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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JEANNIE GONZALES,

Plaintiff.

v.

LABORATORY CORPORATION OF 

AMERICA HOLDINGS,

Defendant.

Case No. 16-cv-07346-HSG (JCS)

NOTICE OF REFERENCE AND 

ORDER RE DISCOVERY 

PROCEDURES

Re: Dkt. No. 20

TO ALL PARTIES AND COUNSEL OF RECORD:

The above matter has been referred to the undersigned for all discovery matters. Please be 

advised that if a specific motion was filed before the District Court prior to this referral, the 

noticed date may no longer be in effect. All hearing dates are subject to the availability of the 

Court's calendar. Please contact the Courtroom Deputy, Karen Hom, at (415) 522-2035, to 

confirm or, if necessary, reschedule a hearing date. Regardless of whether the Court reschedules a 

hearing date, all opposition and reply papers shall be timely filed according to the originally 

noticed hearing date, pursuant to Civil L. R. 7-3.

LAW AND MOTION PROCEDURES

Civil law and motion is heard on Friday mornings at 9:30 a.m., in Courtroom G, 15th 

Floor, United States District Court, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, California. 

In the event a discovery dispute arises, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that before filing any 

discovery motion before this Court, the parties must comply with the following:

1. Lead trial counsel for both parties must meet and confer in person regarding the 

matter(s) at issue. This meeting shall occur after other efforts to resolve the dispute, 

such as telephone, e-mail, teleconference, or correspondence, have been unsuccessful. 

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

Once those efforts have proved unsuccessful, any party may demand a meeting of lead 

trial counsel to resolve a discovery matter. Such a meeting shall occur within ten (10)

calendar days of the demand. The locations of the meetings shall alternate. The first 

meeting shall be at a location selected by counsel for Plaintiff(s). If there are any 

future disputes, the next such meeting shall be held at a location to be determined by 

counsel for Defendant(s), etc.

2. Within five (5) calendar days of the in-person meeting between lead trial counsel 

referred to above, the parties shall jointly file a detailed letter with the Court, not to 

exceed five (5) pages without leave of Court, which will include the matters that 

remain in dispute, a detailed substantive description of each side’s position on each 

such issue, and a description of each side’s proposed compromise on each such issue.

3. After the Court has received the joint letter, the Court will determine what future 

proceedings, if any, are necessary.

In the event that the parties continue to be unable to resolve the matters regarding the timing 

and scope of discovery, the Court will consider what future actions are necessary. These actions 

may include the following: (1) sanctions against a party failing to cooperate in the discovery 

process and meet and confer in good faith, as required by this Order, the Federal Rules of Civil 

Procedure, and the Local Rules of this Court; and/or (2) requiring the Chief Executive Officers of 

each party to attend the in-person, meet-and-confer sessions described above. The Court is not 

entering either of these matters as an Order of the Court at this time, and fully expects counsel to 

meet their obligations under this Order and under the Local Rules.

A party or counsel has a continuing duty to supplement the initial disclosure when required 

under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(e)(1).

Law and motion matters may be submitted without argument upon stipulation of the parties 

and notification of the Court no later than 4:30 p.m. the day before the hearing. Pursuant to Civil 

L. R. 7-7(e), filed motions may be withdrawn without leave of the Court, within seven (7) days of 

the date for service of the opposition. Thereafter, leave of the Court must be sought.

All filings of documents relating to motions referred to the undersigned shall list the civil case 

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United States District Court

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number and the district court judge’s initials followed by the designation “(JCS)”.

ELECTRONIC FILING AND COURTESY COPIES

Please refer to Civil L. R. 5-4 and General Order No. 45 for the Northern District of California 

for information relating to electronic filing procedures and requirements. All documents shall be 

filed in compliance with the Civil Local Rules. Documents not filed in compliance with those 

rules will not be considered by the Court.

BEFORE NOON ON THE NEXT BUSINESS DAY FOLLOWING THE ELECTRONIC 

FILING, THE PARTIES ARE REQUIRED TO LODGE DIRECTLY WITH CHAMBERS ONE 

CONFORMED, PAPER COPY OF EACH DOCUMENT, WHICH IS TO BE DESIGNATED 

"JCS’S CHAMBERS' COPY."

The failure of counsel or a party to abide by this Order may result in sanctions pursuant to Fed. 

R. Civ. P. 16(f).

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: March 29, 2017

______________________________

JOSEPH C. SPERO

Chief Magistrate Judge

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