Practices and Rules; Confidentiality Order (Cross-Goldenberg); Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order(Cross-Goldenberg)

=== Practices and Rules ===

Individual Practices and Rules of Magistrate Peggy Cross-Goldenberg Effective January 8, 2026 United States District Court Eastern District of New York 225 Cadman Plaza East Brooklyn, New York 11201 Courtroom 322N Courtroom Deputy: Jahni Daley (718) 613-2364 Chambers 317 North (718) 613-2360 [email protected] Consent Jurisdiction: If the parties wish to consent to having Judge Cross- Goldenberg preside over their case for all purposes, the necessary form is available at https://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/mjconsentform.pdf. I. COMMUNICATIONS WITH CHAMBERS A. ECF Generally Required. Except as provided below, communications with Chambers should be by ECF, using the appropriate event type and a brief description of the document. When filing a letter asking the Court to take an action, the appropriate event type is typically “Motion,” not “Letter.” B. Pro se litigants are exempt from ECF requirements but may request permission to file documents and receive notices electronically. 1 Pro se litigants should file documents by hand delivery or U.S. mail to the designated “Pro Se Clerk” in the Clerk’s office. Unless the Court orders otherwise, all communications with the Court will be docketed upon receipt; such docketing shall constitute service on any user of the ECF system. Counsel representing parties in cases involving pro se litigants must send copies of documents filed by ECF to the pro se party and must file proof of service on ECF. Pro se litigants must keep current contact information on file with the Court. 1 Instructions and eligibility requirements are available at https://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/pro-se-document-submission-and-consent-notifications. C. Requests for Adjournments, Extensions, and Changes to Conferences. All requests for the adjournment of a court date or any other change to a court conference (such as a request to appear by telephone) or for the extension of a court-ordered deadline must be by letter motion filed on ECF as a “Motion,” not as a “Letter” or “Status Report.” Absent an emergency, the motion must be made at least two business days prior to the conference. Each such motion must state: (1) the original date and the number of previous requests; (2) the reason for the request, which must demonstrate “good cause” if the request is for an extension of discovery, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(4); and (3) whether the request is on consent and, if not, the reasons given for withholding consent. If appropriate, the parties should indicate whether the request affects other scheduled dates or propose mutually convenient dates for a re-scheduled conference. D. No courtesy copies of electronic filings should be sent to Chambers absent a specific request from the Court. E. Telephone calls to Chambers are permitted only in emergency situations requiring same-day attention. Counsel may contact the Courtroom Deputy at (718) 613-2364 with questions about scheduling matters, but all adjournment requests must be in writing and will not be considered telephonically. Parties themselves may not call Chambers. Pro se parties may call the Court’s Pro Se Office with case-related questions at (718) 613-2665. F. Emails to Chambers ([email protected]) are permitted only as provided in these Rules or as otherwise directed by the Court. 2 II. CONFERENCES A. Appearance by Counsel of Record. Attorneys appearing before the Court must first enter a notice of appearance on ECF prior to their first appearance. Only a party’s counsel of record, or an attorney personally authorized to appear by a party (and not simply by the party’s counsel of record) may appear on behalf of a party. B. Courtroom Opportunities for Relatively Inexperienced Attorneys. The Court encourages opportunities for law students and junior attorneys to appear and to argue in Court, when accompanied and supervised by counsel of record. Requests for leave for law students to argue in Court will be freely granted, and the Court will permit multiple attorneys to argue for one party if this creates an opportunity for junior attorneys to participate. C. Initial Conferences. 1. Initial Conferences will typically be held in person absent a compelling reason to proceed remotely. 2. Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(f), the parties must meet and confer prior to the Initial Conference to discuss their claims and defenses, the possibilities for a prompt settlement, and a proposed discovery plan. 3. To assist the parties, the Court will provide the parties with a proposed Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order prior to the Initial Conference.2 The parties must file their joint proposed discovery plan on ECF at least one week before the Initial Conference. In the event the parties are unable to reach agreement on any of the deadlines in the proposed Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order, the parties should note any areas of disagreement in a joint letter. 4. Once a Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order has been so ordered by the Court, its deadlines may be amended only upon a showing of good cause. 2 The Proposed Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order may also be downloaded from this Court’s website: https://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/magistrate-judge-peggy-cross-goldenberg. 3 D. Settlement Conferences. 