Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_13-cv-01187/USCOURTS-caed-2_13-cv-01187-2/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 790
Nature of Suit: Other Labor Litigation
Cause of Action: 28:1441 Petition for Removal- Labor/Mgmnt. Relations

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

RICHARD STAFFORD, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

DOLLAR TREE STORES, INC., et al., 

Defendants. 

No. 2:13-CV-1187 KJM CKD 

STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) 

ORDER 

 An initial scheduling conference was held in this case on May 15, 2014. Brian 

Short appeared for plaintiff; Constance Norton appeared for defendant. 

 Having reviewed the parties’ Joint Status Report filed on May 8, 2014, and 

discussed a schedule for the case with counsel at the hearing, the court makes the following 

orders: 

I. SERVICE OF PROCESS 

 All named defendants have been served and no further service is permitted without 

leave of court, good cause having been shown. All Doe defendants are dismissed. 

II. ADDITIONAL PARTIES/AMENDMENTS/PLEADINGS 

 No further joinder of parties or amendments to pleadings is permitted without 

leave of court, good cause having been shown. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b); Johnson v. Mammoth 

Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604 (9th Cir. 1992). 

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III. JURISDICTION/VENUE 

 Jurisdiction is predicated upon 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Jurisdiction and venue are not 

disputed. 

IV. DISCOVERY 

 Initial disclosures as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a) shall be 

completed within fourteen (14) days. All discovery shall be completed by March 23, 2015. In 

this context, “completed” means that all discovery shall have been conducted so that all 

depositions have been taken and any disputes relative to discovery shall have been resolved by 

appropriate order if necessary and, where discovery has been ordered, the order has been obeyed. 

All motions to compel discovery must be noticed on the magistrate judge’s calendar in 

accordance with the local rules of this court. All requests to seal or redact are decided by Judge 

Mueller as discussed in more detail below. In addition, while the assigned magistrate judge 

handles discovery motions, the magistrate judge cannot change the schedule set in this order, 

even in connection with a discovery matter. 

V. PHASED DISCOVERY 

 Defendant requests phased discovery, which plaintiff opposes. The court directed 

both parties to file briefing on the matter, with a hearing date of August 7, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. 

VI. DISCLOSURE OF EXPERT WITNESSES 

 All counsel are to designate in writing, file with the court, and serve upon all other 

parties the name, address, and area of expertise of each expert that they propose to tender at trial 

not later than April 13, 2015. The designation shall be accompanied by a written report prepared 

and signed by the witness. The report shall comply with Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2)(B). By May 4, 

2015, any party who previously disclosed expert witnesses may submit a supplemental list of 

expert witnesses who will express an opinion on a subject covered by an expert designated by an 

adverse party, if the party supplementing an expert witness designation has not previously 

retained an expert to testify on that subject. The supplemental designation shall be accompanied 

by a written report, which shall also comply with the conditions stated above. 

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 Failure of a party to comply with the disclosure schedule as set forth above in all 

likelihood will preclude that party from calling the expert witness at the time of trial. An expert 

witness not appearing on the designation will not be permitted to testify unless the party offering 

the witness demonstrates: (a) that the necessity for the witness could not have been reasonably 

anticipated at the time the list was proffered; (b) that the court and opposing counsel were 

promptly notified upon discovery of the witness; and (c) that the witness was promptly made 

available for deposition. 

 For purposes of this scheduling order, an “expert” is any person who may be used 

at trial to present evidence under Rules 702, 703 and 705 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, which 

include both “percipient experts” (persons who, because of their expertise, have rendered expert 

opinions in the normal course of their work duties or observations pertinent to the issues in the 

case) and “retained experts” (persons specifically designated by a party to be a testifying expert 

for the purposes of litigation). A party shall identify whether a disclosed expert is percipient, 

retained, or both. It will be assumed that a party designating a retained expert has acquired the 

express permission of the witness to be so listed. Parties designating percipient experts must state 

in the designation who is responsible for arranging the deposition of such persons. 

 All experts designated are to be fully prepared at the time of designation to render 

an informed opinion, and give the bases for their opinion, so that they will be able to give full and 

complete testimony at any deposition taken by the opposing party. Experts will not be permitted 

to testify at trial as to any information gathered or evaluated, or opinion formed, after deposition 

taken subsequent to designation. All expert discovery shall be completed by April 3, 2015. 

VII. MOTION HEARING SCHEDULE 

 All dispositive motions, except motions for continuances, temporary restraining 

orders or other emergency applications, shall be heard no later than April 24, 2015.1 The parties 

may obtain available hearing dates by checking Judge Mueller’s page on the court’s website. 

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 Note that this date may not correspond to a law and motion calendar date. 

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 All purely legal issues are to be resolved by timely pretrial motions. Local Rule 

230 governs the calendaring and procedures of civil motions; the following provisions also apply: 

 (a) The opposition and reply must be filed by 4:00 p.m. on the day due; and 

 (b) When the last day for filing an opposition brief falls on a legal holiday, the 

opposition brief shall be filed on the last court day immediately preceding the legal holiday. 

