Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-5_06-cv-03002/USCOURTS-cand-5_06-cv-03002-10/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 110
Nature of Suit: Insurance
Cause of Action: 28:2201 Declaratory Judgement (Insurance)

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SHORTEN TIME; ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR RELIEF —No. C-06-03002 RMW

MAG

United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

E-FILED on 9/14/07

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

SAN JOSE DIVISION

EMPLOYERS INSURANCE OF WAUSAU,

Plaintiff,

v.

CALIFORNIA WATER SERVICE

COMPANY, a California Corporation,

Defendant.

No. C-06-03002 RMW

ORDER GRANTING WAUSAU'S MOTION

TO SHORTEN TIME; ORDER GRANTING

CAL. WATER'S MOTION FOR RELIEF

[Re Docket Nos. 212, 213, 214, 217]

On August 17, 2007, the plaintiff Employers Insurance of Wausau ("Wausau") and defendant

California Water Service Company ("Cal. Water") filed five motions for summary judgment

between them noticed for hearing on September 21, 2007. Thereafter, on August 20, Wausau filed a

motion to compel, seeking to proceed on shortened time. On September 13, 2007, the parties again

filed a spate of motions. Wausau filed a "Motion for Relief from Two Deadlines in the Court's June

27, 2007 Case Management Order" and an order shortening time thereon; Cal. Water filed a motion

for "Relief from Mis-Titled Motion Papers" and an order shortening time thereon. Cal. Water does

not oppose Wausau's motion to shorten time on the motion for relief from the scheduling order but

reserves its right to oppose the substantive motion; Wausau does not oppose Cal. Water's motions. 

After considering the parties' submissions, the court grants in part Wausau's motion to shorten time

Case 5:06-cv-03002-RMW Document 221 Filed 09/14/07 Page 1 of 5
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SHORTEN TIME; ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR RELIEF —No. C-06-03002 RMW

MAG 2

and sets a briefing schedule on its motion for relief. The court grants Cal. Water's motion for relief,

but resets the hearing date for all five motions for summary judgment to October 19, 2007.

A. Wausau's Motions 

On August 24, 2007, Wausau moved to compel production of certain documents from Cal.

Water ("August 24 Motion to Compel"). Along with the motion, Wausau filed a motion to shorten

time to hear that motion to compel. Because the deadline for hearing discovery motions was August

17, 2007 and had passed by the time the motion was filed, the magistrate judge denied the motion to

shorten time on the motion to compel, instructing Wausau to seek relief from this court's July 27,

2007 Case Management Order. Should this court fail to grant relief from that order, the magistrate

judge's order states that the August 24 Motion to Compel will be denied as untimely. 

Accordingly, Wausau seeks relief from two discovery deadlines: (1) it seeks relief from the

August 17, 2007 deadline for discovery motions so that its August 24 Motion to Compel can be

heard; and (2) it seeks relief from the September 7, 2007 expert discovery deadline so that its

rebuttal expert witness, Michael Diliberto, may incorporate the documents ordered produced into his

rebuttal report. The court finds it appropriate to shorten time on Wausau's motion for relief from

two deadlines in the June 27, 2007 Case Management Order. No later than September 20, 2007,

Cal. Water shall either file an opposition addressing why the relief Wausau requests should not be

granted or a statement of non-opposition to the motion. Unless otherwise requested by the court, no

reply brief shall be filed and no hearing shall be held.

Assuming that the court grants the relief requested by Wausau and its August 24 Motion to

Compel is deemed timely, the court declines to reschedule the motion, which shall remain as

currently scheduled for October 9, 2007 before Magistrate Judge Patricia Trumbull. The court finds

it appropriate to continue the trial and pre-trial dates in this matter, both because of the pending

motion to compel and because of the large number of summary judgment motions filed for hearing

on the last possible day for dispositive motions. The hearing date for the motions for summary

judgment shall be changed from September 21, 2007 to October 19, 2007. The date for the pretrial

conference shall be changed from October 18, 2007 to November 29, 2007. The trial date shall be

changed from October 22, 2007 to December 10, 2007. 

