United States District Court, D. New Mexico
INITIAL SCHEDULING ORDER
HON.
CARMEN E. GARZA, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
This
case is assigned to me for scheduling, case management,
discovery, and all other non-dispositive motions. Counsel are
required to comply with the Local Civil Rules of the United
States District Court for the District of New Mexico, as well
as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Civility,
professionalism, and cooperation are required of counsel
throughout this litigation.
Counsel
and any pro se parties will "meet and confer" no
later than February 26, 2018, to discuss: (1) the nature and
bases of their claims and defenses; (2) the possibility of a
prompt resolution or settlement; (3) making or arranging for
complete initial disclosures as required by Rule 26(a)(1);
(4) preserving discoverable information; and (5) the
formulation of a provisional discovery plan. Fed.R.Civ.P.
26(a)(1), (f). In formulating a provisional discovery plan,
counsel and pro se parties should meaningfully discuss: (i)
the subjects on which discovery may be needed, when discovery
should be completed, and whether discovery should be
conducted in phases or limited to particular issues; (ii) any
issues about the disclosure, discovery, or preservation of
electronically stored information, including the form(s) in
which it should be produced; (iii) any issues about claims of
privilege or confidentiality of materials, including
exploring whether the parties can agree on a procedure to
assert these claims and whether they will ask the Court to
include any agreement in an order; (iv) whether any changes
should be sought to the limitations on discovery imposed by
the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or the Local Civil
Rules; and (v) the facts and the law governing the case to
which the parties are willing to stipulate.
Pursuant
to Rule 26(d)(2), the parties may deliver discovery requests
under Rule 34 prior to the “meet and confer”
date, however those requests are not considered to have been
served until the first “meet and confer” session.
Initial
disclosures under Rule 26(a)(1) must be made within fourteen
(14) days of the meet and confer session, unless a different
time is set by stipulation or court order. The parties are
advised to strictly follow the letter and spirit of Rule
26(a)(1) in preparing their initial disclosures. Fed.R.Civ.P.
26(a)(1). Initial disclosures are intended to accelerate the
exchange of core information about the case and eliminate the
need for formal discovery at the early stages of litigation.
See 1993 Advisory Committee Notes to Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(a)(1).
The parties must seek to meet these objectives in making
their initial disclosures, and should be prepared to explain
how they have fully complied with their obligations under
Rule 26(a)(1) at the Rule 16 Scheduling Conference.
The
parties will cooperate in preparing a Joint Status Report and
Provisional Discovery Plan (“JSR”) which follows
the sample JSR form available on the United States District
Court for the District of New Mexico's website. All
attorneys must show their complete mailing address and
telephone number(s) under the “Appearances”
section of the JSR. Do not indicate witnesses' addresses
as “in care of” an attorney's office. The
city or town of residence of each witness must be included so
that the trial judge can consider that information in
determining the trial location. The parties are to fill in
the blanks for proposed dates, bearing in mind that the time
allowed for discovery is generally 120 to 180 days from the
date of the Rule 16 Initial Scheduling Conference. The Court
will determine actual case management deadlines after
considering the parties' requests. Plaintiff, or
Defendant in removed cases, is responsible for electronically
filing the JSR by March 5, 2018.
Parties
may not modify case management deadlines on their own. Good
cause must be shown and the Court's written approval
obtained for any modification of the case management
deadlines that the Court establishes at the scheduling
conference.
A Rule
16 Scheduling Conference will be conducted by telephone on
Monday, March 12, 2018 at 2:30 PM. Parties shall call Judge
Garza's Meet Me line at 505.348.2693 to be connected to
the proceedings. This line can only accommodate up to five
telephone lines, including the Court's; if the parties
anticipate that they will exceed this capacity, they must
contact the Court immediately so that alternative
arrangements may be made. Upon agreement, the parties may
request that the Rule 16 Scheduling Conference be held in
person.
At the
conference, counsel and any pro se parties must be
prepared to discuss all claims and defenses, initial
disclosures, discovery requests and scheduling, issues
relating to the disclosure, discovery, or preservation of
electronically-stored information, the timing of expert
disclosures and reports under Rule 26(a)(2), and the use of
scientific evidence and whether it is anticipated that a
Daubert [1] hearing will be needed. We will also
discuss settlement prospects and alternative dispute
resolution possibilities. Lead counsel and parties appearing
pro se must participate unless excused by the Court.
Parties represented by counsel need not attend.
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
---------
Notes:
[1]
Daubert v. Merrell Dow
Pharmaceuticals,
509 U.S. 579 ...