and finding good cause therein, hereby orders that the following deadlines set in the May 19, 2014 Order (ECF No. 95) be extended by 60 days as follows:

1. Mediation Cutoff: March 16, 2015 2. Disclosure of Experts — Opening: February 20, 2015 3. Disclosure of Experts — Rebuttal: March 24, 2015 4. Expert Discovery Cutoff: April 21, 2015 5. Class Certification Motion to be Filed: May 5, 2015 6. Class Certification Opposition to be Filed: June 5, 2015 7. Class Certification Reply to be Filed: July 6, 2015 8. Hearing on Motion for Class Certification: July 24, 2015 at 2 p.m.

To the extent that the parties are still completing discovery responsive to discovery requests served prior to November 21, 2014, they shall use their best efforts to complete all such discovery or supplemental productions cooperatively and expeditiously within sixty days from November 21, 2014.

FootNotes


1. Furthermore, as of the date of this filing, Defendants' motions to dismiss the RICO claims are still pending before the Court.
Source:  Leagle

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