Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-1_14-cv-00138/USCOURTS-caed-1_14-cv-00138-6/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 110
Nature of Suit: Insurance
Cause of Action: 28:1332 Diversity-Injunctive &amp; Declaratory Relief

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STIPULATION FOR CONTINUANCE OF PRETRIAL DATES AND DEADLINES

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MARC S. HINES (SBN 140065)

mhines@hinescarder.com 

CHRISTINE M. EMANUELSON (SBN 221269)

cemanuelson@hinescarder.com

BRIAN PELANDA (SBN 278453)

bpelanda@hinescarder.com

HINES CARDER

3090 Bristol Street, Suite 300

Costa Mesa, California 92626

Tel.: (714) 513-1122

Fax: (714) 242-9529

Attorneys for Plaintiff, Nationwide 

Agribusiness Insurance Company

RICARDO ECHEVERRIA #166049

DANICA DOUGHERTY #273309

CLARE H. LUCICH #287157

SHERNOFF BIDART

ECHEVERRIA BENTLEY LLP

600 South Indian Hill Boulevard

Claremont, California 91711

Tel.: (909) 621-4935

Fax: (909) 625-6915

SCOTT D. HOWRY #169536

THE LAW OFFICES OF

YOUNG WOOLRIDGE, LLP

1800 30th Street, Fourth Floor

Bakersfield, California 93301

Tel.: (661) 327-9661

Fax: (661) 327-1087

Attorneys for Defendants and 

Counterclaimants

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, FRESNO DIVISION

NATIONWIDE AGRIBUSINESS 

INSURANCE COMPANY,

Plaintiff,

v.

GERARDO ALANN FELIX 

GARAY; MARY GARCIA ROJAS; 

CYNTHIA ANN ROJAS; 

CHRISTINA MONTECINO; 

GABRIEL ROJAS; ANITA ROJAS, 

individually and as Guardian ad 

Litem for BRANNON JONAH 

CLAYTON; and DOES 1 to 50, 

inclusive,

Defendants.

Case No. 1:14-CV-00138-AWI-JLT

STIPULATION AND JOINT MOTION 

FOR CONTINUANCE OF PRETRIAL 

DATES AND DEADLINES WITHOUT 

CONTINUING THE TRIAL DATE; 

ORDER THEREON

MARY GARCIA ROJAS; 

CYNTHIA ANN ROJAS; 

CHRISTINA MONTECINO; 

Case 1:14-cv-00138-AWI-JLT Document 41 Filed 11/19/14 Page 1 of 7
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GABRIEL ROJAS; and ANITA 

ROJAS,

Counterclaimants,

v.

NATIONWIDE AGRIBUSINESS 

INSURANCE COMPANY,

Counterdefendant.

Plaintiff NATIONWIDE AGRIBUSINESS INSURANCE COMPANY 

(“Nationwide”) and Defendants and Counterclaimants GERARDO ALANN 

FELIX GARAY, MARY GARCIA ROJAS, CYNTHIA ANN ROJAS, 

CHRISTINA MONTECINO, GABRIEL ROJAS, ANITA ROJAS and 

BRANNON JONAH CLAYTON (“Defendants”) by and through their counsel of 

record, hereby stipulate and move the Court to continue all pretrial dates and 

deadlines in the Scheduling Order [Doc. No. 25] by approximately 90 days 

without continuing the Pre-trial Conference date (10/7/15) or the Trial date 

(12/1/15).

1. On May 19, 2014, the Court held a Scheduling Conference in this 

case and issued an Order setting forth the following pretrial dates and deadlines:

 12/01/14 – Rule 26 Expert Disclosure deadline

 01/02/15 – Rule 26 Rebuttal Expert Disclosure deadline

 01/05/15 – Non-expert discovery cutoff

 02/02/15 – Expert discovery cutoff

 02/09/15 – Non-dispositive motion filing deadline

 03/09/15 – Non-dispositive motion hearing deadline

 03/16/15 – Dispositive motion filing deadline

 05/04/15 – Dispositive motion hearing deadline

 10/07/15 – Pre-trial Conference

 12/01/15 – Trial

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2. By way of this Stipulation, the Parties hereby jointly request that the 

Court continue all of the foregoing pretrial dates and deadlines as follows, without 

continuing the dates set for the Pre-trial Conference or the Trial:

 02/27/15 – Rule 26 Expert Disclosure deadline

 03/27/15 – Rule 26 Rebuttal Expert Disclosure deadline

 04/03/15 – Non-expert discovery cutoff

 05/01/15 – Expert discovery cutoff

 05/11/15 – Non-dispositive motion filing deadline

 06/12/15 – Non-dispositive motion hearing deadline

 06/16/15 – Dispositive motion filing deadline

 08/07/15 – Dispositive motion hearing deadline

3. As set forth above the present discovery cut-off deadline in this case 

is scheduled to occur nearly 11 months prior to the trial date.

4. To date, the Parties have diligently conducted discovery in this case 

and believe that a continuance of the pretrial dates and deadlines is necessary to 

complete both percipient and expert witness discovery. A summary of the 

discovery conducted to date is set forth below.

5. Nationwide served Defendants with Interrogatories and Requests for 

Production of Documents on July 15, 2014. Defendants’ served responses to 

Nationwide’s Interrogatories and Requests for Production on August 18, 2014.

6. Defendants served Nationwide with Requests for Production of 

Documents on July 24, 2014, and with Interrogatories on September 3, 2014. 

Nationwide served responses to Defendants’ Requests for Production on August 

26, 2014, and served verified responses to Defendants’ Interrogatories on October 

6, 2014.

