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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

Schaun Owens,

Plaintiff,

v.

Maricopa County Community College 

District, Maricopa Skill Center, and Lisa 

Hemming, 

Defendants.

NO. CV-15-01769-PHX-SPL

PROPOSED RULE 16 CASE 

MANAGEMENT ORDER

On __________________, a Case Management Conference was held in open

Court pursuant to Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Prior to the

conference, the parties met and prepared a Joint Rule 26(f) Case Management Report and

a Joint Proposed Rule 16 Case Management Order. On the basis of the Case Management

Conference and the parties’ submissions, the Court enters the following Order.

IT IS ORDERED:

I. RULES

All parties must abide by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Rules

of Civil Procedure (“LRCiv” or “Local Rules”), Rules of Practice of the U.S. District

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Court for the District of Arizona.1To the extent that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

differ from the Local Rules, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure shall govern.

II. JOINING PARTIES AND AMENDING PLEADINGS

The deadline for joining parties, amending pleadings, and filing supplemental

pleadings is sixty (60) days from the date of this Order.

III. DISCOVERY

Initial Disclosures: All Initial Disclosures as defined in Rule 26(a) of the Federal

Rules of Civil Procedure were exchanged on _____________________. [If not already

disclosed, Initial Disclosures shall be made no later than January 11, 2016.] The

parties shall file with the Clerk of Court a Notice of Initial Disclosure, rather than copies

of the actual disclosures.

Discovery Deadline: All discovery must be completed on or before

September 30, 2016. 

2

Written Discovery Limitations: Each side may propound up to 25

interrogatories, including subparts. The parties are also limited to ____ requests for 

production of documents, including subparts, and ____ requests for admissions, including

subparts. All interrogatories, requests for production of documents, and requests for

 

1

The Local Rules are available at: http://www.azd.uscourts.gov/local-rules, and the

Federal Rules are available at: http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/rules/civil-procedure.pdf

2

This Order governs and supersedes the “30 days before trial” disclosure deadline.

See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(3). The discovery deadline concludes the time to propound

discovery, the time to answer all propounded discovery, the time to supplement

disclosures and discovery, the time for discovery by subpoena, the time for the Court to

resolve all discovery disputes, and the time to complete any final discovery necessitated

by the Court’s ruling on any discovery disputes.

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admissions shall be served at least forty-five (45) days before the discovery deadline.3

Responses to discovery requests must be stated with specificity, and the parties are

cautioned that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not permit general or boilerplate

objections.

Deposition Limitations: All depositions shall be scheduled to commence at least

five (5) working days prior to the discovery deadline. A deposition commenced five (5) 

days prior to the deadline may continue up until the deadline, as necessary.

Expert Disclosures: Plaintiff(s) shall provide full and complete expert disclosures

as required by Rule 26(a)(2)(A)-(C) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure no later than

May 27, 2016. Defendant(s) shall provide full and complete expert

disclosures as required by Rule 26(a)(2)(A)-(C) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

no later than July 15, 2016. Rebuttal expert disclosures, if any, shall be made

no later than August 19, 2016. Rebuttal experts shall be limited to responding to

opinions stated by initial experts. Absent truly extraordinary circumstances, parties will

not be permitted to supplement their expert reports after these dates.4

 

3

The parties may mutually agree in writing, without Court approval, to increase the

discovery limitations or extend the time provided for discovery responses in Rules 33, 34,

and 36 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Such agreed-upon increases or

extensions, however, shall not alter or extend the discovery deadlines set forth in this

Order.

4 An expert witness who has not been timely disclosed will not be permitted to

testify at trial unless the party offering such witness demonstrates that: (a) the necessity

of such expert witness could not have been reasonably anticipated at the time of the

deadline for disclosing such expert witness; (b) the Court and opposing counsel or

unrepresented party were promptly notified upon discovery of such expert witness; and

(c) such expert witness was promptly proffered for deposition. See Wong v. Regents of

the University of California, 410 F.3d 1052, 1060 (9th Cir. 2005).

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Expert Depositions: Expert depositions shall be completed no later than

September 30, 2016. As with fact witness depositions, expert depositions shall be

scheduled to commence at least five (5) working days before the deadline.

