Lakeview Pharmacy sued Catamaran Corporation for breach of contract in 2015. The district court established a case management plan with strict deadlines, requiring fact discovery to close by September 30, 2016, and expert reports by October 31, 2016. The order explicitly stated that extensions would be granted only sparingly and for good cause shown. Although discovery disputes arose and were eventually resolved years later, the original expert deadlines were never formally extended. In 2021, nearly four years after the deadline, Lakeview produced a damages expert report. Catamaran moved for summary judgment, arguing that without this report, Lakeview could not prove damages. Lakeview conceded the report was its only evidence of damages but claimed the delay was justified by the court's slow resolution of earlier disputes. The district court excluded the report for violating court orders and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26, granting summary judgment to Catamaran.
The Third Circuit reviewed the district court's decision for an abuse of discretion. The court emphasized that under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4), a schedule may only be modified for good cause and with the judge's consent. Lakeview failed to seek any necessary extensions for the expert discovery deadlines. The court rejected Lakeview's argument that the district court's delayed resolution of discovery disputes justified the lateness, stating that parties have an obligation to comply with orders and seek extensions if necessary. Regarding the Rule 37 exclusion factors, the court found that admitting the report would prejudice Catamaran, which would face the burden of new discovery nearly a decade after the deadlines closed. The court also noted that the report's inclusion in a separate, non-consolidated case (Mabe v. Optum) did not cure the prejudice in Lakeview's case. Finally, the court found Lakeview's failure to comply was willful, as the party never moved to extend the deadlines despite serving the report four years late. Without the expert report, Lakeview lacked evidence to support its damages claim, necessitating summary judgment.
This decision reinforces the strict enforcement of case management deadlines in the Third Circuit. Parties must proactively seek extensions before deadlines expire; relying on the court's delay in resolving other disputes does not constitute good cause. The ruling confirms that untimely expert reports can lead to the exclusion of critical evidence and the dismissal of claims via summary judgment if the failure to comply is willful. It also clarifies that discovery in related but non-consolidated cases does not automatically cure procedural defects in a separate action.
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