Failure to comply with Local Rule 230(c), as modified by this order, may be deemed consent to 

the motion and the court may dispose of the motion summarily. Brydges v. Lewis, 18 F.3d 651, 

652-53 (9th Cir. 1994). 

 The court places a page limit of twenty (20) pages on all moving papers, twenty 

(20) pages on oppositions, and ten (10) pages for replies. All requests for page limit increases 

must be made through the courtroom deputy clerk at least fourteen (14) days prior to the filing of 

the motion. 

 Prior to filing a motion in a case in which the parties are represented by counsel, 

counsel shall engage in a pre-filing meet and confer to discuss thoroughly the substance of the 

contemplated motion and any potential resolution. Plaintiff’s counsel should carefully evaluate 

the defendant’s contentions as to deficiencies in the complaint and in many instances the party 

considering a motion should agree to any amendment that would cure a curable defect. Counsel 

should discuss the issues sufficiently so that if a motion of any kind is filed, including for 

summary judgment, the briefing is directed only to those substantive issues requiring resolution 

by the court. Counsel should resolve minor procedural or other non-substantive matters during 

the meet and confer. A notice of motion shall contain a certification by counsel filing the 

motion that meet and confer efforts have been exhausted, with a brief summary of meet and 

confer efforts.

 The parties are reminded that a motion in limine is a pretrial procedural device 

designed to address the admissibility of evidence. The court looks with disfavor upon 

dispositional motions presented at the Final Pretrial Conference or at trial in the guise of motions 

in limine. Although all motions in limine must be filed in conjunction with the joint pretrial 

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statement, the court will hear only those motions it has identified to counsel before the hearing 

date. 

 The parties are cautioned that failure to raise a dispositive legal issue that could 

have been tendered to the court by proper pretrial motion prior to the dispositive motion cut-off 

date may constitute waiver of such issue. 

VIII. SEALING 

 No document will be sealed, nor shall a redacted document be filed, without the 

prior approval of the court. If a document for which sealing or redaction is sought relates to the 

record on a motion to be decided by Judge Mueller, the request to seal or redact should be 

directed to her and not the assigned Magistrate Judge. All requests to seal or redact shall be 

governed by Local Rules 141 (sealing) and 140 (redaction); protective orders covering the 

discovery phase of litigation shall not govern the filing of sealed or redacted documents on the 

public docket. The court will only consider requests to seal or redact filed by the proponent of 

sealing or redaction. If a party plans to make a filing that includes material an opposing party has 

identified as confidential and potentially subject to sealing, the filing party shall provide the 

opposing party with sufficient notice in advance of filing to allow for the seeking of an order of 

sealing or redaction from the court. 

IX. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE 

 The Final Pretrial Conference is set for July 16, 2015, at 3:30 p.m. At least one of 

the attorneys who will conduct the trial for each of the parties shall attend the Final Pretrial 

Conference. If by reason of illness or other unavoidable circumstance a trial attorney is unable to 

attend, the attorney who attends in place of the trial attorney shall have equal familiarity with the 

case and equal authorization to make commitments on behalf of the client. 

 Counsel for all parties are to be fully prepared for trial at the time of the Final 

Pretrial Conference, with no matters remaining to be accomplished except production of 

witnesses for oral testimony. The parties shall confer and file a joint pretrial conference 

statement by June 25, 2015. The provisions of Local Rule 281 shall apply with respect to the 

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matters to be included in the joint pretrial statement. In addition to those subjects listed in Local 

Rule 281(b), the parties are to provide the court with the following: 

 - A plain, concise statement that identifies every non-discovery motion previously 

tendered to the court and its resolution. 

 - A concise, joint list of undisputed core facts that are relevant to each claim. 

Disputed core facts should then be identified in the same manner. The parties are reminded not to 

identify every fact in dispute but only those disputed facts that are essential to the formulation of 

each claim. Each disputed fact and undisputed fact should be separately numbered or lettered. 

Where the parties are unable to agree on the core disputed facts, they should nevertheless list core 

disputed facts in the above manner. 

 - Concise lists of disputed evidentiary issues that will be the subject of a party’s 

motion in limine. 

 - Each party’s points of law, which concisely describe the legal basis or theory 

underlying their claims and defenses. Points of law should reflect issues derived from the core 

undisputed and disputed facts. Parties shall not include argument with any point of law; the 

parties may include concise arguments in their trial briefs. 

 - A joint statement of the case in plain concise language, which will be read to the 

jury during voir dire and at the beginning of the trial. The purpose of the joint statement is to 

inform the jury what the case is about. 

 - The parties’ position on the number of jurors to be impaneled to try the case. 

 Discovery documents to be listed in the pretrial statement shall not include 

documents to be used only for impeachment and in rebuttal. 

 The parties are reminded that pursuant to Local Rule 281 they are required to 

attach to the Final Pretrial Conference Statement an exhibit listing witnesses and exhibits they 

propose to offer at trial. After the name of each witness, each party shall provide a brief 

statement of the nature of the testimony to be proffered. The parties may file a joint list or each 

party may file separate lists. These list(s) shall not be contained in the body of the Final Pretrial 

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Conference Statement itself, but shall be attached as separate documents to be used as addenda to 

the Final Pretrial Order. 

