Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-1_13-cv-00561/USCOURTS-caed-1_13-cv-00561-5/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Department of Developmental Services
Defendant
Robert Felix
Plaintiff
Office of Protective Services
Defendant
Jack Phelps
Plaintiff
State of California
Defendant

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AMENDED STIPULATION FOR ORDER TO CONTINUE 

TRIAL AND PRE-TRIAL DATES (1:13-cv-00561-SKO); ORDER THEREON

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

ROBERT FELIX and JACK PHELPS, 

individuals,

Plaintiffs,

v.

THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, 

DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENTAL 

SERVICES, OFFICE OF PROTECTIVE 

SERVICES,

Defendant.

1:13-cv-00561- SKO

AMENDED STIPULATION FOR ORDER 

TO CONTINUE TRIAL AND PRE- TRIAL DATES; ORDER THEREON

Judge: The Honorable Sheila 

K. Oberto

Complaint Filed: April 17, 2013

Case 1:13-cv-00561-SKO Document 37 Filed 08/18/14 Page 1 of 7
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AMENDED STIPULATION FOR ORDER TO CONTINUE 

TRIAL AND PRE-TRIAL DATES (1:13-cv-00561-SKO); ORDER THEREON

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and among ROBERT FELIX (“FELIX”) and JACK 

PHELPS (“PHELPS”) (“Plaintiffs”) and STATE OF CALIFORNIA, DEPARTMENT OF 

DEVELOPMENTAL SERVICES, INC. (“Defendant” or “Defendant”) (collectively, the 

“Parties”), through their respective undersigned counsel, as follows:

WHEREAS, this Court entered the current Scheduling Order in this matter on 

September 16, 2013 (Court Docket, Document No. 24);

WHEREAS, pursuant to consent given by all parties, on August 11, 2014, the Court entered 

an order re-assigning this matter for all purposes to the Honorable District Court Magistrate Judge 

Sheila Oberto (Court Docket, Document No. 34);

WHEREAS, this is a multi-Plaintiff case where Plaintiffs allege harassment, discrimination, 

retaliation and disparate treatment in the terms and conditions of employment occurring over the 

course of approximately 8 years;

WHEREAS, the United States Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) 

received Plaintiffs’ Charges of Discrimination in February of 2008 and conducted an extensive 

investigation that took the EEOC approximately 4 years to complete;

WHEREAS, Plaintiffs were not issued Right to Sue letters on their February 2008 Charges 

of Discrimination until 2013;

WHEREAS, the Parties’ Rule 26 disclosures identify more than 30 witnesses located all 

across the State of California and out-of-state;

WHEREAS, the Parties have exchanged well over 40,000 pages of documents related to 

this case;

WHEREAS, Plaintiffs propounded written discovery on Defendants in or around 

January 2014;

WHEREAS, Defendant provided initial responses on or about April 22, 2014, after

Plaintiffs granted requested response deadline extensions;

WHEREAS, Plaintiffs and Defendant have met and conferred in good faith regarding 

disputed issues relating to Defendant’s responses to Plaintiffs first sets of interrogatories and 

Defendant’s Rule 26 disclosures;

Case 1:13-cv-00561-SKO Document 37 Filed 08/18/14 Page 2 of 7
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AMENDED STIPULATION FOR ORDER TO CONTINUE 

TRIAL AND PRE-TRIAL DATES (1:13-cv-00561-SKO); ORDER THEREON

WHEREAS, during the course of the Parties’ meet and confer efforts, Plaintiffs agreed to 

limit or to modify certain discovery requests, and Defendant agreed to provide various 

supplemental interrogatory responses and supplemental Rule 26 disclosures responsive to the 

modified or limited discovery requests;

WHEREAS, Defendant has provided additional documents related to the Rule 26 

disclosures and document requests and some but not all of the agreed-upon supplemental 

interrogatory responses;

