Volungis et al v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company, No. 2:2017cv02247 - Document 26 (D. Nev. 2018)
Court Description: ORDER granting 24 Stipulation; Discovery due by 10/8/2018. Motions due by 11/7/2018. Proposed Joint Pretrial Order due by 12/10/2018. Signed by Magistrate Judge Cam Ferenbach on 4/18/2018. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - JM)
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Volungis et al v. Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Doc. 26 Amy M. Samberg, NV Bar No. 10212 Casey G. Perkins, NV Bar No. 12063 FORAN GLENNON PALANDECH PONZI & RUDLOFF PC 2200 Paseo Verde Parkway, Suite 280 Henderson, NV 89052 Telephone: 702-827-1510 Facsimile: 312-863-5099 Email: asamberg@fgppr.com cperkins@fgppr.com Gregory J. Kerwin, NV Bar No. 12417 GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP 1801 California Street, Suite 4200 Denver, CO 80202-2642 Telephone: 303-298-5739 Facsimile: 303-313-2829 Email: GKerwin@gibsondunn.com Attorneys for Defendant Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company 13 14 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 15 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ETHAN VOLUNGIS, an individual, FAROOQ ABDULLA, an individual, and NIGHAT ABDULLA, an individual, CASE NO. 2:17-cv-02247-JCM-VCF STIPULATION AND ORDER TO EXTEND DISCOVERY DEADLINES Plaintiffs, (First Request) v. LIBERTY MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, a Wisconsin Corporation, DOES I through X, inclusive, and ROE BUSINESS ENTITIES I through X, inclusive, Defendants. 23 24 25 26 27 28 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP i Dockets.Justia.com 1 Under District of Nevada LR 26-4 and LR IA 6-1, Plaintiffs Ethan Volungis and Farooq and 2 Nighat Abdulla, and Defendant Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company (“Liberty Mutual”), by and 3 through their respective counsel, hereby request that certain remaining discovery deadlines be 4 extended by ninety (90) days based on the schedule set forth in Section D below. This is the parties’ 5 first request to extend the deadlines that were set in the Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order, which 6 the Court approved on December 4, 2017 (ECF 18). 7 This request is filed more than 21 days before the expiration of the deadlines for which an 8 extension is requested. For the reasons explained in Section C below including some delay with the 9 parties’ counsel reaching agreement on the terms for a stipulated protective order to protect 10 privileged communications relating to the Thorndal firm-Abdulla/Liberty Mutual attorney-client 11 relationship, there is good cause to extend the remaining discovery deadlines by 90 days. 12 The parties provide the following information under LR 26-4(a)-(d): 13 A. 14 Plaintiffs’ summary: 15 Plaintiffs served their initial Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1) disclosures on February 23, 2018 and 16 produced a CD with approximately 2,167 pages of documents (marked PLTF-00001 to -002167). 17 Plaintiffs served an amended Rule 26(a)(1) initial disclosure on March 24, 2018 and produced an 18 additional 92 pages of documents (PLTF-002168 to -002260). Discovery Completed. 19 Liberty Mutual’s summary: 20 Liberty Mutual served its initial Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1) disclosures on January 5, 2018 along 21 with a certified copy of the relevant Abdulla insurance policy (37 pages) (marked LM-Abdulla- 22 InsPolicy 000001 to -000037). In its Rule 26(a)(1) disclosure, Liberty Mutual agreed to produce to 23 Plaintiffs’ counsel its claim file documents, which include privileged communications between 24 Dr. Abdulla’s defense counsel at the Thorndal firm and either Dr. Abdulla or Liberty Mutual 25 representatives, once a stipulated protective order is entered to prevent disclosure of privileged 26 documents in public court filings and to non-parties to this lawsuit. 