ORDER GRANTING JOINT
MOTION TO CONTINUE EARLY
NEUTRAL EVALUATION
CONFERENCE
[ECF No. 7]
Before the Court is the parties' joint motion to continue the Early Neutral Evaluation Conference ("ENE") in this matter, which is currently scheduled for April 14, 2026. ECF No. 7.
Parties seeking to continue an ENE must demonstrate good cause. Chmb.R. at 2 (stating that any request for continuance requires "[a] showing of good cause for the request"); see FED. R. CIV. P. 6(b) ("When an act may or must be done within a specified time, the court may, for good cause, extend the time"). Courts have broad discretion in determining whether there is good cause. See, e.g., Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc.,
975 F.2d 604, 607 (9th Cir. 1992); Olvera v. Citibank, N.A., No. 25-cv-789-H-AHG, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117769, at *2, *4-*5 (S.D. Cal. June 19, 2025). "Good cause" is a non-
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rigorous standard that has been construed broadly across procedural and statutory contexts. Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause standard focuses on the diligence of the party seeking to amend the scheduling order and the reasons for seeking modification. Johnson, 975 F.2d at 609 ("[T]he focus of the inquiry is upon the moving party's reasons for seeking modification.... If that party was not diligent, the inquiry should end.").
Here, the parties represent to the Court that Plaintiffs "notified their counsel that they would be enroute via airplane to the United States on April 14, 2026," and, thus, would be unable to attend the ENE scheduled on that date. ECF No. 7-1 at 3; ECF No. 7 at 2. The parties met and conferred, and confirmed that all participants are available for an ENE two weeks later, on April 28, 2026. Id. As such, the parties filed the instant motion. The Court appreciates that the parties have been working together, and finds good cause to GRANT the joint motion as follows:
1. The ENE scheduled for April 14, 2026, is RESET for April 28, 2026 at
2:00 p.m. before the Honorable Allison H. Goddard via videoconference.
2. All dates, deadlines, procedures, and requirements set forth in the Court's original Order setting the ENE remain in place (see ECF No. 5 at 1-7), except that the parties' optional Confidential ENE Statements and mandatory Participant Lists must be emailed to efile_goddard@casd.uscourts.gov by April 20, 2026 (see ECF No. 5 at 4, 6-7).
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: April 1, 2026
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