McMillin

I. Facts and Summary of Pleadings

The Court issued the OSC based upon Defendant’s failure to fulfill any of his obligations in connection with the Pretrial Conference. Specifically, Defendant (1) failed to cooperate with Plaintiffs in the preparation of a proposed Joint Pretrial Stipulation, even after Plaintiffs served a copy of the proposed Pretrial Stipulation upon Defendant by overnight courier, attempted to contact Defendant by telephone, and attempted to contact Defendant by e-mail; (2) failed to respond to Plaintiffs’ attempts to meet and confer regarding the Pretrial Stipulation; and (3) failed to provide Plaintiffs with trial exhibits or a list of proposed witnesses.2 Defendant’s counsel failed to file a written response to the OSC by August 19, 2020, as ordered by the Court. Instead, counsel filed a response on the day prior to the hearing. As an explanation for his non-compliance, counsel states that during the month of July 2020, he was required to care for his spouse, who had been diagnosed with COVID-19. Counsel states that he contracted COVID-19 in late July 2020, and did not return to work until September 3, 2020. Counsel requests the opportunity to proceed to…