DISCOVERY PLAN AND SCHEDULING ORDER

SPECIAL SCHEDULING REQUESTED

GEORGE FOLEY, Jr., Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiff JESSIE MURRAY and Defendant SUN LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY OF CANADA jointly move this Court for a special scheduling review of the parties' proposed discovery plan in this matter.

I. RULE 26(F) CONFERENCE.

Pursuant to FRCP 26(f), a meeting was held on October 14, 2015, attended by Julie A. Mersch, Esq., counsel for Plaintiff, and Kyle Kirby, Esq., counsel for Defendant. Counsel discussed the claims and legal issues at the meeting and agreed that the standard discovery plan is not best-suited for this lawsuit for the reasons set forth below.

II. NATURE OF CASE AND PURPOSE OF SPECIAL REVIEW.

This dispute involves Plaintiff's claim for benefits under a policy of group short-term and long-term disability insurance issued by Defendant to Plaintiff's employer, MGM Resorts International, for the benefit of its employees. The Plaintiff's amended complaint alleges a claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. § 1001, et seq. ("ERISA"). Discovery may be limited to the administrative record for Plaintiff's administrative claim and appeal.

Accordingly, the parties jointly request that this Court review and adopt the proposed discovery and case schedule set forth below:

III. PROPOSED PLAN.

The parties have conferred and agreed as follows:

A. Production and Review of the Administrative Record:

Defendant will produce a proposed administrative record for Plaintiff's review by November 10, 2015. On or before December 8, 2015, Plaintiff will notify Defendant of her position as to the following issues: (1) whether Plaintiff believes that any additional documents should be added to the administrative record; (2) whether Plaintiff believes that any documents contained in the proposed administrative record should be omitted, and (3) whether Plaintiff will file a motion seeking leave to conduct any discovery beyond the administrative record produced by Defendant.

B. Filing of Administrative Record/Motion for Discovery:

On or before December 22, 2015, the parties will file a joint administrative record with this Court. In the event the parties cannot reach an agreement on the joint administrative record, Plaintiff will file any motions that she believes are appropriate, including but not limited to moving to conduct discovery beyond the administrative record and/or moving to supplement or omit from the administrative record, by January 11, 2016, and Defendant expressly reserves the right to oppose any such motions filed by Plaintiff (pending determination on any motions, the parties will file on February 5, 2016 those portions of the administrative record on which they do agree).

C. Briefing Schedule for Legal Issues/Merits of the Case:

The primary legal issues in this matter are the following: (1) the standard of review to be applied to Defendant's decision to deny Plaintiff's claim for short- and long-term disability benefits; and (2) whether, applying that standard of review, Defendant's decision should be affirmed by the Court.

If a joint administrative record is timely filed and Plaintiff does not seek to conduct discovery beyond the administrative record, or to supplement or omit from the administrative record, the parties propose that dispositive motions be filed no later than February 19, 2016. Thereafter, the parties will file opposing memoranda by March 11, 2016, and reply memoranda by March 25, 2016.

If Plaintiff does seek and is permitted discovery beyond the administrative record, the above deadlines will be suspended. The parties will work together and with the Court to prepare a new scheduling order, and may seek a status conference to address any outstanding discovery or other issues.

WHEREFORE, the parties jointly request that this Court adopt the proposed discovery and case schedule set forth herein.

IT IS SO ORDERED,