R.N. v. Travis Unified School District ( 2020 )

1 LAW OFFICES OF WALKUP, MELODIA, KELLY & SCHOENBERGER 2 A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION 650 CALIFORNIA STREET, 26TH FLOOR 3 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94108‐2615 T: (415) 981‐7210 ∙ F: (415) 391‐6965 4 DOUGLAS S. SAELTZER (State Bar #173088) 5 dsaeltzer@walkuplawoffice.com KHALDOUN A. BAGHDADI (State Bar #190111) 6 kbaghdadi@walkuplawoffice.com VALERIE N. ROSE (State Bar #272566) 7 vrose@walkuplawoffice.com ATTORNEYS FOR PLAINTIFF R.N. 8 TIMOTHY P. MURPHY (State Bar #120920) 9 MEGAN M. SYMONDS (State Bar #244734) msymonds@emslawfirm.com 10 EDRINGTON, SCHRIMER & MURPHY LLP 2300 Contra Costa Boulevard, Suite 450 11 Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 Phone: (925) 827-3300 12 Fax: (925) 827-3320 ATTORNEYS FOR DEFENDANTS 13 TRAVIS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, SOLANO COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION, 14 AND CHRISTOPHER MEARS 15 LYNN GARCIA (State Bar #131196) lynn@sdnlaw.com 16 SPINELLI, DONALD & NOTT 601 University Avenue, Suite 225 17 Sacramento, CA 95825 Phone: (916) 448-7888 18 Fax: (916) 448-68888 ATTORNEYS FOR DEFENDANT 19 LILIA GUMAPAS 20 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 21 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 22 23 R.N., a minor, by and through her Case No. 2:20-cv-00562-KJM-EFB 24 Guardian ad Litem NICOLE NEFF, STIPULATION AND ORDER 25 Plaintiff, GRANTING LEAVE TO FILE FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT 26 v. 27 TRAVIS UNIFIED SCHOOL Date Filed: March 12, 2020 DISTRICT, a public entity, SOLANO Trial Date: Unassigned 1 public entity, LILIA GUMAPAS, an individual, CHRISTOPHER MEARS, an 2 individual, and DOES ONE through FIFTY, inclusive, 3 Defendants. 4 5 The parties to the above-captioned action hereby stipulate by and through 6 their undersigned counsel of record as follows: 7 WHEREAS, on March 12, 2020, plaintiff filed the above-captioned action 8 entitled R.N. v. Travis Unified School District, et al., USDC Case No. 1:20-at-00187 9 (hereinafter referred to as the “Neff federal action”). 10 WHEREAS, on November 5, 2019, plaintiff filed a parallel action in the 11 Superior Court of California, County of Solano, entitled R.N., et al. v. Travis Unified 12 School District, et al., Case No. FCS053867 (hereinafter referred to as the “Neff state 13 action”). 14 WHEREAS, the Neff federal action contains federal claims for violation of the 15 Americans with Disabilities Act and violation of § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 16 1973 and names as defendants Travis Unified School District, Solano County Office 17 of Education, Lilia Gumapas, and Christopher Mears. 18 WHEREAS, the Neff state action contains state causes of action for False 19 Imprisonment, Battery, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress, Negligence, 20 Negligent Hiring, Supervision, or Retention, Violation of Mandatory Duty, Violation 21 of Civil Code § 51 et seq. (Unruh Act), and Violation of Education Code § 220. The 22 Neff state action names as defendants Travis Unified School District, Solano County 23 Office of Education, Lilia Gumapas, and Christopher Mears. 24 WHEREAS, the two actions involve common issues of fact and law and involve 25 the same plaintiffs and defendants. 26 WHEREAS, the parties agree to request that this Court grant plaintiffs leave 27 to file a First Amended Complaint in federal court that names all plaintiffs and 1 one lawsuit to proceed before this Court. 2 WHEREAS, plaintiffs shall file their First Amended Complaint in federal 3 court within three days of the court entering the order granting leave to file the First 4 Amended Complaint. The First Amended Complaint shall combine all the parties 5 and all state causes of action and all the federal claims asserted in the two actions. 