Leonardo S.p.A. v. The Boeing Company, No. 2:2019cv02082 - Document 54 (W.D. Wash. 2021)

Court Description: ORDER granting Parties' 53 Stipulated Motion to Extend Expert Disclosure Deadline. Expert Witness Disclosure/Reports under FRCP 26(a)(2) due by 4/29/2021. Signed by Judge James L. Robart. (SR)

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Leonardo S.p.A. v. The Boeing Company Doc. 54 1 THE HONORABLE JAMES L. ROBART 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 7 8 9 LEONARDO, S.p.A., an Italian company, 10 11 12 13 14 No. 2:19-cv-2082 JLR Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO EXTEND EXPERT DISCLOSURE DEADLINE AND [PROPOSED] ORDER v. NOTE ON MOTION CALENDAR: April 8, 2021 THE BOEING COMPANY, a Delaware corporation, Defendant. 15 I. 16 INTRODUCTION Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4) and Local Civil Rules 7(d)(1), 17 10(g), and 16(b)(6), Plaintiff Leonardo, S.p.A. (“Leonardo”) and Defendant The Boeing 18 Company (“Boeing”) submit this stipulated motion to request that the Court order a ten-day 19 extension of the current April 19, 2021 deadline for disclosure of expert testimony, as set forth in 20 the current Case Schedule, ECF No. 39. This limited extension will not impact any other Case 21 Schedule deadline, including the existing dispositive motion deadline or any deadlines thereafter, 22 including the trial date of September 14, 2021. 23 Good cause exists for this minor adjustment to the case schedule because one of Boeing’s 24 experts recently became severely ill after contracting COVID-19 and required out-patient 25 hospital care. The expert’s treatment and recovery delayed his work by approximately ten days, 26 STIPULATED MOT. TO EXTEND EXPERT DISCLOSURE DEADLINE AND [PROPOSED] ORDER (No. 2:19-cv-2082 JLR) – 1 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 Dockets.Justia.com 1 including work that other Boeing experts will likely incorporate in their own opinions. The 2 current April 19 deadline for disclosure of expert testimony therefore cannot reasonably be met. 3 The parties jointly request extending the disclosure deadline for all experts to April 29, 2021. 4 5 II. A. 6 BACKGROUND Existing Case Schedule Deadlines Under the existing Case Schedule, disclosure of expert testimony under Federal Rule of 7 Civil Procedure 26(a)(2) is due on April 19, 2021; all motions related to discovery must be filed 8 by May 18, 2021; discovery must be completed by, and all dispositive motions and motions 9 challenging expert witness testimony are due on, June 16, 2021; and trial is set for September 14, 10 2021. ECF No. 39. 11 B. 12 Boeing and Leonardo have jointly agreed to a short, ten-day extension of the deadline for 13 14 15 16 17 18 The Parties Jointly Request Extending the Deadline for Disclosure of Expert Testimony, With No Impact to Any Other Case Schedule Deadline disclosing expert testimony, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2), which will not impact any other existing deadlines under the Case Schedule, including the trial date of September 14, 2021. A. III. ARGUMENT The Court May Modify the Case Schedule for Good Cause The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Local Rules provide that a case schedule may 19 be modified for good cause and with the judge’s consent. Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(4); LCR 16(b)(6). 20 “In determining whether ‘good cause’ exists under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b) to 21 modify a case schedule, the court ‘primarily considers the diligence of the party seeking 22 amendment.’” Doe v. Trump, 329 F.R.D. 262, 272 (W.D. Wash. 2018) (citing Johnson v. 23 Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992)). “Good cause” exists “when the 24 deadline in the scheduling order ‘cannot reasonably be met despite the diligence of the party 25 seeking the extension.’” Id. 26 STIPULATED MOT. TO EXTEND EXPERT DISCLOSURE DEADLINE AND [PROPOSED] ORDER (No. 2:19-cv-2082 JLR) – 2 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 1 2 B. Good Cause Exists to Extend the Deadline for Disclosure of Expert Testimony Leonardo and Boeing each assert that they have diligently prosecuted and defended this 3 case. Recently, however, one of Boeing’s experts contracted COVID-19 and required out-patient 4 hospital treatment. The expert’s treatment and recovery time together have cost the expert 5 approximately ten days of work related to this case. The delay to the expert’s work will impact 6 the work of other experts, because the experts’ opinions are interrelated. Boeing anticipates that 7 the expert’s illness will delay Boeing’s expert-related work by ten days, in step with the expert’s 8 treatment and recovery time. 9 Under the circumstances, good cause exists to allow a ten-day agreed extension of the 10 Case Schedule deadline for disclosing expert testimony, which is currently set for April 19, 11 2021. The extension will provide Boeing’s experts with the additional time necessary to fully 12 formulate their opinions. Applying the extension to both Boeing’s and Leonardo’s experts also 13 will spare the Court and the parties the complexity of managing multiple expert-testimony 14 deadlines, and avoid the risk of prejudice to Leonardo from having to disclose its expert 15 testimony before Boeing does the same. 16 IV. 17 CONCLUSION For the foregoing reasons, the parties respectfully request that the Court extend the 18 deadline for disclosing expert testimony to April 29, 2021, consistent with the Proposed Order 19 accompanying this Motion. 20 IT IS SO STIPULATED by and between the parties hereto. 21 22 23 24 25 26 STIPULATED MOT. TO EXTEND EXPERT DISCLOSURE DEADLINE AND [PROPOSED] ORDER (No. 2:19-cv-2082 JLR) – 3 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 1 2 DATED: April 8, 2021 3 4 5 6 7 By: s/Jessica M. Andrade Jessica M. Andrade, WSBA No. 39297 Jessica.andrade@polsinelli.com Polsinelli P.C. 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 3500 Seattle, WA 98104 Telephone: 206.393.5400 13 Alan A. D’Ambrosio (pro hac vice) adambrosio@dunnington.com William F. Dahill (pro hac vice) wdahill@dunnington.com Joseph Johnson jjohnson@dunnington.com Kamanta C. Kettle kkettle@dunnington.com Dunnington, Bartholow & Miller LLP 230 Park Avenue, 21st Floor New York, NY 10169 Telephone: 212.682.8811 14 Attorneys for Plaintiff Leonardo S.p.A. 8 9 10 11 12 By: s/ Christopher M. Ledford Steve Y. Koh, WSBA No. 23284 SKoh@perkinscoie.com Brendan J. Peters, WSBA No. 34490 BPeters@perkinscoie.com Michael E. Scoville, WSBA No. 44913 MScoville@perkinscoie.com Christopher M. Ledford, WSBA No. 44515 CLedford@perkinscoie.com Mica D. Klein, WSBA No. 46596 MicaKlein@perkinscoie.com Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Telephone: 206.359.8000 Attorneys for Defendant The Boeing Company 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 STIPULATED MOT. TO EXTEND EXPERT DISCLOSURE DEADLINE AND [PROPOSED] ORDER (No. 2:19-cv-2082 JLR) – 4 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 1 II. [PROPOSED] ORDER 2 PURSUANT TO THE FOREGOING STIPULATION, it is ORDERED that the 3 deadline for disclosure of expert testimony under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2), which 4 previously was set for April 19, 2021, is now April 29, 2021. All other provisions of the Case 5 Schedule remain in effect. 6 7 DATED this 8th day of April, 2021. A 8 9 HON. JAMES L. ROBART UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 STIPULATED MOT. TO EXTEND EXPERT DISCLOSURE DEADLINE AND [PROPOSED] ORDER (No. 2:19-cv-2082 JLR) – 5 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE (No. 2:19-cv-2082 JLR) – 1 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000

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