JOINT STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO CONTINUE MAY 12, 2017 CASE MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE

MAXINE M. CHESNEY, District Judge.

The parties to the above-captioned litigation, by and through their respective counsel of record, hereby stipulate and request as follows:

WHEREAS, the Court has scheduled a case management conference for May 12, 2017 and has ordered that the parties file a joint case management statement by May 5, 2017 (ECF 218);

WHEREAS, when this case management conference was originally set, it was intended to address scheduling and settlement issues following the Court's ruling on the standard of review (ECF 207; see also 11/04/2016 Tr. at 68:15-69:10);

WHEREAS, on May 1, 2017, the Court ruled that the appropriate standard of review applicable to all twelve Plaintiffs' claims for benefits under their Aetna-administered plan was abuse of discretion (ECF 221);

WHEREAS, per the Court's December 15, 2016 order (ECF 207), the parties will submit a joint stipulation setting forth a proposed briefing schedule on the merits by May 15, 2017;

WHEREAS, the parties will also meet and confer regarding settlement options and provide an update in a joint stipulation by May 15, 2017;

WHEREAS, there are no other issues between the parties that needs to be discuss at the case management conference unless the Court has additional questions that it wishes to raise with the parties at the conference;

THEREFORE, the parties jointly stipulate, subject to the Court's approval, that the Case Management Conference be extended from May 12, 2017 to July 21, 2017 to permit time for the parties to discuss settlement and draft a briefing schedule on the merits, unless the Court has other issues that it would like to discuss with the parties.

IT IS SO STIPULATED.

PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED THAT the Case Management Conference presently scheduled for May 12, 2017 at 10:30 a.m. is vacated and continued to July 21, 2017 at 10:30 a.m.