Currie v. Mann Enterprises, LLC

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF NORTH DAKOTA
Zerrick Currie,
Plaintiff,
vs.
Mann Enterpises, LLC,
Defendant.
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ORDER FOR RULE 26(f)
PLANNING MEETING AND
FOR RULE 16(b) SCHEDULING
CONFERENCE, AND
ORDER REGARDING
DISCOVERY DISPUTES
Case No. 1:22‐CV‐127
IT IS ORDERED:
Rule 26(f) Meeting and Rule 16(b) Scheduling Conference
The court will hold a Rule 16(b) initial pretrial scheduling/discovery conference
on October 26, 2022. at 9:00 A.M. The scheduling conference will be held by
telephone. To participate in the conference, the parties shall call (877) 810-9415 and
enter access code 8992581. Parties are advised that telephone conferences may be
electronically recorded for the convenience of the Court.
Counsel may use the court’s sample Scheduling/Discovery plan, available at
www.ndd.uscourts.gov/forms. If the court’s sample form is used, please use the
form as revised in March 2022.
Counsel must confer in person or by telephone prior to the telephone conference.
As required by Rule 26(f)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, during their
conference, counsel must:
(1) 	Discuss the nature and basis of their claims and defenses and the
possibilities for promptly settling or resolving the case.
(2) 	Make, or arrange to make, the initial disclosures required by Rule
26(a)(1)(A).
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(3) 	Discuss any issues about preserving discoverable information, including
electronically stored information. In discussing discovery of electronically
stored information, counsel shall discuss what electronic sources each
party will search, difficulty of retrieval, preservation of records, the form of
production (electronic or hard-copy, format of production, inclusion of
metadata, etc.), cost of production and which party will bear the cost,
privilege/waiver issues, and any other electronic discovery issues. Prior to
counsel’s Rule 26(f)(2) conference, counsel should determine who is most
familiar with the client’s computer system, what electronic records the
client maintains, how the client’ s electronic records are stored, the
difficulty/ease of retrieving various records, the existence and terms of the
client’s document retention/destruction policy, and whether the client has
placed a “litigation hold” to prevent destruction of potentially relevant
records.
(4) 	Discuss any need for a protective order and the provisions of any desired
protective order.
(5) 	Discuss alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods and whether to
request a court-hosted settlement conference/mediation. Counsel are
required to discuss the feasibility of ADR not only between themselves but
also with their respective clients.
(6) 	Whether the parties will consent to jurisdiction of the magistrate judge.
(7) 	With a view toward securing the just, speedy, and inexpensive
determination of the matter, develop a proposed discovery plan which
meets the requirements of Rule 26(f)(3).
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No later than two business days prior to the conference, counsel shall
submit their joint proposed scheduling/discovery plan, electronically signed and dated
by counsel for all parties, in WordPerfect or Word format, to the magistrate judge
at ndd_J-Hochhalter@ndd.uscourts.gov. The plan shall reflect the Rule 26(f)(2)
discussions and shall include, at minimum, proposed deadlines for each of the
following:
(1) 	Filing any motions to join other parties;
(2) 	Filing any motions to amend the pleadings;
(3) 	Filing any other anticipated nondispositive motions;
(4) 	Completion of fact discovery;
(5) 	Disclosure of experts and their opinions;
(6) 	Completion of expert discovery; and
(7) 	Filing any dispositive motions, with a deadline no later than October 27,
2023, unless good cause for a later date is established at the scheduling conference. 1
Any disagreements among counsel as to deadlines will be discussed at the
scheduling conference.
Counsel are encouraged to have a comprehensive discussion and are required to
approach the meeting cooperatively and in good faith. The discussion of claims and
defenses should be substantive and meaningful.
Resolution of Discovery Disputes
It is hereby ORDERED that the following steps be undertaken by all parties
prior to filing any discovery motions:
1 The dispositive motion deadline is used in assigning a trial date, which will
generally be approximately six months after the dispositive motion deadline.
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(1) 	The parties are required to confer and fully comply with Rule 37(a)(1) of
the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Local Rule 37.1 by undertaking a
sincere, good faith effort to resolve all differences without court action or
intervention.
(2) 	In the event that all parties have made reasonable, good faith efforts to
confer and attempt to resolve any differences, without success, the parties
are then required to schedule a telephonic conference with the magistrate
judge in an effort to try to resolve the discovery dispute prior to filing any
discovery motions. The magistrate judge may require the parties to submit
brief position statements prior to the telephonic conference.
(3) 	If the discovery dispute is not resolved during the telephonic conference
with the magistrate judge, the magistrate judge may permit filing of
discovery motions. In connection with the filing of any such motions, the
moving party must fully comply with all requirements of Rule 37(a)(1) and
Local Rule 37.1 and must submit the certifications required by those rules.
(4) 	The court will not hear any discovery motion unless the parties have made
a sincere, good faith effort to resolve the dispute and all of the above-
described steps have been strictly followed. A failure to fully comply with
all of the prerequisite steps may result in a denial of any motion with
prejudice and may result in an award of costs and reasonable attorney’s
fees.
Direct Assignment Cases
If your case has been directly assigned to a magistrate judge, you must return the
completed Consent/Reassignment Form in advance of the scheduling conference.
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Dated this 20th day of September, 2022.
/s/ Clare R. Hochhalter
Clare R. Hochhalter
United States Magistrate Judge
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