1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ZURICH AMERICAN INSURANCE 12 COMPANY, Case No.: 2:24-cv-03790-DJC-CSK 13 Plaintiff, 14 v. SCHEDULING ORDER 15 HARTFORD FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, 16 Defendant. 17 18 I. SERVICE OF PROCESS 19 The named defendant has been served as required by Federal Rule of Civil 20 Procedure 5. No further service is permitted without leave of the Court, good cause 21 having been shown under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b). 22 II. JOINDER OF ADDITIONAL PARTIES / AMENDMENT OF PLEADINGS 23 No further joinder of parties or amendments to pleadings is permitted without 24 leave of the Court, good cause having been shown. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b); Johnson 25 v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 27 604 (9th Cir. 1992). 26 III. DISCOVERY PROCEDURES 27 Discovery matters that do not implicate the schedule of the case or that do not 28 relate to sealing or redaction of documents related to dispositive motions are referred 1 to the assigned United States Magistrate Judge, who will hear all discovery disputes 2 subject to his or her procedures. All discovery documents must include the words 3 “DISCOVERY MATTER” in the caption to ensure proper routing. Do not direct delivery 4 of courtesy copies of these documents to the District Judge. Counsel are directed to 5 review and comply with the case management procedures of the assigned Magistrate 6 Judge when setting applicable discovery matters for hearing. All motions to compel 7 discovery must be noticed on the assigned Magistrate Judge’s calendar in 8 accordance with the local rules of this Court and the Magistrate Judge’s own 9 procedures. 10 The written ruling of the assigned Magistrate Judge shall be final, subject to 11 modification by the District Judge only where it has been shown that the Magistrate 12 Judge’s order is clearly erroneous or contrary to law. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A). 13 Pursuant to Local Rule 303, any party may file and serve a “Request for 14 Reconsideration by the District Judge of Magistrate Judge’s Ruling.” See L.R. 303(c). 15 The requesting party must file and serve any such request within fourteen (14) days of 16 service of a written ruling. L.R. 303(b). The request must specify which portions of the 17 ruling are clearly erroneous or contrary to law and the basis for that contention with 18 supporting points and authorities. L.R. 303(c). 19 In addition, the assigned Magistrate Judge reviews proposed discovery phase 20 protective orders sought by the parties pursuant to Local Rule 141.1. However, 21 requests to seal or redact in connection with dispositive motions or trial are decided 22 by Judge Calabretta and any such requests must comply with Judge Calabretta’s 23 Standing Order and Local Rules 140 and 141. 24 IV. DISCOVERY DEADLINES 25 A. Rule 26(a) Initial Disclosures 26 If not already completed, all parties appearing shall make initial disclosures 27 pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 26(a)(1) no later than 6/2/2025. Any 28 parties served or joined after the issuance of this scheduling order shall “make the 1 initial disclosures within 30 days after being served or joined,” as provided by Rule 2 26(a)(1)(D). 3 B. Fact Discovery 4 All fact discovery shall be completed1 no later than 3/23/2026. 5 C. Expert Discovery 6 The parties shall disclose initial experts and produce reports in accordance with 7 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2) by no later than 5/29/2026. With regard to 8 expert testimony intended solely for rebuttal, those experts shall be disclosed and 9 reports produced in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2) on or 10 before 6/26/2026. All expert discovery shall be completed no later than 8/7/2026. 11 Disclosures of expert witnesses, if any, must be made pursuant to Federal Rule 12 of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2)(A), (B) and (C), and shall include all information required 13 thereunder. Each expert witness must be fully prepared to be examined on all 14 subjects and opinions included in the disclosures. Failure to comply with these 15 requirements may result in the imposition of appropriate sanctions, including the 16 preclusion of the expert’s testimony, or of other evidence offered through the expert. 17 D. Joint Mid-Discovery Statement 18 By 10/24/2025, all parties shall file with the Court a brief Joint Mid-Discovery 19 Statement summarizing the current status of discovery proceedings. In this statement, 20 parties should state whether parties are actively engaged in discovery and identify any 21 issues preventing discovery from proceeding in a timely manner. The filing of this 22 statement shall not relieve the parties or counsel of their obligations to meet and 23 confer, comply the deadlines set by the court, and timely notice all appropriate 24 discovery motions. 25

