District of Idaho

Judge Winmill’s scheduling conferences are held by telephone, unless the case is very complex. The Judge tries to participate in scheduling conferences, but his calendar often makes that impossible. In his absence, the scheduling conference will be conducted by the law clerk assigned to the case. Each party must complete a litigation plan and a discovery plan and file it with the Court at least one week prior to the scheduling conference.  In completing the litigation plan and the discovery plan, Judge Winmill expects that the parties will follow these guidelines:

• The parties are encouraged to stipulate to the deadlines and file one litigation plan.
• The litigation plan should contain specific dates rather than a length of time.
• The litigation plan should be accompanied by a jointly-developed discovery plan which complies with Rule 26(f)(3) – including a proposal for the handling of ESI.
• The litigation plan and the discovery plan should reflect the parties’ and the Court’s goal of “secur[ing] the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination” of the case.  Fed.R.Civ.P. 1. 

Once the deadlines have been established at the scheduling conference, Judge Winmill is very reluctant to grant continuances from those deadlines – particularly as to the dispositive motion deadline. 

In complex cases, Judge Winmill routinely schedules monthly status conferences with the attorneys.  The agenda for those conferences is generally developed by the attorneys and is intended to keep the case on track and deal with any issue which may prevent the case from being resolved within the time frame set by the litigation plan. In less complex cases, the Judge may set one or more status conferences at intervals appropriate to the case.

The Court's litigation plan and discovery plan may be found HERE.