WHEREAS, Defendant anticipates that based on its discovery responses, a future on-site 

visit by Plaintiffs may be required in order to review documents potentially responsive to 

propounded discovery;

WHEREAS, during the meet and confer process, the Parties have agreed that additional 

time will be necessary for the Parties to conduct adequate discovery so that they may evaluate and 

prepare the case for settlement and/or trial;

WHEREAS, neither Party initially scheduled depositions due to scheduling difficulties and 

the need to complete certain written discovery and to review many thousands of pages of 

documents prior to taking depositions;

WHEREAS, Defendant is currently taking Plaintiff Jack Phelps’ deposition and has 

scheduled Plaintiff Robert Felix’ deposition for August 14 and 15;

WHEREAS, given the number of alleged discriminatory and retaliatory events over the 

course of 8 years, Defendant is unsure if it can complete Plaintiffs’ depositions within the agreed 

upon 12 hours over two days but is trying to the best of its ability to do so; 

WHEREAS, the following depositions (some of which conflict as to time and/or location) 

have been noticed by the parties and scheduled as follows:

DEPONENT DEPOSITION DAY AND TIME

JACK PHELPS August 7, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.

JACK PHELPS August 8, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.

ROBERT FELIX August 14, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.

Case 1:13-cv-00561-SKO Document 37 Filed 08/18/14 Page 3 of 7
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AMENDED STIPULATION FOR ORDER TO CONTINUE 

TRIAL AND PRE-TRIAL DATES (1:13-cv-00561-SKO); ORDER THEREON

DEPONENT DEPOSITION DAY AND TIME

ROBERT FELIX August 15, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.

SCOTT GARDNER August 18, 2014 at 10:00 a.m.

JEFF BRADLEY August 18, 2014 at 1:00 p.m.

CARLOS MARTINEZ August 18, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.

KEVIN COOK August 19, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.

LISA HUFF August 19, 2014 at 1:00 p.m.

KATHY WOODSIDE August 19, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.

JAMES RODRIGUEZ August 20, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.

RAMONA PHELPS August 20, 2014 at 10:00 a.m.

JOANN FELIX August 20, 2014 at 1:00 p.m.

DAN DILLARD August 20, 2014 at 1:00 p.m.

JOE BOMGARDNER August 21, 2014 at 9:00 a.m.

BOB LEWIS (Sonoma, California) August 21, 2014 at 1:00 p.m.

GENE ALVAREZ August 21, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.

WHEREAS, Defendant has been notified that at least three of those individuals are 

currently represented by outside counsel and believes that two other witnesses may also be 

represented by outside counsel; 

WHEREAS, Defendant has been informed by the outside counsel for three of the 

represented witnesses that he will be unable to attend the currently scheduled depositions and will 

not be able to attend any depositions prior to the current discovery cut off date;

WHEREAS, Defendant has been informed by outside counsel for three of the witnesses he 

will not be available to attend depositions until the end of September due to his unavailability and 

a pre-scheduled vacation out of the country;

Case 1:13-cv-00561-SKO Document 37 Filed 08/18/14 Page 4 of 7
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AMENDED STIPULATION FOR ORDER TO CONTINUE 

TRIAL AND PRE-TRIAL DATES (1:13-cv-00561-SKO); ORDER THEREON

WHEREAS, Defendant has also been notified that one of the witnesses is no longer located 

at the last known address on file for the witness and attempts to serve the individual are 

continuing;

WHEREAS, the Parties believe the depositions scheduled by each side will need to be 

rescheduled due to calendar conflicts and the impossibility of completing most of the depositions 

within the two to three hours for which they have been scheduled; 

WHEREAS, it would be inconvenient for the deponents and for counsel to recess their 

depositions after two to three hours and to reschedule the completion of their depositions for 

another date that was mutually agreeable to the witnesses and counsel.