27 The parties’ counsel have been negotiating the terms for such a stipulated protective order and 28 reached agreement on an agreed order on April 17, 2018. Through that order, Liberty Mutual seeks to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP 1 1 protect against any privilege waiver for documents disclosing privileged attorney-client 2 communications between Dr. Abdulla and his defense counsel, including privileged documents that 3 Plaintiffs have obtained from Dr. Abdulla’s defense counsel at the Thorndal firm, through the 4 independent counsel Dr. Abdulla hired, Steve Parsons. Once a suitable protective order is entered to 5 prevent any privilege waiver for strangers to the attorney-client relationship, Liberty Mutual will 6 immediately produce the claim file documents identified in its Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures, comprising 7 more than 4,000 pages, which contain extensive information about privileged communications 8 between Dr. Abdulla and his defense counsel. 9 In addition, on November 20, 2017, Liberty Mutual filed a motion to stay all proceedings in 10 this case pending resolution of the underlying appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court of the Volungis 11 personal injury judgment against Dr. Abdulla (ECF 15). That motion to stay is fully briefed and 12 pending. 13 B. 14 The parties currently plan to complete the following remaining discovery work: 15 For Plaintiffs: 16 1. 17 18 Discovery That Remains to Be Completed. Plaintiffs will review Liberty Mutual’s production of claim file documents and may seek the production of additional documents from Liberty Mutual and third-parties. 2. Plaintiffs expect to take depositions of at least the following fact witnesses disclosed 19 in the parties’ initial disclosures: Victoria Kempczenski, Amy Elwood, Brent Brown, Lauren 20 Bryson, Loren Jacobson, Dennis Hilleren, Wendy Tantlinger, Scott Vos, Rachel Zeroulias, and any 21 other Liberty Mutual employee who was actively involved in the Volungis claim; Craig Delk and 22 Meghan Goodwin. 23 24 25 3. Plaintiffs will also propound written discovery related to the claims and defenses in this matter. 4. Plaintiffs will disclose a retained expert on insurance claim handling, and serve a 26 report disclosing that expert’s opinions. Plaintiffs may disclose a rebuttal expert and rebuttal report, 27 and may take a deposition of Liberty Mutual’s retained expert. 28 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP 2 1 For Liberty Mutual: 2 1. 3 4 Liberty Mutual is reviewing Plaintiffs’ production of documents to date, and may seek the production of additional documents from Plaintiffs, their counsel, and third-parties. 2. Liberty Mutual expects to take depositions of at least the following fact witnesses 5 disclosed in the parties’ initial disclosures: Dr. Farooq Abdulla, Nighat Abdulla, Garnet E. Beal, 6 Chad Golightly, Nagoya Johnson, Steve Parsons, Dennis Prince. 7 8 9 3. Liberty Mutual may propound written discovery related to the claims and defenses in this matter. 4. Liberty Mutual will disclose a retained expert on insurance claim handling, and serve 10 a report disclosing that expert’s opinions. Liberty Mutual may disclose a rebuttal expert and rebuttal 11 report, and may take a deposition of Plaintiffs’ retained expert. 12 C. Reasons Why Remaining Discovery Is Not Completed. 13 As noted in Section A above, the parties’ counsel have been exchanging drafts of a stipulated 14 protective order to prevent any privilege waiver for Abdulla defense counsel communications as to 15 strangers to the Thorndal firm/Abdulla-Liberty Mutual attorney-client relationship. On April 17, 16 2018, the parties reached agreement on such an order and are submitting it to the Court for approval. 17 The agreed protective order will allow Plaintiffs’ counsel and Defendant’s counsel, and their clients, 18 to obtain and use during discovery communications between Dr. Abdulla’s defense counsel at the 19 Thorndal firm, and their co-clients: Dr. Abdulla and Liberty Mutual. 20 Once the Court enters that stipulated protective order, Liberty Mutual can move forward with 21 production to Plaintiffs of its claim file documents, which include privileged communications with 22 Dr. Abdulla’s defense counsel, and the remaining discovery noted above can proceed. 23 In addition, Liberty Mutual’s counsel has been conserving resources waiting for the Court to 24 rule on its pending motion to stay all the proceedings in this case, hoping to avoid unnecessary 25 discovery expense for claims that may be mooted by the outcome of the pending Nevada Supreme 26 Court appeal of the underlying Volungis personal injury judgment. Liberty Mutual is requesting the 27 instant 90-day extensions of time nearly three months in advance of the current July 10, 2018 28 discovery cutoff date to allow the Court additional time to rule on that motion to stay proceedings. