Free Order - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 M eadowlark Lemon, a married man, 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 The Court held a discovery conference call with the part ies , on t he record, on August 16, 2005. P laint iffs' counsel expressed concern about a variety of documents that Plaintiffs' counsel explained that the documents ) ) Plaintiff/Counterdefendant, ) ) vs. ) ) Harlem Globetrotters International, Inc.,) et al., ) ) D efendant s /Counterclaimants. ) ) No. CV-04-0299-PHX-DGC CV-04-1023-PHX-DGC IN THE UNITED S TATES DIS TRICT COURT FOR THE DIS TRICT OF ARIZONA

ORDER

have not been produced by Defendants.

are needed to complete Plaintiffs' expert report on damages, which is due August 19, 2005. See Doc. #143. Plaintiffs' counsel sought guidance from the Court as to whether the expert deadline should be extended or Plaintiffs should supplement the report after receiving the documents. Plaintiffs' counsel explained that Rule 30(b)(6) depositions taken on August 2 and 3, 2005, shed light on the importance and availability of the documents. They also

explained that a conference among t he p art ies was held on August 3, 2005, concerning the production of particular documents, and that additional communications occurred on August 10, 2005. T he Court is troubled by the lateness of these efforts. The Case M anagement O rder w as entered in this case on April 29, 2004. See Doc. #26. It set a deadline for Plaintiffs '

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expert disclosures of F ebruary 25, 2005. Id. An Amended Case M anagement Order was entered on October 6, 2004. See Doc. #79. It confirmed the deadline for Plaintiffs' expert disclosures of February 25, 2005. Id. On April 8, 2005, t he Court adjusted these deadlines, requiring complete disclosures from Plaintiffs' experts by July 22, 2005. See Doc. #114. The original and amended case management orders specifically advised the parties that the deadlines were real. The Court extended the deadline for Plaintiffs' expert report to

August 19, 2005, after Plaintiffs failed to produce a complete expert report on July 22, 2005. See Doc. # 143. Given this schedule ­ which first called for Plaintiffs t o p roduce complete expert reports in February 2005 and then extended t he deadline into July 2005, and which afforded Plaintiffs ample time to complete their discovery before both deadlines ­ Plaintiffs should not have been undertaking critical discovery related to their expert reports in Augus t 2005. The Court will not adjus t t he current expert deadline of August 19, 2005, nor will the Court permit supplementation of the rep ort based on information that could have been Plaintiffs mus t

discovered during the year-plus time that preceded the expert deadline. provide full and complete expert reports by August 19, 2005. DATED this 18th day of August, 2005.

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