Discovery Disputes: Motions on discovery matters are strongly discouraged.

Parties shall not present any discovery dispute without first seeking to resolve the matter

through personal consultation and sincere effort as required by LRCiv 7.2(j). If the

parties cannot reach a resolution, they may jointly request Court assistance by filing a

Joint Motion for Discovery Dispute Resolution. The motion shall set forth a joint

statement of the discovery dispute and shall not exceed three (3) pages in length. The

parties shall also attach to their motion written certification of compliance with LRCiv

7.2(j). Absent extraordinary circumstances, the Court will not entertain fact discovery

disputes after the deadline for completion of fact discovery, and will not entertain expert

discovery disputes after the deadline for completion of expert discovery.

IV. MOTIONS

Dispositive Motion Deadline: Dispositive motions shall be filed no later than

October 28, 2016.

Dispositive Motion Limitations: Absent leave of Court, no party shall file more

than one motion for summary judgment. To obtain leave of Court, a party shall file a

motion setting forth the reasons justifying the filing of more than one summary judgment

motion.

Oral Argument: The parties shall not notice oral argument on any motion.

Instead, a party seeking oral argument shall place the words “Oral Argument Requested”

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immediately below the title of the motion. See LRCiv 7.2(f). The Court will issue an

order scheduling oral argument as it deems appropriate.

Copies: A paper copy of any document exceeding ten (10) pages in length shall be

submitted to chambers promptly following its electronic filing. Paper copies of

documents which are too large for stapling must be submitted in a three-ring binder.

Electronic copies of proposed orders or findings shall be emailed to chambers in

Microsoft Word® format at Logan_Chambers@azd.uscourts.gov.

Noncompliance: All parties are specifically admonished that “[i]f a motion does

not conform in all substantial respects with the requirements of [the Local Rules], or if

the opposing party does not serve and file the required answering memoranda... such

noncompliance may be deemed a consent to the denial or granting of the motion and the

Court may dispose of the motion summarily.” LRCiv 7.2.

V. SETTLEMENT DISCUSSIONS

All parties and their counsel shall meet in person and engage in good faith

settlement talks no later than September 30, 2016. Upon completion of such

settlement talks, and in no event later than five (5) working days after the deadline for

settlement talks, the parties shall file with the Court a joint report on settlement talks

executed by or on behalf of all counsel. The report shall inform the Court that good faith

settlement talks have been held and shall report on the outcome of such talks. The parties 

shall indicate whether assistance from the Court is needed in seeking settlement of the

case. The parties shall promptly notify the Court at any time when settlement is reached

during the course of this litigation.

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VI. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE

If no dispositive motions are pending before the Court after the dispositive motion

deadline has passed, Plaintiff(s) shall file and serve a Notice of Readiness for Final

Pretrial Conference within seven (7) days of the dispositive motion deadline. If a

dispositive motion is pending before the Court following the dispositive motion deadline,

Plaintiff(s) shall file and serve a Notice of Readiness for Final Pretrial Conference within

seven (7) days of the resolution of the dispositive motion. Following the filing of the

Notice, the Court will issue an Order Setting Final Pretrial Conference that: (1) sets

deadlines for briefing motions in limine; (2) includes a form for the completion of the

parties’ joint proposed Final Pretrial Order; and (3) otherwise instructs the parties

concerning their duties in preparing for the Final Pretrial Conference. A firm trial date

will be set at the Final Pretrial Conference.

ADVISAL

The parties are advised that the Court intends to enforce the deadlines and

guidelines set forth in this Order, and they should plan their litigation activities

accordingly. The Court emphasizes that it has a strict policy not to extend the dispositive

motion deadline beyond the two-year anniversary of the date of commencement of an

action. Even if all parties stipulate to an extension, the Court will not extend the deadlines

absent good cause to do so. As a general matter, the pendency of settlement discussions

or the desire to schedule mediation does not constitute good cause.

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on January 4, 2016, I electronically lodged the attached 

document using ECF and transmitted the document as follows:

By e-mail and mail to:

Schaun Owens

11342 W. Buchanan Street

Avondale, AZ 85323

Plaintiff

/s/ Kimberly Kershner

Kimberly Kershner

4500737.3\109883-5\

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