JOINT STIPULATION TO EXTEND EXPERT DISCOVERY DEADLINES

JON S. TIGAR, District Judge.

Plaintiff BARBARA PERRY ("Plaintiff") and Defendant PERDUE FOODS LLC dba Coleman Natural Foods (erroneously sued as Coleman Natural Foods, LLC) ("Defendant"), by and through their counsel of record, hereby jointly stipulate and respectfully request that the Court extend expert discovery deadlines sixty (60) days as follows: (1) expert disclosures from February 8, 2019 to April 9, 2019; (2) expert rebuttals from February 22, 2019 to April 23, 2019; and (3) expert discovery cut-off from March 22, 2019 to May 21, 2019. The Parties are not requesting a continuance of the June 10, 2019 trial

In support of this stipulation, the Parties state as follows:

WHEREAS, counsel for Plaintiff will move to withdraw as counsel of record for Plaintiff and will file a Motion to Withdraw by February 5, 2019;

WHEREAS, in light of Plaintiff's counsel need to withdraw, the Parties desire to continue expert discovery deadlines to provide Plaintiff's counsel with adequate time to withdraw and for Plaintiff to retain new counsel to conduct expert discovery, while saving associated expert discovery costs until Plaintiff has retained new counsel;

WHEREAS, this Court entered its initial Pretrial Scheduling Order ("Scheduling Order") on September 20, 2017 (Docket number 28);

WHEREAS, Plaintiff and Defendant entered into a stipulation to continue fact discovery deadlines, expert discovery deadlines, and dispositive motion deadlines only on June 12, 2018;

WHEREAS, on June 14, 2018, this Court continued fact discovery deadlines, expert discovery deadlines, dispositive motion deadlines, and continued the trial date to April 8, 2019 (Docket number 37);

WHEREAS, Plaintiff and Defendant entered into a second stipulation to continue fact discovery, expert discovery, dispositive motion deadlines, and the trial date on August 22, 2018;

WHEREAS, on August 27, 2018, this Court continued fact discovery deadlines, expert discovery deadlines, dispositive motion deadlines, and continued the trial date to June 10, 2019 (Docket number 39);

WHEREAS, on December 21, 2018, the Parties filed an initial Joint Stipulation to Extend Expert Discovery Deadlines by approximately one month as the Parties deferred costs until mediation on December 19, 2018. However, mediation was unsuccessful (Docket number 56);

WHEREAS, on December 21, 2018, the Court granted the Parties Stipulation to Extend Expert Discovery Deadlines to the current deadlines (Docket number 57);

WHEREAS, the Parties have completed all fact discovery except for the continued deposition of Barbara Davis, which is scheduled to take place on February 1, 2019 at 5:00 p.m. Counsel for Plaintiff will take this deposition;

WHEREAS, although the Parties were prepared to meet the expert disclosure deadline of February 8, 2019, with the new development that Plaintiff's counsel must withdraw, Plaintiff desires additional time to conduct expert discovery with her new counsel when one is retained;

WHEREAS, counsel for Plaintiff will move to withdraw as counsel of record for Plaintiff and will file a Motion to Withdraw as soon as possible;

WHEREAS, Local Rule 7-2 requires a 35-day notice period;

WHEREAS, Defendant does not intend to oppose Plaintiff's Motion to Withdraw;

WHEREAS, based on the progress of this case, an extension of the deadlines for expert discovery will allow the Parties to appropriately prepare for trial;

WHEREAS, the Parties are not requesting a continuance of the trial date;

WHEREAS, based on the progress of this case, an extension of the deadlines for disclosing expert witnesses and completing expert discovery will allow the Parties to resolve Plaintiff's counsel's Motion to Withdraw and give the Parties sufficient time to complete expert discovery prior to trial;

WHEREAS, the proposed extension of the deadlines for expert discovery will not delay or prejudice the timely resolution of this case;

WHEREAS, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4) requires good cause and judicial consent as prerequisites to modifying a scheduling order; and

THEREFORE, THE PARTIES HEREBY STIPULATE to, and seek an order from this Court permitting the following new deadlines:

IT IS SO STIPULATED, THROUGH COUNSEL OF RECORD.