1. Each party, or someone with settlement authority for each party (other than counsel), must be present at the conference unless prior permission has been granted to participate by telephone. 2. The parties must exchange a good-faith demand and a good-faith offer before the Settlement Conference and before submitting their confidential ex parte settlement statements, described immediately below. 3. Confidential ex parte settlement statements must be emailed to Chambers at least one week before the conference, except as otherwise directed by the Court. Each settlement statement must contain the last demand and offer made, a realistic assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the case, information on what is important to the client, any barriers to settlement, and anything else that will assist the Court in helping the parties reach an agreement.3 After receiving the parties’ settlement statements, the Court may contact counsel for each party individually ahead of the conference. III. DISCOVERY A. Discovery Motions. 1. Parties must make a good-faith effort to resolve disputes before making any discovery motion. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1). 2. Informal Discovery Conferences. If the parties are unable to resolve a discovery dispute themselves, the parties must write to the Court and describe their dispute in a single, joint letter, filed on ECF as a “Motion” for an informal discovery conference. See Local Civil Rule 37.2. The letter shall begin with a brief statement of the claims and defenses at issue in the case and must describe the parties’ efforts to confer and resolve the dispute without court intervention as required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1). Each party’s portion of the joint submission shall be limited to two pages. If the parties’ dispute relates to a specific discovery request or requests, the 3 The parties may, but need not, submit a small number of especially significant exhibits with their settlement statements. Digital media files may be submitted using the following link: https://evidence.nyed.uscourts.gov/. 4 parties should attach the request or requests to their joint letter. After receiving the parties’ letter, the Court may schedule a conference. 3. Formal Discovery Motions. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the Court may order the parties to brief a motion to compel or for a protective order. Litigants are reminded that, for such motions, costshifting is presumptively mandatory under Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(5). B. Disputes During Ongoing Depositions. Parties encountering disputes during depositions must make every effort to resolve the dispute before contacting Chambers. If a dispute arises during a deposition that the parties cannot resolve themselves despite their best efforts, the parties must contact Chambers immediately by email and by telephone. The email should include a brief description of the dispute and a callback number. The parties must have the court reporter mark the transcript where the dispute arose and must move on to other issues in the deposition until such time as the Court can call to address the dispute. When the Court calls, the court reporter must be present on the call to record any rulings. The parties must not discontinue the deposition while waiting for the Court to return the call. C. Confidentiality Orders. To assist the parties, the Court has provided a form Confidentiality Order that the parties may submit to the Court for approval to protect the confidentiality of information exchanged in discovery. 4 If necessary, the parties may submit to the Court both a redlined version identifying the proposed changes, the reason for the changes, and a clean version of the proposed confidentiality order for the Court to adopt. 4 The Proposed Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order may be downloaded from this Court’s website: https://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/magistrate-judge-peggy-cross-goldenberg. 5 IV. MOTION PRACTICE A. Non-Dispositive Motions Unless otherwise directed by the presiding District Judge, all non-dispositive pretrial motions (e.g., motions to amend pleadings, stay discovery, conditionally certify a collective action, etc.) should be made to Judge Cross-Goldenberg. Parties should generally make such applications as letter motions in compliance with Local Civil Rule 7.1(e). If necessary, after submission of the letter motion, the Court may advise the moving party to file a formal motion pursuant to Local Civil Rules 6.1 and 7.1. B. Dispositive Motions Dispositive motions, such as motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment, must be made to the presiding District Judge, in accordance with the District Judge’s Individual Practices and Rules, unless the parties have consented to Judge Cross-Goldenberg’s jurisdiction in accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 636(c)(1). Where the parties have consented to Judge Cross-Goldenberg, the parties may file their dispositive motions in compliance with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the Local Civil Rules. The moving party need not request a pre- motion conference or hold motion papers until all papers are complete (i.e., Judge Cross-Goldenberg does not follow a “bundling rule”). Memoranda of law should conform to the length and formatting requirements of Local Rule 7.1. V. PRETRIAL PROCEDURES The parties must file a joint proposed pretrial order in the format prescribed by the presiding District Judge on or before the deadline set by the Court or as set forth in the presiding District Judge’s Individual Practices and Rules. Where the parties have consented to have Judge Cross-Goldenberg preside over the trial, the Court will set a firm trial date after the close of discovery and file a Scheduling Order containing instructions for the parties’ Proposed Joint Pretrial Order at that time. 6

