Free Scheduling Order - District Court of Delaware - Delaware

Case 1:O7—cv—OO678-JJF Document 8 Filed O3/05/2008 Page 1 of 4
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
· FOR THE STATE OF DELAWARE
GENEYNE HART, )
on behalf of herself and all ) C.A. No. 1:07-cv-00678-JJF
others similarly situated, )
) NON-ARBITRATION
Plaintiff, )
) TRIAL-BY JURY DEMANDED
· )
v. ) CLASS ACTION
)
NATIONWIDE MUTUAL FIRE )
INSURANCE COMPANY, ) .
)
)
Defendant. )
· RULE 16 SCHEDULING ORDER
The parties having satisfied their obligations under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f),
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. Pre—Discovery Disclosures. The parties will exchange by April 14, 2008
the information required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a) (1) and D. Del. LR 16.2, limited to the claims
and defenses of the named parties. »
2. Joinder of other Parties. All motions to join other parties shall be filed on
or before January 12, 2009.
3. Discovery.
(a) Exchange and completion of interrogatories, identification of all fact
witnesses and document production shall be commenced so as to be completed by September 12,
2008.
(b) Maximum of 60 interrogatories by each party to any other party. -
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(c) Maximum of 50 requests for admission by each party to any other
Party- U
(d) Maximum of 20 depositions by'plaintiff(s) and 20 by defendant(s).
Depositions shall not commence until the discovery required by 3 (a, b, and c) are completed,
unless otherwise agreed by the parties or ordered by the Court.
(e) Reports from retained experts required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a) (2) are l
due from the plaintiff(s) by November 10, 2008; from the defendant(s) by December 15, 2008. ’
4. Class Certification.
(a) Plaintiff shall file a motion and brief in support of class certification
on or before January l2, 2009; Defendant shall file an answering brief to such motion on or
before February 26, 2009; Plaintiff shall file a reply in support of their motion on or before
March 30, 2009.
_ (b) -While discovery in this action has not been formally bifurcated
between "class" and "merits" issues, prior to a determination on class certification, the parties
retain their right to object to the scope of discovery on the grounds that the discovery pertains to
whether the claims or defenses of the putative class are likely to succeed rather than to whether
_ the claims or defenses are appropriate for class certification.
5. Discovery Disputes.
(a) A party seeking discovery which the opposing party refuses to
provide shall file a motion (no brief) pursuant to Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
and Local Rule 37.1. Said motion shall not exceed a total of four (4) pages. An Answer to the A ·
Rule 37 motion, not to exceed four (4) pages, shall be filed within five (5) days of service of the J
motion. No reply is permitted.
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(b) All papers shall set forth in a plain and concise manner the issue(s) in
dispute, the party’s position on the issue(s), and the reasons for the party’s position.
(c) Upon receipt of the Answer, the movant shall notify Chambers by
email at [email protected] that the parties have completed briefing.
(d) Upon receipt of the movant’s email, the Court will determine whether
` a conference is necessary and advise the parties accordingly.
h (e) There is no limit on the number of Rule 37 motions a party may file,
unless otherwise ordered by the Court.
6. Amendment of the Pleadings. All motions to amend the pleadings shall be
filed on or before March 30, 2009.
1 7. Case Dispositive Motions. Any case dispositive motions addressing the
individual claims or defenses that pertain to the named plaintiff, pursuant to the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure, shall be served and filed with an opening brief on or before January 12, 2009.
Briefing shall be pursuant to D. Del. LR 7.1.2. No case dispositive motion may be filed more
than ten (10) days from the above date without leave of the Court. A schedule for any
dispositive motions that would pertain to the claims or defenses of a certified class will be
established if a class is certified in this action.
8. Applications by Motion. _
(a) Any applications to the Court shall be by written motion filed with the
Clerk of the Court in compliance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Rules
of Civil Practice for the United States District Court for the District of Delaware (Amended
Effective June 30, 2007). Any non-dispositive motion shall contain the statement required by D.
Del. LR 7.1.1. Briefs shall be limited to no more than ten (l0) pages. The parties anticipate
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needing expanded page limitations for dispositive and class certification motions, and will
submit any such request for consideration of the Court. Parties may file stipulated and
unopposed Orders with the Clerk of the Court for the Court’s review and signing. The Court will
not consider applications and requests submitted by letter or in a form other than a motion.
(b) No facsimile transmissions will be accepted.
(c) No telephone calls shall be made to Chambers.
(d) Any party with a true emergency matter requiring the assistance ofthe
Court shall email Chambers at: [email protected]. The e-mail shall provide a short
statement describing the emergency.
9. Pretrial Conference and Trial. After reviewing the parties’ Proposed
Scheduling Order, the Court will schedule a Pretrial Conference.
The Court will determine whether the trial date should be scheduled when
the Scheduling Order is entered or at the Pretrial Conference. If scheduling of the trial date is —
deferred until the Pretrial Conference, the parties and counsel shall anticipate and prepare for a
trial to be held within sixty (60) to ninety (90) days of the Pretrial Conf`erence.
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DATE UNIT D ST TE ISTRICT JU
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