Local Rule 7026. DISCOVERY – GENERAL

(a) Disovery Conference and Plan.

(1) Exemptions from discovery conference and plan provisions of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f). Parties may seek exemption of an action from Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) by court order that is not otherwise exempted by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1)(B), after filing a motion noticed to all parties to the action or by stipulation of all parties before the date any meeting under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) is required to be held. Parties that obtain an exemption under this subsection do not have to file the standard discovery plan or request for waiver of filing discovery plan, which is available from the clerk and the court’s website.

(2) Limited exemption from discovery plan provisions of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f). The parties to an action not exempted by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1)(B) or by order obtained under subsection (b)(l) of this rule may seek a limited exemption from Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f) insofar as the rule requires filing the standard discovery plan.

(A) (A) Parties seeking a limited exemption under this subsection must: (1) meet and confer no later than thirty (30) days after the first defendant has answered or otherwise appeared, (2) no later than fourteen (14) days after the meeting, file a certification that no formal discovery is required, and (3) request a waiver of the requirement for the standard discovery plan by so indicating on the request for waiver of filing discovery plan and by completing all information requested on that form.

(B) If a limited exemption is granted, trial may proceed one hundred twenty (120) days from the date the standard discovery plan would have been due.

(3) Nonexempt actions must comply with discovery conference and plan provisions of Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f).

(A) Unless exempted, the parties must meet and confer no later than thirty (30) days after the first defendant has answered or otherwise appeared.

(B) No later than fourteen (14) days after the meeting, the parties must submit the standard discovery plan LR 7016 and 7026(c) govern the requirements for discovery plans. If the parties agree to different deadlines than those contained within the standard discovery plan, or cannot agree on deadlines, they must so indicate on the face of the standard discovery plan and attach a proposed modified plan or their respective plans.

(C) If the parties fail to submit a discovery plan, they may be subject to sanctions, including application of the deadlines set forth in the standard discovery plan, even if the parties have not agreed to those deadlines.

(4) If a new party serves its initial pleading after the first case conference, a supplemental case conference must be held within thirty (30) days after service by any party of a written request for a supplemental conference; otherwise, a supplemental case conference is not required, and the original discovery plan is binding unless otherwise ordered by the court.

(b) Discovery limitations and timing.

(1) Unless the court orders otherwise, in cases in which a discovery plan is required, all discovery must begin in time to be completed by one hundred eighty (180) days after the answer or first appearance by the first defendant.

(2) Unless the court orders otherwise, the parties to an action exempted by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1)(B) or by order obtained under subsection (b)(l) of this rule may begin discovery on the commencement of the action.

(3) Unless the court orders otherwise, the parties to an action in which the court has granted a limited exemption under subsection (b)(2) of this rule and the parties to nonexempt actions may begin discovery after conferring as required under subsection (b)(2)(A) or (b)(3)(A) as applicable.

(4) Disclosures of Expert Testimony. Unless the court orders otherwise, the disclosures required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(2), as adopted by Fed. R. Bankr. P. 7026, must be made no later than thirty (30) days before the close of discovery by the party bearing the burden of proof on the issue in question and no later than fourteen (14) days before the close of discovery by the opposing party.

(c) Extension of discovery deadline.

(1) Unless the court orders otherwise, an extension of a discovery completion deadline will not be allowed without a showing of good cause as to why all discovery was not completed within the time allotted. The parties must file all motions or stipulations to extend discovery at least twenty-one (21) days before the date fixed for completion of discovery, or at least twenty-one (21) days before the expiration of any extension that the court may have approved. The motion or stipulation to extend time or to reopen discovery must include:

(A) A statement of the discovery that the parties have completed as of the date of the motion or stipulation;

(B) A specific description of the discovery remaining to be completed;

(C) The reasons why the remaining discovery was not completed within the time limit of the existing discovery completion deadline; and,

(D) A proposed schedule for completing all remaining discovery.

(2) Parties and their counsel must ensure that all discovery is initiated so it can be completed by the end of the period set out in the discovery completion deadline. No additional discovery will be permitted after the discovery completion deadline, except as provided above.

(d) Demand for prior discovery. Whenever a party makes a written demand for discovery that took place before that person or entity became a party to the action, each party who has previously responded to a request for admission or production or answered interrogatories must furnish to the demanding party: (1) the documents containing the discovery responses in question for inspecting and copying; (2) a list identifying each document by title; or (3) on further demand, at the expense of the demanding party, a copy of any discovery response specified in the demand. If there are requests for production, a party must make available for inspection by the demanding party all documents and things previously produced. Further, each party who has taken a deposition must make a copy of the transcript available to the demanding party for copying at the demanding party's expense.

(e) Filing discovery papers. Notices of deposition, deposition transcripts, interrogatories, requests for production or inspection, requests for documents, requests for admissions, answers and responses, and proofs of service should not be filed with the court unless the court orders otherwise. Originals of responses to requests for admissions or production and answers to interrogatories must be served on the party who made the request or propounded the interrogatories, and that party must make the original responses available at the time of any pretrial hearing or at trial for use by any party. Likewise, the deposing party must make the original transcript of a deposition available at the time of any pretrial hearing or at trial for use by any party or filing with the court if so ordered.