=== Confidentiality Order (Cross-Goldenberg) ===

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –– – – – – – – – – – – – X ________________________________________, Plaintiff(s), v. Case No. ___-CV-______ (_____) (PCG) ________________________________________, Defendant(s). – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –– – – – – – – – – – – – X CONFIDENTIALITY ORDER It is hereby ordered that the following provisions shall govern claims of confidentiality in these proceedings: (a) The following documents and information may be designated as “confidential,” provided that such documents are not public and have not previously been disclosed by the producing party to anyone except those in its employment or those retained by it [check all that apply]: _____ Sensitive Commercial Data, such as confidential or proprietary research, development, manufacturing, or commercial or business information, trade secrets, special formulas, company security matters, customer lists, financial data, projected sales data, production data, matters relating to mergers and acquisitions, and pricing data. _____ Sensitive Personal Data, such as personal identifiers, financial information, tax records, and employer personnel records. _____ Medical and Legal Records, including medical files and reports. _____ Non-public criminal history. (b) (c) If any party believes that a document not described in the above paragraph should nevertheless be considered confidential, that party may make application to the Court. Such an application shall only be granted for good cause shown. An attorney for the producing party may designate documents or parts thereof as confidential by stamping the word “confidential” on each page. 1 If such information is provided in an answer to an interrogatory, the attorney may separately append the information to the main body of the interrogatory responses, mark such appendices “confidential,” and incorporate by reference the appended material into the responses. At the time of a deposition or within 10 days after receipt of the deposition transcript, a party may designate as confidential specific portions of the transcript which contain confidential matters under the standards set forth in paragraph (a) above. This designation shall be in writing and served upon all counsel. No objection shall be interposed at a deposition that an answer would elicit confidential information. Transcripts will be treated as confidential for this 10-day period. Any portions of a transcript designated confidential shall thereafter be treated as confidential in accordance with this Order. The confidential portion of the transcript and any exhibits referenced solely therein shall be bound in a separate volume and marked “confidential” by the reporter. Documents designated “confidential” shall be shown only to the attorneys, parties, experts, actual or proposed witnesses, court personnel, and other persons necessary to review the documents for the prosecution or defense of this lawsuit. Each person who is permitted to see confidential documents shall first be shown a copy of this Order and shall further be advised of the obligation to honor the confidential designation. Each person who is permitted to see confidential documents, who is not a party or an attorney for a party, shall be required to sign an agreement to be bound by this Order, attached hereto as Exhibit A. The parties agree that any confidential discovery material produced in this litigation may only be used in connection with this litigation. Review of the confidential documents and information by counsel, experts, or consultants for the litigants in the litigation shall not waive the confidentiality of the documents or objections to production. The inadvertent, unintentional, or in camera disclosure of a confidential document and information shall not generally be deemed a waiver, in whole or in part, of any party’s claims of confidentiality. If, at any time prior to trial, a producing party realizes that some portion(s) of the discovery material that the party produced should be designated as “confidential,” the party may so designate by apprising all parties in writing, and providing that the material has not already been published or otherwise disclosed, such portion(s) shall thereafter be treated as confidential under this Order. If a party believes that a document designated or sought to be designated as confidential by the producing party does not warrant such designation, the party shall first make a good- faith effort to resolve such a dispute with opposing counsel. In the event that such a dispute cannot be resolved by the parties, either party may apply to the Court for a determination as to whether the designation is appropriate. The burden rests on the party seeking confidentiality to demonstrate that such designation is proper. (d) (e) (f) (g) 2 (h) (i) (j) (k) The parties shall comply with the Eastern District of New York’s Steps for E-Filing Sealed Documents in Civil cases, if they wish to move to file a document under seal. Within a reasonable period after the conclusion of the litigation, all confidential material shall be returned to the respective producing parties or destroyed by the recipients. In any application