WHEREAS, the Parties have tentatively agreed to engage in private mediation in or about 

December, 2014 to February, 2015, following the completion of key witness depositions;

WHEREAS, the Parties will need to schedule dozens of additional non-expert depositions 

thereafter if the Parties are unable to resolve the case;

WHEREAS, the Parties will also need to schedule numerous expert depositions thereafter if 

the Parties are unable to resolve the case;

WHEREAS, the Parties agree the complexity of this case, along with the difficulty in 

scheduling depositions and the other factors described more fully herein constitute good cause 

pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 16(b)(4) for the Court to extend the non-expert 

discovery deadline in order to complete adequate discovery, and to extend the trial date and/or 

some or all of the remaining pre-trial dates and deadlines;

IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED by and among the Parties that all dates and 

deadlines in the current Scheduling Order shall be extended approximately six months or as close 

thereto as the Court’s calendar will permit. Should the Court agree to extend all dates, the Parties 

propose that the current deadlines and dates shall be modified as follows (or as close thereto as 

the Court’s calendar will permit):

//

//

Case 1:13-cv-00561-SKO Document 37 Filed 08/18/14 Page 5 of 7
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AMENDED STIPULATION FOR ORDER TO CONTINUE 

TRIAL AND PRE-TRIAL DATES (1:13-cv-00561-SKO); ORDER THEREON

EVENT/DEADLINE CURRENT DATE PROPOSED DATES

Non-Expert Discovery 08/21/2014 02/21/2015 

Expert Disclosure 09/25/2014 03/25/2015 

Settlement Conference 09/25/2014 03/25/2015 

Rebuttal Expert Disclosure 10/09/2014 04/09/2015 

Expert Discovery Deadline 11/18/2014 05/18/2015 

Non-Disp. Motion Hearing 12/31/2014 06/17/2015 

Dispositive Motion Hearing 12/31/2014 06/17/2015 

Pre-Trial Conference 05/07/2015 11/07/2015 

Trial 06/23/2015 1/25/2016 

IT IS SO STIPULATED.

Dated: August 11, 2014 LAW OFFICE OF DEAN B. GORDON

By: /s/ Dean B. Gordon

Dean B. Gordon

Attorneys for Plaintiffs Robert Felix 

and Jack Phelps

Dated: August 11, 2014 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

By: /s/ Mary Horst

Mary Horst

Deputy Attorney General

Attorneys for Defendant Department 

of Developmental Services

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AMENDED STIPULATION FOR ORDER TO CONTINUE 

TRIAL AND PRE-TRIAL DATES (1:13-cv-00561-SKO); ORDER THEREON

ORDER

The parties stipulated to a modification of the schedule. Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY 

ORDERED that the current Scheduling Order in this case shall be modified and all dates and 

deadlines shall be continued approximately six months. The new dates and deadlines shall be as 

follows:

EVENT/DEADLINE CURRENT DATE NEW DATE

Non-Expert Discovery 08/21/2014 02/21/2015

Expert Disclosure 09/25/2014 03/25/2015

Settlement Conference 09/25/2014 03/25/2015

Rebuttal Expert Disclosure 10/09/2014 04/09/2015

Expert Discovery Deadline 11/18/2014 05/18/2015

Non-Disp. Motion Filing 12/31/2014 06/17/2015

Non-Disp. Motion Hearing 02/11/2015 08/12/2015

Dispositive Motion Filing 12/31/2014 06/17/2015

Dispositive Motion Hearing 03/18/2015 09/16/2015

Pre-Trial Conference 05/07/2015 11/04/2015

Trial 06/23/2015 1/26/2016

The March 25, 2015, settlement conference will be held before U.S. Magistrate Judge 

Stanley A. Boone in Courtroom 9 at 1:00 p.m. The Pretrial Conference is continued to November 

4, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. in Courtroom 7. The trial is continued to January 26, 2016, at 8:30 a.m. in 

Courtroom 7.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: August 18, 2014 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto 

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Case 1:13-cv-00561-SKO Document 37 Filed 08/18/14 Page 7 of 7