 Plaintiff’s exhibits shall be listed numerically. Defendant’s exhibits shall be listed 

alphabetically. The parties shall use the standard exhibit stickers provided by the court: pink for 

plaintiff and blue for defendant. In the event that the alphabet is exhausted, the exhibits shall be 

marked “AA-ZZ”. However, if the amount of defendant exhibits exceeds "ZZ" exhibits shall be 

then listed as A-3, A-4, A-5 etc. All multi page exhibits shall be stapled or otherwise fastened 

together and each page within the exhibit shall be numbered. The list of exhibits shall not include 

excerpts of depositions to be used only for impeachment. In the event that plaintiff(s) and 

defendant(s) offer the same exhibit during trial, that exhibit shall be referred to by the designation 

the exhibit is first identified. The court cautions the parties to pay attention to this detail so that 

all concerned, including the jury, will not be confused by one exhibit being identified with both a 

number and a letter. The parties are encouraged to consult concerning exhibits and, to the extent 

possible, provide joint exhibits, which shall be designated as JX and listed numerically, e.g., JX1, JX-2. 

 The Final Pretrial Order will contain a stringent standard for the offering at trial of 

witnesses and exhibits not listed in the Final Pretrial Order, and the parties are cautioned that the 

standard will be strictly applied. On the other hand, the listing of exhibits or witnesses that a 

party does not intend to offer will be viewed as an abuse of the court’s processes. 

 Counsel shall produce all trial exhibits to Casey Schultz, the Courtroom Deputy, 

no later than 3:00 p.m. on the Friday before trial. 

 Failure to comply with Local Rule 281, as modified by this order, may be grounds 

for sanctions. 

 The parties also are reminded that pursuant to Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of 

Civil Procedure it will be their duty at the Final Pretrial Conference to aid the court in: (a) the 

formulation and simplification of issues and the elimination of frivolous claims or defenses; (b) 

the settling of facts that should properly be admitted; and (c) the avoidance of unnecessary proof 

and cumulative evidence. Counsel must cooperatively prepare the joint Final Pretrial Conference 

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Statement and participate in good faith at the Final Pretrial Conference with these aims in mind.2 

A failure to do so may result in the imposition of sanctions which may include monetary 

sanctions, orders precluding proof, elimination of claims or defenses, or such other sanctions as 

the court deems appropriate. 

 Concurrently with the filing of the Joint Final Pretrial Conference Statement, 

counsel shall submit to chambers the word processable version of the Statement, in its entirety 

(including the witness and exhibit lists) to: kjmorders@caed.uscourts.gov. 

X. DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL 

 Plaintiff makes a jury trial demand, which Dollar Tree contends cannot be 

maintained now that the Second Amended Complaint states solely PAGA claims. The parties 

will address this matter in their joint pretrial conference statement. 

XI. TRIAL SETTING 

 The trial is set for August 24, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. The parties estimate a trial length 

of approximately seven (7) to ten (10) days. Trial briefs are due by August 9, 2015. The parties 

dispute whether the case may be tried to a jury and are directed to file an appropriate motion to be 

heard at or before the final pretrial scheduling conference on July 16, 2015. 

XII. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 

 No settlement conference is currently scheduled. A settlement conference may be 

set at the time of the Final Pretrial Conference or at an earlier time at the parties’ request. In the 

event that an earlier settlement conference date or referral to the Voluntary Dispute Resolution 

Program (VDRP) is requested, the parties shall file said request jointly, in writing. Because the 

case will be tried to a jury, all parties should be prepared to advise the court whether they will 

stipulate to the trial judge acting as settlement judge and waive disqualification by virtue thereof. 

 Counsel are instructed to have a principal with full settlement authority present at 

any Settlement Conference or to be fully authorized to settle the matter on any terms. Each judge 

 

2

 “If the pretrial conference discloses that no material facts are in dispute and that the undisputed 

facts entitle one of the parties to judgment as a matter of law,” the court may summarily dispose 

of the case or claims. Portsmouth Square v. Shareholders Protective Comm., 770 F.2d 866, 868-

69 (9th Cir. 1985). 

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has different requirements for the submission of settlement conference statements; the appropriate 

instructions will be sent to you after the settlement judge is assigned. 

XIII. MISCELLANEOUS 

 A potentially related matter is pending in Solano County. The defendant is 

contemplating removal and, if the case is removed, requesting consolidation. 

XIV. MODIFICATION OF STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) ORDER 

 The parties are reminded that pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil 

Procedure, the Status (Pretrial Scheduling) Order shall not be modified except by leave of court 

upon a showing of good cause. Agreement by the parties pursuant to stipulation alone does not 

constitute good cause. Except in extraordinary circumstances, unavailability of witnesses or 

counsel does not constitute good cause. 

XV. OBJECTIONS TO STATUS (PRETRIAL SCHEDULING) ORDER 

 This Status Order will become final without further order of the court unless 

objections are filed within fourteen (14) calendar days of service of this Order. 

 IT IS SO ORDERED. 

DATED: May 22, 2014. 

 

 

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