Defendants Judith Carter and James Carter's (together, "Defendants") motion to (1) grant trial preference to the Carters, (2) sever the partition action portion ("Partition Action") and (3) specially set trial of the Partition Action within 60 days, is denied as follows.

The lead case is a purported shareholder derivative action brought by Plaintiff Harry D. McGovern against Defendants, alleging that Jim Carter breached his fiduciary duties to MCM Construction, Inc. ("MCM"), of which Jim and Judith Carter are majority shareholders. The Partition Action deals with two pieces of property owned by Defendants and McGovern, which seeks partition of the real property and dissolution of the partnership operating the real estate.

On January 25, 2018, the Court granted Plaintiff Harry McGovern's motion to consolidate three actions (the McGovern Action and two partition actions) into this single action, finding that "there are issues common to all of the actions and determination of the partit