Case 5:06-cv-03002-RMW Document 221 Filed 09/14/07 Page 2 of 5
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SHORTEN TIME; ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR RELIEF —No. C-06-03002 RMW

MAG 3

B. Cal. Water's Motions

Cal. Water e-filed three motions for summary judgment on August 17, 2007 in the abovecaptioned case, Docket Nos. 104, 106 and 108. It failed, however, to file separate notices for each of

the three motions for summary judgment, instead filing only memoranda in support of those

motions. The docket entries for these memoranda were corrected by the Clerk's Office to reflect

their true natures, thereby changing them from motion events to supporting documents. Concerned

that this change by the Clerk's Office will result in its motions not being heard on the currentlyscheduled date, September 21, 2007, such that the motions will be deemed to have been untimely

filed, Cal. Water has filed two motions: one for "Relief from Mis-Titled Motion Papers" and

another seeking to have that motion heard on shortened time. As set forth above, Wausau does not

oppose either motion. With the order seeking relief, Cal. Water has submitted amended caption

pages for the three motions that specify that the memoranda filed on August 17, 2007 are both

notices and memoranda in support of the three motions for summary judgment.

The court grants Cal. Water's motion for relief from mis-titled motion papers. (The motion

to shorten time is denied as moot.) It will deem the memoranda submitted in support of the three

motions for summary judgment to have been notices of such motions and will hear Cal. Water's

three motions for summary judgment as if they had been noticed in ECF on August 17, 2007. It

does not appear that the e-filing error has resulted in any prejudice to Wausau, as Wausau submitted

its oppositions to the three motions for summary judgment as if it had received separate notice of the

motions on August 17, 2007. As set forth above, however, these three motions for summary

judgment, along with Wausau's two motions for summary judgment, shall now be heard on October

19, 2007. 

ORDER

For the forgoing reasons, it is hereby ordered that:

 1. Wausau's Motion to Shorten Time on its Motion for Relief from Two Deadlines In

the Court's June 27, 2007 Case Management Order is granted. No later than

September 20, 2007, Cal. Water shall either file an opposition addressing why the

requested relief should not be granted or a statement of non-opposition to the motion. 

Case 5:06-cv-03002-RMW Document 221 Filed 09/14/07 Page 3 of 5
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SHORTEN TIME; ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR RELIEF —No. C-06-03002 RMW

MAG 4

No reply brief shall be filed and no hearing shall be held.

2. Cal. Water's Motion for Relief from Mis-Titled Motion Papers is granted. The

motion to shorten time on that motion is denied as moot.

3. The court vacates and reschedules the following events as follows:

• The hearing date for the parties' motions for summary judgment shall be

changed from September 21, 2007 to October 19, 2007. 

• The date for the pretrial conference shall be changed from October 18, 2007

to November 29, 2007. 

• The trial date shall be changed from October 22, 2007 to December 10, 2007. 

DATED: 9/14/07

RONALD M. WHYTE

United States District Judge

Case 5:06-cv-03002-RMW Document 221 Filed 09/14/07 Page 4 of 5
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO SHORTEN TIME; ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR RELIEF —No. C-06-03002 RMW

MAG 5

Notice of this document has been electronically sent to:

Counsel for Plaintiff:

Bryan M. Barber bbarber@barberlg.com

Fulton M. Smith, III fsmith@barberlg.com 

Counsel for Defendant:

John H. Podesta jpodesta@bbgslaw.com

A. Geoffrey Hutchinson ghutchinson@bbgslaw.com 

Counsel are responsible for distributing copies of this document to co-counsel that have not

registered for e-filing under the court's CM/ECF program.

Dated: 9/14/07 /s/ MAG

Chambers of Judge Whyte

Case 5:06-cv-03002-RMW Document 221 Filed 09/14/07 Page 5 of 5