to the Court referred to or permitted by this Order, the Court may exercise discretion in determining whether the prevailing party in such a dispute may recover the costs incurred by it and, if so, the amount to be awarded. This Court shall retain jurisdiction over all persons subject to this Order to the extent necessary to enforce any obligations arising hereunder. Attorney for Plaintiff Attorney for Defendant Name: Address: Telephone: Email: Signature: Dated: Brooklyn, New York _________________ Name: Address: Telephone: Email: Signature: SO ORDERED: PEGGY CROSS-GOLDENBERG United States Magistrate Judge 3 EXHIBIT A I have been informed by counsel that certain documents or information to be disclosed to me in connection with the matter entitled: ___________________________________________________________________________ have been designated as confidential. I have been informed that any such documents or information labeled “confidential” are confidential by Order of the Court. I hereby agree that I will not disclose any information contained in such documents to any other person. I further agree not to use any such information for any purpose other than this litigation. Print Name: Sign Name: Dated: Signed in the presence of: (Attorney) 4

=== Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order(Cross-Goldenberg) ===

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –– – – – – – – – – – – – X Plaintiff(s), v. Docket No. ____-CV-_______________ (_____)(PCG) , , Defendant(s). – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –– – – – – – – – – – – – X DISCOVERY PLAN AND [PROPOSED] SCHEDULING ORDER Upon consent of the parties, it is hereby ORDERED as follows: Proposed Deadline (Write “Complete” if done or “N/A” if not applicable) I. Case Management Schedule Event Exchange of Fed R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1) disclosures (Presumptively on or before the initial conference) Exchange of initial interrogatories and document requests (Presumptively on or before the initial conference) Amendment of pleadings absent leave of the Court Joinder of additional parties Rev. 1/8/2026 1 Completion of fact discovery (Presumptively no more than 90-150 days after the initial conference) Service of Plaintiff(s) expert disclosures Service of Defendant(s) expert disclosures Completion of all discovery, including depositions (Presumptively no later than 9 months after the initial conference) Deadline to initiate dispositive motion practice (Unless the parties consent to Judge Cross-Goldenberg, this date must be consistent with the assigned District Judge’s Individual Practices and Rules) II. Other Matters Addressed During Parties’ Rule 26(f) Conference 1. The parties propose that the Court hold a settlement conference or refer the case to the EDNY’s Court-annexed mediation program pursuant to Local Civil Rule 83.8 at the following point in discovery (e.g. as soon as possible, prior to depositions, after depositions of the parties, prior to expert discovery, etc.): _______________________________________________________________________ Check all that apply: □ Parties request a settlement conference with the Court □ Parties request a referral to Court-annexed Mediation □ Parties intend to pursue a private mediation or arbitration 2. 3. 4. Have the parties discussed the existence of electronically stored information (ESI) and discussed the location and production of such information, as required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26? □ Yes □ No Have the parties agreed to an ESI protocol? □ Yes □ No □ Not applicable Have the parties discussed issues and reached agreement about how they will handle claims of privilege or protection as trial preparation materials? □ Yes □ No Rev. 1/8/2026 2 5. If the parties are requesting that the Court issue any additional discovery related orders, including any proposed order related to the timing and method for complying with Rule 26(b)(5)(A) or asserting claims of privilege or protection as trial preparation materials after information is produced, please detail those requests below (adding additional rows if necessary): Description of Proposed Order with Relevant Authority Proposed Language 6. The parties are asked to discuss the option to consent to Judge Cross-Goldenberg for all purposes pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 636(c). Either or both parties may withhold consent without adverse consequences. If the parties agree to consent to Judge Cross- Goldenberg, they are encouraged file the consent form (available at https://www.nyed.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/mjconsentform.pdf) prior to the initial conference. Check one of the options below: □ The parties have discussed the option and all parties consent. The parties will file the consent form prior to the initial conference. □ The parties have discussed the option and one or more parties do not consent at this time.1 1 As a reminder, for cases assigned directly to Judge Cross-Goldenberg under the Eastern District of New York’s Direct Assignment Program, the parties must file an acknowledgement form within seven days of the initial conference if they do not consent. Rev. 1/8/2026 3 The dates proposed in this Scheduling Order may be altered or amended only upon a showing of good cause not foreseeable as of the date of this order. CONSENTED BY: Attorney for Plaintiff Attorney for Defendant(s) Name: Name: Address: Address: Telephone: Email: Telephone: Email: Dated: Brooklyn, New York SO ORDERED: PEGGY CROSS-GOLDENBERG United States Magistrate Judge Rev. 1/8/2026 4