Free Motion for Extension of Time - District Court of Colorado - Colorado

Case 1:04-cv-01185-WDM-PAC

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Filed 11/28/2005

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO Civil Action No. 04-CV-1185-WDM-PAC GREG FELDMAN, Plaintiff, v. JOBSON PUBLISHING, LLC, a Delaware corporation, POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE FOR MEDICINE, Inc., a member of the Jobson Education Group, a Delaware corporation, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR POSTGRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION, a member of the Jobson Education Group, a Delaware corporation. Defendants.

PLAINTIFF'S EXPEDITED MOTION TO EXTEND DEADLINE FOR AMENDING COMPLAINT TO INCLUDE PROPER DEFENDANTS OR ALTERNATIVELY, TO SHORTEN DEFENDANTS' TIME TO RESPOND TO PLAINTIFF'S 30(B)(6) NOTICE OF DEPOSITION AND REQUEST FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS

Plaintiff Greg Feldman, by and through his attorneys, the Student Law Office, hereby requests a one-month extension of time up to and including January 6, 2006, in which to amend his Complaint to include the proper defendants, or in the alternative, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 34, to shorten Defendants' time to respond to Plaintiff's Request for Production of Documents included in his 30(b)(6) Notice of Deposition. Plaintiff files this Motion pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(B)(1), D.C.COLO.L.Civ.R. 6.1(B), and Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(b), and as grounds therefore, states as follows:

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1.

Plaintiff respectfully requests an extension of one month, or up to and

including January 6, 2006, in which to conduct the necessary discovery to ascertain the proper employer-defendants in this case, and if appropriate, to file a Motion to Amend his Complaint to include such defendant-employer(s). The present deadline set by the Court for amending the Complaint with respect to the proper employer is December 6, 2005,1 and this request is timely filed pursuant to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and this Court's Local Rules. Alternatively, Plaintiff requests that pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(b), this Court shorten the time permitted for Defendants to respond to the Request for Production of Documents included in Plaintiff's Notice of 30(b)(6) Deposition and require Defendants to produce such documents on or before December 1, 2005, the date of the deposition. 2. At the Scheduling Conference held before this Court on November 15,

2005, counsel for Plaintiff raised the issue that one or more of the Defendants in this case appear to have been acquired by Wicks Medical Information, LLC ("Wicks") in April 2005. The Court then ordered that Plaintiff's deadline to amend the Complaint with respect to the proper employer is December 6, 2005. The Court also ordered that if the parties were unable to stipulate to the identity of the proper employer-defendant(s), Defendants would make available appropriate designee(s) to provide such information via a 30(b)(6) deposition. 3. As described in the attached Declaration of Julie M. Schmidt (see Pltf's

Exh. 1), Plaintiff's counsel has, on multiple occasions, sought information regarding the

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The deadline for Joinder of Parties and Amendment of Pleadings is January 6, 2006.

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acquisition of Defendant(s) by Wicks so as to promptly identify and name the proper defendants in this case. To date, Defendants have not provided any information or explanation as to the relationship between Defendants and Wicks. 4. On November 21, 2005, Plaintiff's counsel served upon Defendants'

counsel a Notice of 30(b)(6) Deposition, requiring that Defendants produce designee(s) knowledgeable about, inter alia, the terms of Wicks' acquisition of Defendant Jobson Publishing, including any agreements relating to the assumption of liabilities and contingent liabilities of Defendants subsequent to the acquisition by Wicks. In that Notice was also a Request for Production of Documents, pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 34, for documents including those that relate to the acquisition of Defendants by Wicks, such as documents that contain agreements relating to the assumption of liabilities and/or contingent liabilities of Defendant Jobson Publishing as well as documents containing insurance and/or indemnification agreements relating to such liabilities. (See Pltf's Exh. 2.) The documents described in Plaintiff's Rule 34 request are necessary in order for Plaintiff's counsel to conduct the 30(b)(6) deposition to ascertain the identity of the proper defendants in this case. 5. On November 23, 2005, via electronic mail, counsel for Defendants

notified Plaintiff's counsel that they intended to refuse to provide documents responsive to Plaintiff's Rule 34 request either at or prior to the 30(b)(6) deposition on the grounds that Defendants were not required to do so until thirty days had elapsed from the date of service of the 30(b)(6) Notice of Deposition/Request for Production of Documents. (See Pltf's Exh. 1.) Defendants' counsel was served with the Notice/Request on November

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21, 2005; thirty days from that date is December 21, 2005, which falls after the December 6 deadline set by the Court for Plaintiff to amend his complaint with respect to the proper employer(s). 6. On November 23, 2005, Plaintiff's counsel again requested that

Defendants provide the information requested in the Rule 34 Request for Production of Documents/30(b)(6) Notice of Deposition. (See Pltf's Exh. 1.) 7. In order for Plaintiff's counsel to effectively conduct the 30(b)(6) deposition

to ascertain the identity of the proper defendants in this case and to amend Plaintiff's complaint accordingly by the December 6 deadline set by the Court, Plaintiff's counsel requires the documents specified in the Rule 34 request that accompanied the 30(b)(6) Notice of Deposition. For this reason, Plaintiff respectfully requests that this Court extend the deadline for amending Plaintiff's complaint with respect to the proper employer until January 6, 2005, which will give Defendants 30 days in which to produce the documents sought by Plaintiff and time for Plaintiff to then take the 30(b)(6) deposition and amend his Complaint accordingly. In the alternative, Plaintiff requests that this Court shorten the amount of time for Defendants to produce the documents specified in Plaintiff's Rule 34 request and compel Defendants to produce these documents prior to or at the 30(b)(6) deposition currently scheduled for December 1, 2005. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(b) ("The party upon whom the request is served shall serve a written response within 30 days after the service of the request. A shorter . . . time may be directed by the court . . .")

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8.

This is the first extension of time requested by Plaintiff to extend the

deadline in which to file a Motion to Amend Plaintiff's Complaint with respect to the proper employer. CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH D.C.COLO.L.R. 7.1(A) Pursuant to D.C.COLO.L.Civ.R. 7.1, counsel for Plaintiff has conferred with Defendants' counsel on November 23, 2005, and sought to again confer with Defendants' counsel on November 28, 2005 regarding this motion. Defendants' counsel has not consented to this Motion. Dated: November 28, 2005 Respectfully submitted, __s/ Laura L. Rovner_______________________ Laura L. Rovner Nantiya Ruan STUDENT LAW OFFICE University of Denver Sturm College of Law 2255 E. Evans Ave., Suite 335 Denver, CO 80208 Telephone: 303.871.6140 Fax: 303.871.6847 E-mail: [email protected] __s/ Julie Schmidt_______________________ Julie Schmidt STUDENT LAW OFFICE University of Denver Sturm College of Law 2255 E. Evans Ave., Suite 335 Denver, CO 80208 Telephone: 303.871.6140 Fax: 303.871.6847 Attorneys for Plaintiff Greg Feldman

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY that on this 28th day of November, 2005, I electronically filed the foregoing with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system which will send notification of such filing to the following e-mail addresses: [email protected] [email protected]

__s/ Laura L. Rovner________________ Laura L. Rovner STUDENT LAW OFFICE University of Denver Sturm College of Law 2255 E. Evans Avenue, Ste. 335 Denver, CO 80208 Tel: 303.871.6140 Fax: 303.871.6847 [email protected]

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