(SS) Abitia v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2021 )

1 2 3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 5 6 MONICA ABITIA, CASE No.: 1:21-cv-00334-DAD-GSA 7 Plaintiff, 8 ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF v. EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE 9 OPENING BRIEF KILOLO KIJAKAZI, acting 10 Commissioner of Social Security, 11 Defendant. 12 13 14 The parties stipulate to a 65-day extension of time from December 22, 2021 to February 25, 15 2022 for Plaintiff to file an opening brief due to counsel’s workload and the holiday season. This 16 is the first extension sought by either party in this matter. 17 The Scheduling Order allows for a single extension of thirty days by the stipulation of the 18 parties. Doc. 5 at 3. Beyond the single extension by stipulation, “requests to modify [the 19 scheduling] order must be made by written motion and will be granted only for good cause.” Id. 20 When considering whether good cause exists to modify a scheduling order, courts consider 21 the foreseeability of the impediment to meeting the deadline and the party’s diligence in seeking 22 the extension once it became apparent they could not meet the deadline. See Sharp v. Covenant 23 Care LLC, 288 F.R.D. 465, 467 (S.D. Cal. 2012); Ordaz Gonzalez v. Cty. of Fresno, No. 1:18-CV- 24 01558-BAM, 2020 WL 2539287, at *2 (E.D. Cal. May 19, 2020). The Court has the inherent 25 power to manage its own docket to achieve an orderly and expeditious resolution of cases. Southern 26 California Edison Co. v. Lynch, 307 F.3d 794 (9th Cir. 2002). 27 Counsel identified good cause for the extension and sought it sufficiently in advance of the 28 deadline. The Court will construe the stipulation as expressing the parties’ intent to use the 30-day 1 extension provided by the scheduling order as of right plus an additional 35-day extension for cause. 2 The former will no longer be available. Any additional extension requests must be made by motion 3 and will be viewed with increased scrutiny. See Doc. 5 at 3. 4 Accordingly, it is ORDERED that Plaintiff’s deadline to file an opening brief is extended 5 to and including February 25, 2022. All other deadlines are adjusted accordingly. 6 7 IT IS SO ORDERED. 8 9 Dated: December 16, 2021 /s/ Gary S. Austin UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28