Lawson v. BMW of North America LLC

Background

Michael Lawson sued BMW of North America LLC (BMW NA), Stevens Creek B, Inc., and later CarMax Auto Superstores, Inc., asserting breach-of-warranty and related claims arising from his purchase of an allegedly defective BMW vehicle. The court had set a December 11, 2023 trial date and, after approving the parties’ stipulation, set deadlines including August 12, 2023 for expert disclosures, September 12, 2023 for the fact-discovery cutoff, and October 12, 2023 for the expert-discovery cutoff.

BMW NA had answered Lawson’s amended complaint. CarMax was later dismissed after Lawson did not amend his complaint to add a state-law warranty claim accompanying the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act claim against CarMax. The court also noted uncertainty about whether Stevens Creek had been properly served with the operative amended complaint.

BMW’s Application

BMW NA filed an ex parte application—an application seeking a ruling without the usual full motion process—to continue the trial and obtain relief from the case schedule. BMW particularly sought relief from the expired expert-disclosure deadline and the fact-discovery cutoff, along with the other discovery-related deadlines.

BMW asserted that it had not received the court’s August 16, 2021 order adopting the stipulated deadlines and therefore had not designated an expert. BMW also claimed that its counsel misunderstood an order granting CarMax’s motion to dismiss, believing the order dismissed the amended complaint as to all defendants.

Court’s Analysis

The court applied Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4), which allows a case schedule to be changed only for good cause and with the judge’s consent. The court explained that the central question was whether the party seeking the change had acted diligently.

The court rejected BMW’s explanation concerning the August 16, 2021 order. The electronic docket showed that the order had been emailed to multiple addresses associated with BMW’s counsel. The court also stated that counsel could have checked the docket during the two years after the parties submitted their stipulation. In addition, Lawson’s April 2022 discovery filing expressly referred to the September 12, 2023 fact-discovery cutoff and the October 12, 2023 expert-discovery cutoff. The court characterized BMW’s conduct as, at best, carelessness, which was incompatible with diligence.

The court also rejected BMW’s claimed confusion about the CarMax dismissal order. That order concerned CarMax’s single claim, not BMW NA, which had already answered the amended complaint. The court stated that the confusion claim bordered on frivolous and that any suggestion BMW delayed discovery because of the order appeared disingenuous.

Disposition

The court found that BMW NA had not been diligent in trying to meet the deadlines established in 2021 and had not shown good cause for relief from the case schedule. The court denied BMW NA’s ex parte application to continue the trial and obtain relief from the case schedule, and terminated docket entry 54. The opinion addressed scheduling relief, not the merits of Lawson’s warranty claims.