Free Declaration in Support - District Court of California - California

Case 3:07-cv-04992-TEH

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Filed 01/18/2008

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PETER P. EDRINGTON, ESQ. (Bar No. 074355) EDRINGTON, SCHIRMER & MURPHY 2300 Contra Costa Blvd., Ste 450 Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 Telephone: (925) 827-3300 Attorney for Defendants, C. WILSON and BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

WILLIAM ODOM, a minor, by and through his Guardian ad Litem, Roxanne Hendrix, Plaintiff, v. C. WILSON, individually, and in his capacity as an employee of Bay Area Rapid Transit District; BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT, AND DOES 110; PEACE OFFICERS WHOSE NAMES ARE UNKNOWN, Defendants.

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CASE NO.: C 07-04992 TEH

DECLARATION TO DEFENDANTS' CASE MANAGEMENT STATEMENT Date: Time: Ctrm: January 28, 2008 1:30 p.m. 12, 19th Floor

I, Peter P. Edrington, declare: I am an attorney at law and a partner in the firm of Edrington, Schirmer & Murphy, attorneys for the defendants in this case. If called as a witness I could competently testify to

the facts stated in this declaration. In December, 2007, I was retained by Bay Area Rapid Transit District to represent both the District and Officer C. Wilson.
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As the deadline to file the responsive pleading was upon us, I received information from BARTD which suggested that there was a conflict of interest in our firm representing both the District and the officer. I immediately notified BARTD and its TPA. At

that time, the responsive pleading to the Complaint came due and I prepared an Answer with affirmative defenses on behalf of both parties, BARTD and Officer Wilson. on January 2, 2008. In the week (or of two) January with 7, 2008, I had a telephone a It was filed with the court

conversation

plaintiff's

counsel

soliciting

settlement demand and discussing an early settlement conference. I advised plaintiff's attorney that an apparent conflict had arisen and that Officer Wilson would soon be obtaining new

counsel.

As I waited for new counsel to be retained, I fully

expected that this attorney would participate in preparing the Joint Statement. However, it was not until January 14, 2008, I

that I was advised of the new attorney's identity, Dale Allen.

immediately contacted Mr. Allen by telephone and email stating that a Substitution would have to be filed. I have not yet been

able to meet with Mr. Allen to execute the requisite Substitution of Attorneys and discuss the case with him. On January 15, 2008, I suggested to plaintiff's counsel that it would be beneficial to all of us if the Case Management Conference set for January 28th were continued so that Mr. Allen could appear for Officer Wilson. Plaintiff's counsel indicated My secretary contacted the

that he agreed with this position.
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court's clerk to inquire as to how we might obtain a continuance. She was advised that the parties would have to file a Stipulation with the court. However, when I explained to plaintiff's counsel

that it would be necessary to enter into a Stipulation regarding a continuance, he declined. On January 17th, we received

plaintiff's Case Management Statement, which was largely prepared before we even appeared in the case. Unfortunately, plaintiff's

counsel had used the wrong format, and he was unavailable on January 18th to correct it. Thus, in order to meet the court's deadline, I prepared and filed a Case Management Statement on behalf of both defendants. However, with the advent of the conflict of interest, and the assignment of new counsel, we were unable to prepare a Joint Statement on behalf of all three parties, with Mr. Allen

participating. While BARTD understands this court's rules and works

diligently to follow them, this was a circumstance where we were simply unable to produce a viable Joint Statement in time for the pending hearing. I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct and that this declaration was executed this 17th day of January, 2008 at Pleasant Hill, California.

__________________________ Peter P. Edrington

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