26 1 As used herein, the word “completed” means that all discovery shall have been conducted so that all depositions have been taken and any disputes relevant to discovery shall have been resolved by 27 appropriate order if necessary and, where discovery has been ordered, the order has been obeyed. The parties are advised that motions to compel must be filed in advance of the discovery completion 28 deadlines so that the Court may grant effective relief within the allotted discovery time. A party’s failure 1 MOTIONS 2 All dispositive motions, except motions for continuances, temporary restraining 3 orders, or other emergency applications, shall be filed on or before 4/17/2026 and 4 shall be noticed for hearing before Judge Calabretta on 5/28/2026 at 1:30 p.m. 5 Counsel are directed to refer to the local rules and Judge Calabretta’s Standing Order 6 regarding the requirements for noticing and opposing such motions on the Court’s 7 regularly scheduled law and motion calendar. 8 All moving and opposition briefs or legal memoranda in civil cases shall not 9 exceed twenty-five pages without prior leave of court. Reply briefs filed by moving 10 parties shall not exceed fifteen pages. The Court will grant an application to extend 11 these page limitations only after good cause shown. Pages that exceed the page 12 limitations without leave of court will not be considered. Finally, no supplemental 13 briefs or sur-replies shall be filed and will not be considered without prior leave of 14 court. 15 Prior to filing a motion for summary judgment or motion for partial summary 16 judgment (summary adjudication), the parties are ordered to meet and confer, in 17 person or by telephone, to discuss the issues to be raised in the motion as required by 18 Judge Calabretta’s Standing Order. Failure to do so may result in denial of the 19 motion. In addition to complying with the requirements of Local Rule 260, the 20 parties must prepare a Joint Statement of Undisputed Facts, which identifies all 21 relevant facts subject to agreement by all parties. The moving party is responsible 22 for filing the joint statement concurrently with the motion. In the notice of motion, the 23 moving party shall certify that the parties have met and conferred as ordered above or 24 provide a statement of good cause for the failure to do so. In addition to the above, 25 when filing any motion, parties should reference and ensure compliance with Judge 26 Calabretta’s Standing Order. 27 /// 28 /// 1 V. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE 2 No Settlement Conference is currently scheduled. If the parties wish to have a 3 settlement conference, one will be scheduled at the final pretrial conference or at an 4 earlier time upon request of the parties. 5 VI. FINAL PRETRIAL CONFERENCE 6 The final pretrial conference is set for 9/10/2026 at 1:30 p.m. in Courtroom 7 7 before District Court Judge Daniel J. Calabretta. Hearings may be conducted by 8 Zoom upon the joint request of all parties. 9 The parties are directed to file a joint pretrial statement that complies with the 10 requirements of Local Rule 281 and Judge Calabretta’s Standing Order in Civil Cases 11 not less than seven (7) days prior to the Pretrial Conference. Counsel shall e-mail a 12 copy of the joint pretrial statement in Word format to Judge Calabretta's chambers at 13 djcorders@caed.uscourts.gov immediately thereafter. 14 The parties’ attention is directed to Local Rules 281 and 282. This Court will 15 insist upon strict compliance with these rules. At the pretrial conference, the Court will 16 set deadlines to file trial documents, including motions in limine, trial briefs, and 17 proposed jury voir dire, instructions, and verdict forms (where applicable). 18 VII. JURY TRIAL 19 A jury trial is set for 11/9/2026 at 8:30 a.m. in Courtroom 7 before District 20 Court Judge Daniel J. Calabretta. Trial is anticipated to last five to seven (5-7) court 21 days. 22 VIII. RELATED MATTERS PENDING 23 The parties have not alerted the court to any related litigation. 24 IX. OBJECTIONS AND MODIFICATIONS TO THE SCHEDULING ORDER 25 This case schedule will become final without further order of the Court 26 unless objections are filed within fourteen (14) days of the entry of this order. 27 The schedule, once final, shall not be modified except by leave of the Court upon 28 showing of good cause. Counsel shall contact Judge Calabretta’s courtroom deputy, 1 Gabriel Michel, via e-mail at gmichel@caed.uscourts.gov, prior to filing a stipulation 2 and proposed order to continue the dates set forth herein. 3 The parties are reminded that pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of 4 Civil Procedure, no stipulations extending scheduling requirements or modifying 5 applicable rules are effective until and unless the Court approves them. Agreement of 6 the parties by stipulation alone does not constitute good cause. Counsel are 7 cautioned that requests or stipulations to continue dispositive motion deadlines or 8 trial dates must establish good cause exists and are not granted lightly. 9 Any request or stipulation to modify this scheduling order must set forth: 10 1. The existing due date or hearing date as well as the discovery cutoff date, 11 the last date for hearing motions, the final pretrial conference date, and the 12 trial date; 13 2. Whether there have been prior requests for extensions, and whether these 14 were granted or denied by the Court; and 15 3. Specific, concrete reasons supporting good cause for granting of the 16 extension. For example, if the reason for the requested extension is that it 17 “will promote settlement,” the requesting party or parties must indicate the 18 status of ongoing negotiations, e.g., that a mediator has been selected; 19 written proposals have been exchanged; a draft settlement agreement is 20 being reviewed by counsel; etc. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. 22

23 Dated: March 27, 2025 /s/ Daniel J. Calabretta

THE HONORABLE DANIEL J. CALABRETTA

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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