McCarty v. SMG Holdings, I, LLC
- James Donato
- 3:17-cv-06232
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In McCarty v. SMG Holdings, Judge Donato granted amendment, addressed discovery, and extended class-certification deadlines by 60 days.
The plaintiffs, including proposed additional plaintiff and class representative David Babcock; the defendants; and proposed class members affected by the discovery notice and revised class-certification schedule.
What happened
In McCarty v. SMG Holdings, I, LLC, the plaintiffs asked to add David Babcock as another plaintiff and proposed class representative after the deadline for amending pleadings had passed. The court found good cause and granted the request, directing plaintiffs to file a third amended complaint by December 16, 2020.
The plaintiffs also raised disputes about written discovery, depositions, notices to proposed class members, and timekeeping and payroll data. The defendants described steps they would take to address those issues, and the parties reported that they had finalized the notice and were arranging its distribution. The court directed the parties to report by December 18, 2020, if any disputes remained.
Judge James Donato granted a 60-day extension of all class-certification deadlines, rather than the 120-day extension the parties requested. The plaintiffs’ class-certification motion became due January 11, 2021, and the court ordered an amended schedule.
The detailed version
- McCarty v. SMG Holdings, I, LLC · No. 3:17-cv-06232
- James Donato
- Dec. 10, 2020
Background
The plaintiffs requested permission to file a third amended complaint adding David Babcock as an additional plaintiff and class representative for the proposed Stockton class. The request came after the Rule 16 scheduling-order deadline for adding parties or amending pleadings, which had been May 22, 2020. The court considered the plaintiffs’ diligence, the effect of the pandemic, and the fact that Babcock had long been known to the defendants. It found good cause under Rule 16 and granted the motion to amend. The plaintiffs were directed to file the third amended complaint by December 16, 2020.
Discovery
The plaintiffs’ discovery letter raised issues involving the defendants’ responses to written discovery, depositions of witnesses designated under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6), the Belaire-West notice process, and production of class timekeeping and payroll data. The defendants represented that they would provide discovery responses, continue efforts to collect and produce timekeeping data, continue meeting and conferring about the Belaire-West notice, and produce witnesses for the remaining deposition topics. The parties later jointly reported that they had finalized the notice and were arranging for a third-party administrator to distribute it to proposed class members. The court directed the parties to jointly update it by December 18, 2020, if any discovery disputes remained.
Class-certification schedule and ruling
The parties jointly requested 120-day extensions of the deadlines for the plaintiffs’ class-certification motion, related briefing, and the hearing. Judge James Donato found the requested extension too long and granted a 60-day extension of all dates. The class-certification motion became due January 11, 2021, and the court stated that an amended scheduling order with the new dates would issue.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.