7. The Parties have collectively subpoenaed documents from all of the 

following entities: (1) HFS Enterprises; (2) JSA Company; (3) the California 

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Department of Motor Vehicles; (4) Vicente Trucking; (5) Walter Mortensen 

Insurance Agency; (6) Copart, Inc.; and (7) Peerless Insurance Company.

8. On September 25, 2014, Nationwide noticed the FRCP 30(b)(6) 

deposition of JSA Company to take place on October 15, 2014. Approximately 

one week prior to the deposition, an attorney representing JSA Company advised 

Nationwide’s counsel that JSA Company’s deposition would have to be postponed 

indefinitely because the person most knowledgeable at the company had recently 

suffered from a serious brain injury and was recovering in the hospital. As of the 

date of this Stipulation, JSA Company’s counsel has still not advised either of the 

Parties as to when JSA Company will be able to offer a witness for examination 

pursuant to Nationwide’s Rule 30(b)(6) deposition notice. The Parties agree that 

JSA Company is a material witness in this case and that its deposition is 

important, but at this point it appears unlikely that the Parties will be able to take 

JSA Company’s deposition prior to the current discovery cut-off deadline of 

January 5, 2015. The Parties anticipate that JSA Company’s testimony may 

reveal facts that necessitate further discovery and depositions, and therefore good 

cause exists to continue the present discovery cut-off deadline by approximately 

90 days to April 3, 2015.

9. On October 15, 2014, the Parties took the deposition of John 

Antongiovanni, Jr.

10. On October 29, 2014, the Parties took the deposition of Vicente Felix 

Acosta.

11. On October 31, 2014, the Parties took the FRCP Rule 30(b)(6) 

deposition of Walter Mortensen Insurance Agency.

12. On November 12 and November 13, 2014, the Parties took five

depositions of the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

13. On November 17, 2014, the Parties took the deposition of Julie 

Schuetz. Due to the length of Mrs. Schuetz's deposition, the Parties were unable to 

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start the deposition of Jonathan Schuetze also originally noticed for November 17, 

2014. Mr. Schuetz is not available until January 2014 and a confirmed date for 

Mr. Schuetz's deposition has not been set. Mrs. Schuetz's testimony revealed 

additional facts that necessitate further discovery and the Parties anticipate that 

Mr. Schuetz's testimony may similarly reveal facts that necessitate further 

discovery and depositions, and therefore good cause exists to continue the present 

discovery cut-off deadline by approximately 90 days to April 3, 2015. 

14. Defendants have also noticed the FRCP 30(b)(6) deposition of 

Copart, Inc. to take place on December 2, 2014.

15. Good cause also exists to continue all remaining pretrial dates and 

deadlines along with the present discovery cut-off deadline to accommodate the 

additional discovery that the Parties anticipate will need to be conducted.

16. The Parties have not previously requested a continuance of any dates 

in the Court’s Scheduling Order.

17. Furthermore, continuing the pretrial dates and deadlines as requested 

above will not interfere with the dates the Court set for the Pretrial Conference or 

for the trial.

18. Therefore, the Parties respectfully request and jointly move the Court 

continue all of the pretrial dates and deadlines in this matter as set forth above in 

Paragraph 2.

Dated: November 18, 2014 SHERNOFF BIDART

ECHEVERRIA BENTLEY LLP

THE LAW OFFICES OF

YOUNG WOOLRIDGE, LLP

By: /s/ Ricardo Echeverria

Ricardo Echeverria

Scott Howry

Danica Dougherty

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STIPULATION FOR CONTINUANCE OF PRETRIAL DATES AND DEADLINES

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Clare H. Lucich

Attorneys for Defendants

GERARDO GARAY, MARY ROJAS, 

CYNTHIA ROJAS, CHRISTINA 

MONTECINO, GABRIEL 

ROJAS, ANITA ROJAS, & BRANNON 

JONAH CLAYTON

Dated: November 18, 2014 HINES CARDER

By: /s/ Brian Pelanda

Marc S. Hines

Christine Emanuelson

Brian Pelanda

Attorney for Defendant

NATIONWIDE AGRIBUSINESS 

INSURANCE COMPANY

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STIPULATION FOR CONTINUANCE OF PRETRIAL DATES AND DEADLINES

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ORDER

When scheduling the case, the Court relied upon the dates provided by the 

parties in their joint report but modified them to accommodate the Court and 

counsel. For example, the reason there was a long gap between the hearing on the

motion for summary judgment and the pretrial conference was to accommodate 

counsels’ trial schedule and to give the Court sufficient time to decide the intended 

cross-motions for summary judgment. Though the Court will GRANT the 

requested modification to the case schedule, the parties are advised that this may 

mean that the Court will have insufficient time to decide dispositive motions. If 

that occurs, the pretrial conference date and the trial date be continued by the 

Court.

Nevertheless, good cause appearing, the Court GRANTS the stipulation and 

amends the scheduling order as follows:

1. The parties SHALL disclose all experts no later than 2/27/15;

2. The parties SHALL disclose all rebuttal experts no later than 3/2715;

3. All non-expert discovery SHALL be completed no later than 4/3/15;

4. All expert discovery SHALL be completed no later than 5/1/15;

5. Any nondispositive motions SHALL be filed no later than 5/11/15 and 

heard no later than 6/12/15;

6. Any dispositive motions SHALL be filed no later than 6/16/2015 and 

heard no later than 8/10/15;

No other modifications to the case schedule are authorized.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: November 19, 2014 /s/ Jennifer L. Thurston 

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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