Case Information
*1 SIGNED.
Dated: July 17, 2008 ________________________________________ JAMES M. MARLAR U.S. Bankruptcy Judge ________________________________________ IN THE UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA
In re: ) ) ) ) ) Chapter 7
CARDSYSTEMS SOLUTIONS, INC., No. 4:06-bk-00515-JMM Debtor. Adversary No. 4:07-ap-00046-JMM ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) MERRICK BANK CORPORATION, MEMORANDUM DECISION
Plaintiff, vs.
CARDSYSTEMS SOLUTIONS, INC.,
Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) )
BETH LANG, AS CHAPTER 7 TRUSTEE FORCARDSYSTEMS SOLUTIONS, INC., a Delaware corporation,
Counterclaimant,
vs. ) ) ) ) )
MERRICK BANK CORPORATION, Counterdefendant.
The Trustee's Motion for Order to Extend Discovery Cut-Off Date and Trial Date
(Dkt. #45) was heard on July 14, 2008. After consideration of the issues, the court rules. *2 FACTS AND CONTENTIONS
This adversary proceeding was filed on June 29, 2007, but did not become active until after conversion of the case from chapter 11 to chapter 7 on November 19, 2007, and the appointment of a chapter 7 Trustee. Once the Trustee appointed special counsel to assist her with this adversary proceeding, and that counsel was able to investigate, an answer and counterclaim were filed on April 11, 2008. The issues were joined when Merrick Bank answered the counterclaim on April 29, 2008. reasonable.
The court issued its trial scheduling order on March 11, 2008, setting the following dates for the parties:
Rule 26.1 Exchange May 15, 2008
Dispositive Motion Deadline August 15, 2008
Discovery Cutoff August 15,2008
Joint Pretrial Statement October 14, 2008 Trial October 20 - 21, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. each day (Minutes, Dkt. #36.)
The Trustee now seeks to expand the discovery cutoff date, which Merrick Bank opposes. Trustee maintains that the dispositive motion date need not be changed, because the undisputed facts upon which legal matters can be addressed are (or soon will be) of sufficient clarity and finality to deserve rulings.
The court is sensitive to both the Trustee's perceived need for additional discovery time, but also to its internal desire to hold to the trial date which, last March, all parties believed was *3 Accordingly, the court will expand the discovery cutoff by 30 days, to end on September 15, 2008. The parties are encouraged to meet this new deadline so that the trial date will not have to be moved further. [1]
A separate order will be entered. F ED . R. B ANKR . P. 9021.
DATED AND SIGNED ABOVE.
COPIES served as indicated below on the date signed above:
Susan G Boswell
Quarles & Brady One South Church Ave., Suite 1700 Tucson, AZ 85701-1621
Email: sboswell@quarles.com Timothy T. Brock and Daniel G Gurfein Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke 230 Park Avenue New York, NY 10169
Email: dgurfein@ssbb.com Email: tbrock@ssbb.com Ryan W. Anderson Guttilla Murphy Anderson 4150 W. Northern Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85051
Email: randerson@gamlaw.com Trudy A. Nowak Anderson & Nowak 2211 E. Highland Ave., Suite 211 Phoenix, AZ 85016
Email: tan@anlawfirm.com Lowell E. Rothschild, Michael McGrath, Scott Gan, and Fred Peterson
Mesch, Clark & Rothschild 259 N. Meyer Ave. Tucson, AZ 85701
Email: ecfbk@mcrazlaw.com Beth E. Lang, Trustee 1955 W. Grant Rd., Suite 125 Tucson, AZ 85745
Email bethelang@earthlink.net *4 Jonathan E. Hess Office of the U.S. Trustee 230 North First Avenue, Suite 204 Phoenix, AZ 85003-1607
E-mail: Jon.E.Hess@usdoj.gov By /s/ M. B. Thompson
Judicial Assistant
4
[1] Should this occur, the court has asked the Clerk to tentatively reserve the week of 28 November 3-7, 2008, for this backup purpose. The parties should perhaps note these dates on their calendars.