Zhu v. Wang

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR [6] UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT [7] WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 ZHIJIE ZHU, CASE NO. C23-1395-JCC [10] Plaintiff, ORDER [11] v. [12] SHU-MEI WANG, et al., [13] Defendants. [14] 15 This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff’s motion to continue trial and for leave to 16 amend the complaint (Dkt. No. 54). 17 Plaintiff alleges Defendants Shu-Mei Wang, Jim Thorpe, and Seth Heck organized a 18 Ponzi scheme involving myriad persons and entities to defraud Plaintiff of $1,130,000. (See 19 generally Dkt. No. 1.) With the assistance of counsel, Plaintiff filed his complaint in King 20 County Superior Court. (Dkt. No. 1-1.) Defendants removed the matter to this Court, (Dkt. No. 21 1), who set a case management schedule reflecting a November 2024 discovery cut off, 22 December 2024 dispositive motion deadline, and March 2025 trial date. (Dkt. No. 10.) The Court 23 later continued trial to November 17, 2025. (Dkt. No. 41.) This change had no impact on the 24 now-closed discovery and dispositive motion deadlines. Ultimately, no such motions were filed. 25 In the interim, many of the parties’ representatives withdrew, resulting in pro se status for 26 Plaintiff, along with several Defendants. (See Dkt. Nos. 22, 29, 51.) 1 Now, as trial approaches, Plaintiff asks (a) for leave to amend the complaint to add 2 defendants who “participa[ted] in the fraudulent scheme” and (b) to extend the case management 3 schedule for additional discovery not previously available due to the “sophisticated nature of 4 [Defendants] concealment” of the fraud at issue in this matter (Dkt. No. 54 at 3–4.) Defendants 5 largely oppose, citing this protracted litigation’s burden. (See generally Dkt. Nos. 55, 56, 60.) 6 Nevertheless, the Court finds it appropriate to re-open discovery in this matter and to 7 extend the case management schedule, see, e.g., City of Pomona v. SQM N. Am. Corp., 866 F.3d 8 1060, 1066 (9th Cir. 2017), as well as to provide Plaintiff leave to file an amended complaint, 9 see, e.g., Kroessler v. CVS Health Corp., 977 F.3d 803 , 814–15 (9th Cir. 2020). Accordingly, the 10 Court establishes the following revised case management schedule: [11] 12 Event Date/Deadline 13 Deadline for Filing Amended Complaint1 October 3, 2025 14 Deadline to Serve Additional Defendants October 17, 2025 15 Discovery Cutoff December 19, 2025 16 Deadline for Dispositive Motions2 January 16, 2026 17 Mediation January 30, 2026 18 Pretrial Order and Motions in Limine April 10, 2026 19 Trial Briefs April 17, 2026 20 Bench Trial April 27, 2026 [24] 1 Permissible amendment is limited to the additional claims and defendants described in 25 Plaintiff’s instant motion. (See Dkt. No. 54 at 9–12.) 2 The Court strongly encourages the parties to submit dispositive motions to limit the [26] genuine issues of fact for trial, thus preserving judicial resources. 1 It is so ORDERED this 16th day of September 2025. [2] A [5] John C. Coughenour 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE