Opinion
MASTER FILE 02 Civ. 3288 (DLC)
November 14, 2003
SCHEDULING ORDER
At a conference held on October 30, 2003, the Court proposed a schedule for the above-captioned actions and requested the parties' comments. Letters addressing the proposed schedule were submitted on November 10. Having considered the parties' submissions, and having held a conference on November 13 to address the schedule, it is hereby
ORDERED that the following schedule shall govern pretrial proceedings in the actions consolidated as the above-captioned Securities Litigation:
1. Depositions
(a) With the exceptions set forth in the October 8 Order and below, deposition discovery pursuant to Rule 30, Fed.R.Civ.P., may begin immediately.
(b) No deposition in the Securities Litigation may be taken for more than two deposition days without consent of the parties or leave of the Court for good cause shown. A "deposition day" shall consist of one eight-hour day or two four-hour half days, exclusive of breaks.
(c) In the Consolidated Class Action in the Securities Litigation, the class and Individual Action plaintiff's may notice no more than sixty deposition days, and the defendants may notice no more than sixty deposition days in the Consolidated Class Action.
(d) The time taken for cross-examination of any deponent will not be deducted from the cross-examining side's total allotment of deposition days unless and until the time taken for cross-examination of a deponent exceeds the time taken for direct examination of that deponent.
(e) Parties may seek relief from these restrictions by application to the Court upon a showing of good cause.
2. Close of Fact Discovery
All fact discovery in the actions consolidated as the above-captioned Securities Litigation must be completed by June 18, 2004.
3. Expert Testimony
(a) The parties bearing the burden of proof on an issue must identify the areas on which they intend to offer expert testimony by April 16, 2004.
(b) Identification of all parties' experts must occur by May 14, 2004.
(c) The party bearing the burden of proof on any area for which they seek to submit expert testimony shall make its disclosure of expert testimony conforming to the requirements of Rule 26(a)(2)(B), Fed.R.Civ.P., by June 18, 2004.
(d) Any rebuttal expert testimony shall be disclosed by July 9, 2004.
(e) Any revised expert testimony shall be disclosed by July 23, 2004.
(f) Depositions of the expert witnesses may begin August 2, 2004 and shall conclude by August 13, 2004.
4. Individual Actions
(a) Initial interrogatories and requests pursuant to Rule 34, Fed.R.Civ.P., may be served on plaintiff's in any Individual Action as of the date of this Order. Responses are due on the day that the opt-out period for the Consolidated Class Action in the Securities Litigation closes.
(b) The defendants may take depositions in Individual Actions beginning on the first Monday following the close of the opt-out period for the Consolidated Class Action.
(c) The limitation on the number of depositions that defendants may take in the Individual Actions will be set through a future Order.
(d) Any expert discovery in connection with any Individual Action shall proceed on the schedule described for the Securities Litigation.
5. Summary Judgment
Any motion for summary judgment in the Securities Litigation Consolidated Class Action is due July 16, 2004; any opposition is due August 13, 2004; and any reply is due August 27, 2004.
6. Trial of the Consolidated Class Action in the Securities Litigation
(a) The Joint Pretrial Order and motions in limine in the Securities Litigation Consolidated Class Action must be filed by November 12, 2004.
As described in greater detail in this Court's Individual Practices in Civil Cases, the following documents must be filed with the Pretrial Order: Voir Dire, Requests to Charge and a Memorandum of Law addressing all questions of law expected to arise at trial.
(b) Any reply memorandum of law and opposition to any motion in limine are due November 19, 2004.
(c) The trial of the class action in the Securities Litigation will begin on January 10, 2005.
SO ORDERED.
SCHEDULING ORDER
On January 13, 2004, the WorldCom Director Defendants, the Underwriter Defendants, the Salomon Smith Barney Defendants, defendant Arthur Andersen, and defendant Bernard Ebbers requested a modification of the expert discovery and summary judgment schedule in the Securities Litigation set out in the Scheduling Order of November 14, 2003. Lead Plaintiff in the Securities Litigation and Liason Counsel for plaintiff's in the Individual Actions consent to the proposed alteration of the expert discovery schedule and take no position with respect to the proposed modification of the summary judgment schedule. It is herebyORDERED that defendants' application for the requested extensions is granted.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that paragraphs 3 and 5 of the Scheduling Order of November 14, 2003 are modified as follows.
3. Expert Testimony:
(a) The parties bearing the burden of proof on an issue must identify the areas on which they intend to offer expert testimony by April 16, 2004.
(b) Identification of all parties' experts must occur by May 28, 2004.
(c) The party bearing the burden of proof on any area for which they seek to submit expert testimony shall make its disclosure of expert testimony conforming to the requirements of Rule 26(a)(2)(B), Fed.R.Civ.P., by July 2, 2004.
(d) Any rebuttal expert testimony shall be disclosed by July 23, 2004.
(e) Any revised expert testimony shall be disclosed by August 6, 2004.
(f) Depositions of the expert witnesses may begin August 16, 2004 and shall conclude by August 27, 2004.
5. Summary Judgment:
Any motion for summary judgment in the Securities Litigation Consolidated Class Action is due July 30, 2004; any opposition is due August 27, 2004; and any reply is due September 10, 2004.
With the exception of the above modifications, this Court's November 14, 2003 Scheduling Order remains in effect.
SO ORDERED.
Dated.
COORDINATION ORDER
WHEREAS this action shares common issues of law and fact with the cases now pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the "Consolidated Actions") relating to WorldCom, Inc. ("WorldCom");
WHEREAS there are actions pending in other state courts (the "State Court Actions") that involve (i) common questions of law or fact as the complaints in the Consolidated Actions and (ii) many of the same defendants as in the Consolidated Actions and this action;
WHEREAS the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York with jurisdiction over the Consolidated Actions has entered a Discovery Coordination Order to enable the Courts in the State Court Actions, including this Action, to determine whether and under what terms discovery in the State Court Actions will be coordinated with discovery in the Consolidated Actions;
WHEREAS, in the interests of justice and judicial economy, this Court has determined that pre-trial discovery in this action shall be coordinated with pre-trial discovery in the Consolidated Actions under the terms set forth below:
IT IS ORDERED:
This Court hereby adopts the Discovery Coordination Order entered inIn re WorldCom, Inc. Securities Litigation, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. 02 Civ. 3288 (DLC) as the order of this Court.