United States District Court, D. North Dakota
Soo Line Railroad Company, d/b/a Canadian Pacific, a Minnesota Corporation, Plaintiff,
v.
Dakota Gold Transfer-Plaza, a Delaware LLC, Defendant.
ORDER FOR RULE 26(F) PLANNING MEETING AND RULE 16(B)
SCHEDULING CONFERENCE, AND ORDER RE RESOLUTION OF DISCOVERY
DISPUTES
CLARE
R. HOCHHALTER, MAGISTRATE JUDGE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
IT
IS ORDERED:
RULE
26(f) MEETING & RULE 16(b) SCHEDULING
CONFERENCE
The
court shall hold a Rule 16(b) initial pretrial
scheduling/discovery conference on February 3, 2020, at 9:00
a.m. To participate in the conference, counsel shall call the
following number and enter the following access code:
Tel. No.: (877) 810-9415
Access Code: 8992581
In
preparation for the conference, counsel are directed to
confer in accordance with Rule 26(f) of the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure. Counsel shall submit to the magistrate judge
a joint proposed scheduling/discovery plan that reflects the
Rule 26(f) discussions and includes at least those items
listed in form Scheduling/Discovery Plan posted on the
court's website (www.ndd.uscourts.gov/forms/).
Counsel shall confer, complete and prepare the form, obtain
the appropriate signatures, and e-mail the document in
"WordPerfect" or in "Word" format to
nddJ-Hochhalter@ndd.uscourts.gov NO
LATER THAN TWO BUSINESS DAYS PRIOR TO THE
CONFERENCE. Any disagreements among
counsel shall be addressed at the scheduling conference.
During
the Rule 26(f) meeting, counsel shall discuss the nature and
basis of their claims and defenses, the possibilities for a
prompt settlement or resolution of the case, and the scope
and type of discovery, including electronic discovery.
Counsel shall also make or arrange for the disclosures
required by Rule 26(a)(1), and develop their joint proposed
scheduling/discovery plan. These are only the
minimum requirements for the meeting. 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 shall be a
substantive, meaningful discussion. In addressing settlement
or early resolution of the case, counsel are required to
explore the feasibility of ADR not only between themselves
but with their clients as well. If the parties elect not to
participate in an early ADR effort, the court may nonetheless
require a settlement conference shortly before trial.
In
addressing the Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures, counsel shall
discuss the appropriate timing, form, scope or requirement of
the initial disclosures, keeping in mind that Rule 26(a)(1)
contemplates the disclosures will be made by the date of the
Rule 16(b) initial scheduling conference and will include at
least the categories of information listed in the rule. Rule
26 affords the parties flexibility in the scope, form and
timing of disclosures under both Rule 26(a)(1) (initial
disclosures) and Rule 26(a)(2) (expert witness disclosures),
but the parties' agreement on disclosures is subject to
approval by the court. In their discussion of disclosures,
counsel shall address issues of relevance in detail, with
each party identifying what it needs and why. The discussion
shall include as well the sequence and timing of follow-up
discovery, including whether that discovery should be
conducted informally or formally and whether it should be
conducted in phases to prepare for filing of particular
motions or for settlement discussions.
In
addressing electronic discovery, 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
meta-data, etc.), cost of production and which party will
bear the cost, privilege/waiver issues, and any other
electronic discovery issues present in the case. Before
engaging in the Rule 26 discussion, 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" preventing destruction of potentially relevant
records.
The
deadlines in the scheduling/discovery plan shall be mutually
agreeable, with a view to achieving resolution of the case
with a minimum of expense and delay. At the Rule 16(b)
conference, the court will review the plan with counsel.
The date for the dispositive motion deadline shall not be
later than February 5, 2021, unless good cause is shown at
the scheduling conference for a later date. Counsel are
informed that the dispositive motion deadline is used in
assigning the trial date, and the court must allow adequate
time for briefing and ruling prior to the final pretrial
conference and trial dates.
RESOLUTION
OF DISCOVERY DISPUTES
It is
hereby ORDERED that the following steps be
undertaken by all parties prior to the filing of any
discovery motions:
1) The parties are strongly encouraged to informally resolve
all discovery issues and disputes without the necessity of
Court intervention. In that regard, the parties are first
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 ...