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP 3 1 D. The deadlines listed below would be extended by 90 days under the parties’ request in this 2 3 Proposed Schedule for Completing Remaining Discovery. Stipulation. 4 Task Serve Initial Disclosures Under Rule 26(a)(1) Current Deadline Completed New Deadline No change Amending the Pleadings and Adding Parties Wed., April 11, 2018 Deadline has passed: no change requested.1 Rule 26(a)(2) Disclosure of Experts’ reports Fri., May 11, 2018 Thurs., August 9, 2018 Interim Status Report Fri., May 11, 2018 Thurs., August 9, 2018 11 Disclosure of Rebuttal Experts and reports Mon., June 11, 2018 Mon. September 10, 2018 12 Close of Discovery Tues., July 10, 2018 Mon. October 8, 2018 13 Dispositive Motions Thurs., August 9, 2018 Wed., November 7, 2018 Joint Pre-Trial Order Mon. September 10, 2018 Mon. December 10, 2018 5 6 7 8 9 10 14 15 16 17 18 If dispositive motions are filed, the deadline for filing the joint pretrial order will be suspended until 30 days after decision on the dispositive motions or further court order. WHEREFORE, the parties respectfully request that the Court approve this Stipulation and extend the remaining discovery deadlines by 90 days, as outlined in Section D above. Respectfully submitted: April 18, 2018. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 28 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP FORAN GLENNON PALANDECH PONZI & RUDLOFF, PC __s/ Dennis M. Prince________________ DENNIS M. PRINCE, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 5092 ERICA D. ENTSMINGER, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 7432 __s/ Amy M. Samberg___________________ AMY M. SAMBERG, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 10212 1 East Washington Street, Suite 500 Phoenix, AZ 85004 400 S. 7th Street, 4th Floor Las Vegas, NV 89101 CASEY G. PERKINS, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 12063 2200 Paseo Verde Parkway, Suite 280 Henderson, NV 89052 Attorneys for Plaintiffs 26 27 EGLET PRINCE 1 Liberty Mutual’s motion to dismiss Plaintiffs’ Complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) (ECF 5) is pending. If the Court denies that motion, Liberty Mutual will file its Answer within the time allowed by Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(a)(4). 4 1 GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP 2 __s/ Gregory J. Kerwin___________________ GREGORY J. KERWIN, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 12417 1801 California Street, Suite 4200 Denver, CO 80202-2642 3 4 5 Attorneys for Defendant Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company 6 7 ORDER 8 9 10 11 12 IT IS SO ORDERED. _____________________________________________ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE Dated: April 18, 2018. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP 5 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 As an employee of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, I certify that a copy of the foregoing 3 STIPULATION AND ORDER TO EXTEND DISCOVERY DEADLINES was served on 4 Plaintiffs’ counsel on April 18, 2018 by the method indicated: 5 BY FAX: by transmitting via facsimile the document(s) listed above to the fax number(s) set forth below on this date before 5:00 p.m. pursuant to EDCR Rule 7.26(a). A printed transmission record is attached to the file copy of this document(s). 6 7 8 9 10 11 BY U.S. MAIL: by placing the document(s) listed above in a sealed envelope with postage thereon fully prepaid, in the United States mail at Las Vegas, Nevada addressed as set forth below. BY ELECTRONIC SERVICE: submitted to the above-entitled Court for electronic service upon the Court’s Service List for the above-referenced case. BY EMAIL: by emailing a PDF of the document listed above to the email addresses of the individual(s) listed below. 12 13 14 15 Dated: April 18, 2018 16 17 /s/ Loretta Howard An Employee of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP 18 19 20 21 102500804.5 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP 6
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