6 WHEREAS, as a material condition of defendants’ stipulation to plaintiffs 7 filing a First Amended Complaint combining the two actions in federal court, 8 plaintiffs shall dismiss the R.N. state action with prejudice within two business days 9 of the filing of the First Amended Complaint in this court. 10 WHEREAS, defendants’ response to the First Amended Complaint shall be 11 due 30 days after the filing of plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint. 12 WHEREAS, as a material further condition of agreeing to the filing of a First 13 Amended Complaint combining the two actions in federal court, defendants Travis 14 Unified School District and Solano County Office of Education waive their 11th 15 Amendment immunity from suit in federal court. However, defendants Travis 16 Unified School District and Solano County Office of Education expressly do not waive 17 any other defenses, including, but not limited to any quality immunity defenses to 18 any of the state causes of action and/or federal claims asserted, by the plaintiffs 19 herein. Such defenses include, but are not limited to, that defendants are “not 20 persons” for the purposes of an action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. sections 1981, 21 1983, 1986, 1985, 1987. (E.g. Will v. Michigan Department of State Police 491 U.S. 58 22 (1989); Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of Georgia, 535 U.S. 613, 23 624 (2002); Kirchmann v. Lake Elsinore Unified School Dist. 83 Cal. App. 4th 1098, 24 1115 (2000); Belanger v Madera Unified School District .963 F.2d 248, 251 (9th Cir. 25 1992); cert, denied, 507 U.S. 909 (1993).) 26 / / / / 27 / / / / 1 WHEREAS, the parties agree that should the federal court dismiss the federal 2 claims, the litigation shall remain in federal court unless the federal court orders 3 otherwise. 4 IT IS SO STIPULATED: 5 6 Dated: April 7, 2020 WALKUP, MELODIA, KELLY & SCHOENBERGER 7 8 By: /s/ Valerie N. Rose 9 DOUGLAS S. SAELTZER KHALDOUN A. BAGHDADI 10 VALERIE N. ROSE 11 Attorneys for PLAINTIFF R.N. 12 Dated: April 7, 2020 EDRINGTON, SCHRIMER & MURPHY LLP 13 14 15 By: /s/ Megan M. Symonds TIMOTHY P. MURPHY 16 MEGAN M. SYMONDS 17 Attorneys for Defendants TRAVIS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRCIT, 18 SOLANO COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION, and CHRISTOPHER MEARS 19 20 Dated: April 7, 2020 SPINELLI, DONALD & NOTT 21 22 23 By: /s/ Lynn Garcia LYNN GARCIA 24 Attorneys for Defendant LILIA GUMAPAS 25 26 27 1 ORDER 2 Pursuant to the Stipulation of the parties and good cause appearing it is 3 hereby ordered as follows: 4 1. Plaintiffs are granted leave to file a First Amended Complaint in this 5 court. Plaintiffs shall file their First Amended Complaint within three days of the 6 court entering this order granting leave to file the First Amended Complaint. The 7 First Amended Complaint shall combine all the parties and all state causes of action 8 and all the federal claims asserted in the two actions. 9 2. Defendants’ response to the First Amended Complaint shall be due 30 10 days after the filing of Plaintiffs’ First Amended Complaint. 11 3. Plaintiffs shall dismiss the Neff state action with prejudice within two 12 business days of the filing of the First Amended Complaint in this court. 13 By agreeing to the filing of the First Amended Complaint in this court, 14 defendants have waived their 11th Amendment immunity from suit in federal court 15 but do not waive any other defenses to any state causes of action and/or federal 16 claims asserted by plaintiffs herein. Such defenses include, but are not limited to, 17 that defendants are “not persons” for the purposes of an action brought pursuant to 18 42 U.S.C. sections 1981, 1983, 1986, 1985, 1987. (E.g. Will v. Michigan Department of 19 State Police 491 U.S. 58 (1989); Lapides v. Board of Regents of University System of 20 Georgia, 535 U.S. 613, 624 (2002); Kirchmann v. Lake Elsinore Unified School Dist. 21 83 Cal. App. 4th 1098, 1115 (2000); Belanger v Madera Unified School District .963 22 F.2d 248, 251 (9th Cir. 1992); cert, denied, 507 U.S. 909 (1993).) 23 IT IS SO ORDERED. 24 DATED: April 17, 2020. 25 26 27