Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-casd-3_19-cv-01490/USCOURTS-casd-3_19-cv-01490-4/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 340
Nature of Suit: Marine Personal Injury
Cause of Action: 28:1346 U.S. Defendant

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3:19-cv-01490-MMA-AHG

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

ANTHONY MCALLISTER,

Plaintiff,

v.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, “K” 

LINE RORO BULK SHIP 

MANAGEMENT CO., LTD., and 

BELOCEAN SHIPPING, S.A.,

Defendants.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Third-Party Plaintiff,

v.

SHANGHAI HIGHWAY, her engines, 

apparel, electronics, tackle, boats, 

appurtenances, etc., in rem, and “K” LINE 

RORO BULK SHIP MANAGEMENT 

CO., LTC., BELOCEAN SHIPPING, 

S.A., and UNKNOWN DEFENDANTS 1-

10, in personam,

Third-Party Defendants.

Case No.: 3:19-cv-01490-MMA-AHG

In Admiralty

ORDER:

(1) GRANTING IN PART AND 

DENYING PART JOINT MOTION 

TO CONTINUE EARLY NEUTRAL 

EVALUATION CONFERENCE AND 

CASE MANAGEMENT 

CONFERENCE; and

(2) RESETTING CASE 

MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE 

FOR 9:00 AM AND MODIFYING IT 

TO BE TELEPHONIC AND 

ATTORNEYS-ONLY

[ECF No. 34]

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3:19-cv-01490-MMA-AHG

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On the parties’ Joint Motion, the Court previously vacated the Early Neutral 

Evaluation Conference (“ENE”) and Case Management Conference (“CMC”) in this 

matter in light of the United States’ filing of a Third-Party Complaint against “K” Line 

RoRo Bulk Ship Management Co., Ltd. (“K Line”), Belocean Shipping, S.A. (“Belocean”), 

and vessel SHANGHAI HIGHWAY, in rem (collectively, “Third-Party Defendants”), and 

the need for the Third-Party Defendants to be able to participate in the ENE and CMC. 

ECF No. 16. The Court later reset the ENE and CMC for March 6, 2020. ECF No. 27.

On December 30, 2019, Third-Party Defendants filed their responsive pleadings,

along with a separately filed crossclaim and counterclaim against the United States. 

See ECF Nos. 23, 24, 26. The Court then granted leave to Plaintiff to file a Second 

Amended Complaint naming the Third-Party Defendants directly, which Plaintiff did on 

January 2, 2020. ECF Nos. 28, 29. Both Plaintiff and the United States contend that the 

vessel SHANGHAI HIGHWAY was traveling too fast in the San Diego Bay, resulting in 

excessive wake that caused the incident underlying this litigation—namely, the sudden and 

violent movement of the gangway on the U.S. Navy warship U.S.S. MAKIN ISLAND and 

Plaintiff’s subsequent injuries. See ECF No. 34 at 2.

K Line and Belocean have now filed all relevant responsive pleadings, and they 

contend that the vessel SHANGHAI HIGHWAY was not responsible for producing an 

excessive wake and was not traveling at an unsafe speed. Further, K Line and Belocean 

assert that another vessel, MARJORIE C, passed the U.S.S. MAKIN ISLAND at the time 

of the alleged incident. Based on this new information, Plaintiff intends to seek leave to 

amend his complaint once more. Id. at 3. Therefore, the parties request another continuance 

of the ENE and CMC until June 5, 2020 because they “agree that no productive settlement 

discussions can occur without the participation of these new defendants and some initial 

discovery.” Id.

Having reviewed the Joint Motion and being fully advised, the Court agrees that the 

ENE should be continued to allow the participation of all parties in early settlement 

discussions. Therefore, the March 6, 2020 ENE is hereby VACATED and RESET for 

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June 10, 20201 at 9:30 AM in the chambers of Magistrate Judge Allison H. Goddard, 

located on the third floor of the Edward J. Schwartz U.S. Courthouse, 221 West Broadway, 

Suite 3142, San Diego, California 92101. Do not report to Courtroom 3B; report to 

Chambers. Counsel for any non-English speaking party is responsible for arranging for 

the appearance of an interpreter at the conference. 

The Court RESETS the related deadlines as follows:

1. Confidential ENE Statements Required: No later than June 5, 2020, the parties 

shall submit confidential statements of five (5) pages or less directly to the chambers 

of Magistrate Judge Goddard outlining the nature of the case, the claims, and the 

defenses. These statements shall not be filed or served on opposing counsel. 

They shall be lodged via email at efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov. The ENE 

statement is limited to five (5) pages or less, and up to five (5) pages of exhibits 

or declarations. Each party’s ENE statement must outline:

A. the nature of the case and the claims, 

B. position on liability or defense, 

C. position regarding settlement of the case with a specific2

demand/offer for settlement,

3 and 

D. any previous settlement negotiations or mediation efforts.

However, the Court does not agree that it is necessary that any defendants that

Plaintiff may be permitted to name in a future complaint be present at the CMC to 

 

1 The parties requested that the ENE be reset for June 5, 2020. However, that date is 

unavailable on the Court’s calendar. 

2 A general statement, such as that a party “will negotiate in good faith,” is a not a 

specific demand or offer.

3 If a specific demand or offer cannot be made at the time the ENE statement is 

submitted, then the reasons as to why a demand or offer cannot be made must be stated. 

Further, the party must explain when they will be in a position to state a demand or offer. 

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participate in setting the discovery schedule and pretrial deadlines. Pretrial and discovery 

deadlines follow a broadly uniform schedule in all cases. Moreover, the setting of 

discovery deadlines in this case has already been delayed significantly by a three-month 

continuance of the CMC from December to March, and the Court is not amenable to 

delaying the issuance of a Scheduling Order by yet another three months. Moreover, the 

parties have already timely filed their Joint Discovery Plan on February 18, 2020 (ECF 

No. 33) and intend to comply with the Court-ordered deadline of February 28, 2020 to 

serve initial disclosures. See ECF No. 34 at 3. Therefore, the Court will keep the CMC on 

calendar for March 6, 2020, but will RESET the CMC for 9:00 AM and modify it to be 

telephonic and attorneys-only. Counsel shall call the chambers teleconference line at 

1-877-873-8018 and use 8367902 as the access code to join the conference.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: February 19, 2020

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