Wehner v. Genentech, Inc.
- Richard Seeborg
- 3:20-cv-06894
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 6
In Wehner v. Genentech, Judge Seeborg ordered new expert, motion, pretrial, and bench-trial deadlines.
The scheduling order affects Matthew Wehner, the proposed class he represents, Genentech, Inc., and the U.S. Roche DC Fiduciary Committee by setting deadlines for expert work, pretrial motions, the final pretrial conference, and the bench trial.
What happened
Wehner v. Genentech, Inc. is a case brought by Matthew Wehner, individually and for a class, against Genentech, Inc. and the U.S. Roche DC Fiduciary Committee. The parties asked to change the existing schedule while they pursued private mediation.
The court extended the deadline for supplemental and rebuttal expert reports to March 24, 2023, and expert discovery to April 28, 2023. It also set deadlines for pretrial motions, the final pretrial conference, and a bench trial.
Judge Richard Seeborg ordered the schedule changes on December 8, 2022. The order did not decide the claims themselves; it addressed case-management deadlines and set trial for October 30, 2023.
The detailed version
- Wehner v. Genentech, Inc. · No. 3:20-cv-06894
- Richard Seeborg
- Dec. 8, 2022
Background
Matthew Wehner sued Genentech, Inc. and the U.S. Roche DC Fiduciary Committee individually and as a representative of a class of similarly situated persons, on behalf of the U.S. Roche 401(k) Savings Plan. The parties, through their lawyers, jointly asked the court to modify earlier scheduling orders.
The parties explained that they had agreed to private mediation. Mediation had originally been scheduled for January 5, 2023, but scheduling issues moved it to February 1, 2023. They sought more time so they could focus on mediation and avoid additional litigation expense, while continuing discovery and briefing if mediation did not resolve the claims.
Ruling
The court ordered the requested scheduling changes under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16. That rule permits a schedule to be changed for good cause with the judge’s consent. The court found good cause based on the parties’ mediation plans.
The court ordered the following deadlines:
- Supplemental and rebuttal experts had to be designated by March 24,
- - Expert-witness discovery had to be completed by April 28,
- - Daubert motions and dispositive pretrial motions had to be filed by May 29,
- - Oppositions to dispositive motions were due June 28,
- - Replies supporting dispositive motions were due July 12,
- - All pretrial motions had to be heard by July 27,
- - The final pretrial conference was set for October 11, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. - A bench trial was set to begin October 30, 2023, at 9:00 a.m.
The order also limited each party to one summary-judgment motion unless the court granted permission for more. This was a scheduling and case-management order; it did not resolve the parties’ underlying claims.
Read the full 6-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.