Reported / Citable
Background
Party City filed this action against M. Patel Enterprises, Inc. in the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas. The district court referred all nondispositive pretrial matters to U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Hightower for disposition and referred case-dispositive motions for findings and recommendations.
On July 13, 2026, the parties filed a joint proposed scheduling order. The court found that the proposal omitted some of the dates required by the docket control order entered on April 2, 2026.
The Court’s Holding
The court ordered the parties to submit a new joint proposed scheduling order by July 24, 2026. The revised proposal must use Judge Albright’s form and include a proposed date for every deadline.
The order addressed only the completeness and format of the parties’ proposed case schedule. It did not resolve any claim, defense, or other issue on the merits.
Key Takeaways
- A proposed scheduling order must include proposed dates for every deadline required by the court’s docket control order.
- The parties must use Judge Albright’s scheduling-order form supplied in the order’s appendix.
- The corrected joint proposal is due July 24, 2026.
Why It Matters
The order underscores that parties must follow court-specific scheduling forms and supply every requested deadline, even when submitting a joint proposal. An incomplete filing can require prompt correction and delay entry of the case schedule.
This was an administrative pretrial ruling, not a decision concerning the substantive dispute between the parties.