Opinion ID: 1443085
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discovery Schedule Established

Text: In anticipation of trial, the Superior Court held a scheduling conference on September 29, 2004. During that conference, the parties agreed that the twenty-five depositions taken in a prior action arising from PwC's audits of Lason's annual financial statements  Carello v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, No. 01C-10-219 (RRC)  would be treated as though they had taken place in the present Coleman litigation. Bennett H. Goldstein, the plaintiffs' expert witness on auditing and accounting in this case, had also been the Carello plaintiffs' expert witness. Accordingly, Goldstein already had received access to PwC's Lason workpapers and to the Carello deposition transcripts. Goldstein also had testified and submitted an expert report in the Carello proceedings, in which he had opined regarding Lason's financial statements. Based upon the parties agreement concerning use of the Carello discovery materials, the trial judge proposed the following pretrial discovery schedule at the conference on September 29, 2004: the appellants' expert's report would be due on November 12, 2004; the close of discovery would be set for January 28, 2005; and the trial would commence on May 9, 2005. Counsel for all parties agreed to the proposed schedule without expressing any concerns. On November 12, 2004, Goldstein submitted his expert report (the November Report) on behalf of the appellants. This report  and the reports that he previously submitted in Carello  contained no reference to any material misstatements in Lason's 1997 financial statements. The appellants' counsel did not serve any written interrogatories or requests for production in this matter until November 23 and 24, 2004. The appellants served their first deposition notice in this matter in mid-January 2005.