United States v. JG Snider Enterprises ( 2021 )

1 McGLINCHEY STAFFORD Sanford Shatz (SBN 127229) 2 Dhruv M. Sharma (SBN 279545) 18201 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 350 3 Irvine, California 92612 Telephone: (949) 381-5900 4 Facsimile: (949) 271-4040 Email: sshatz@mcglinchey.com 5 dsharma@mcglinchey.com 6 Attorneys for Defendant BANK OF AMERICA, N.A. 7 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Case No.: 1:21-cv-00854-DAD-SKO 12 Plaintiff, District Court Judge Hon. Dale A. Drozd Magistrate Judge Hon. Sheila K. Oberto 13 v. 14 JG SNIDER ENTERPRISES, INC. d/b/a STIPULATION AND ORDER TO TANI BONSAI AND LANDSCAPING; EXTEND DEFENDANT BANK OF 15 JOHN G. SNIDER; COLLEEN FAUGH- AMERICA, N.A.’S DEADLINE TO SNIDER; CHARLES SUMNER FILE RESPONSIVE PLEADING 16 WINSTON III, SUCCESSOR CO- TRUSTEE OF THE NADINE SNIDER (Doc. 38) 17 WINSTON REVOCABLE TRUST DATED APRIL 26, 1994; MARSHA LEA Complaint Filed: May 28, 2021 18 WINSTON-FAYER SUCCESSOR CO- Trial Date: N/A TRUSTEE OF THE NADINE SNIDER 19 WINSTON REVOCABLE TRUST DATED APRIL 26, 1994; US BANK 20 TRUST NATIONAL ASSOCIATION AS TRUSTEE FOR ABS LOAN TRUST VI; 21 BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.; CAPITAL ONE BANK, N.A.; ANN LEALE; 22 STUART SNIDER, and STANISLAUS COUNTY, CALIFORNIA; 23 Defendants. 24 25 26 Plaintiff United States of America (the “Government”) and Defendant Bank of 27 America, N.A. (“BANA,” and together with the Government, the “Parties”), by and 1 through their respective counsel of record, hereby stipulate and agree to extend 2 BANA’s deadline to respond to the Government’s Complaint, from September 3, 3 2021, to September 30, 2021. This is the third request for an extension for BANA to 4 respond to the Complaint. The Court previously extended BANA’s response time 5 from June 22, 2021 to July 30, 2021, and then to September 3, 2021. 6 RECITALS 7 1. WHEREAS, on May 28, 2021, the Government initiated this action by 8 filing its Complaint. 9 2. WHEREAS, on June 1, 2021, the Government served the Complaint on 10 BANA’s registered agent for service of process. 11 3. WHEREAS, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(a)(1), 12 BANA’s deadline to serve a responsive pleading was June 22, 2021. 13 4. WHEREAS, to facilitate early settlement discussions, and in effort to 14 save unnecessary costs and promote judicial economy and judicial efficiency in 15 connection with the management of the case, counsel for the Government agreed to 16 provide BANA a thirty-eight-day extension of time to file and serve a pleading 17 responsive to the Complaint, thereby extending BANA’s deadline to respond to the 18 Complaint to July 30, 2021. See (Dkt. 14). 19 5. In light of the fact that the Parties are attempting to resolve their portion 20 of this dispute in good faith and without Court intervention, and that additional time is 21 needed to potentially resolve this dispute prior to BANA’s current deadline to file a 22 responsive pleading, , and that the parties to this stipulation expect that the other 23 lender defendants will participate in any partial settlement, effectively minimizing the 24 lenders’ participation in this action, and in an effort to save unnecessary costs and 25 promote judicial economy and judicial efficiency in connection with the management 26 of the case, the Parties believed that BANA’s deadline to file a responsive pleading 27 should be extended at least thirty more days, to September 3, 2021, from July 30, 1 2021. The Court granted the Parties’ request to extend BANA’s time to respond until 2 September 3, 2021 on August 31, 2021. (Dkt. 23). 3 6. Prior to BANA responding, the Government informed BANA’s counsel 4 that BANA had recorded several deeds of trust that were the subject of this action, and 5 that the Government’s investigation revealed the BANA had also recorded several 6 abstracts of judgment, which were unknown to BANA’s counsel. BANA’s counsel 7 investigated the abstracts of judgment, which cause him to consult other counsel and 8 departments at BANA, delaying BANA’s ability to respond fully to the complaint. 9 BANA believes that it will be able to respond to the complaint by the end of 10 September and continue the settlement negotiations with the Government. 11 NOW THEREFORE IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED AND AGREED, by 12 the parties through their respective counsel, and subject to the Order of the Court, that 13 BANA’s deadline to file a pleading responsive to the Complaint, currently set for 14 September 3, 2021, be extended twenty-seven days to September 30, 2021, or to 15 another date that the Court deems appropriate. 16 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 17 DATED: September 15, 2021 McGLINCHEY STAFFORD 18 19 By: /s/ Sanford Shatz SANFORD SHATZ 20 DHRUV M. SHARMA Attorneys for Defendant BANK OF 21 AMERICA, N.A. 22 DATED: September 15, 2021 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF 23 JUSTICE, TAX DIVISION 24 25 By: /s/ Isaac M. Hoenig 26 ISAAC M. HOENIG Attorneys for Plaintiff UNITED STATES OF 27 AMERICA 1 ORDER 2 Plaintiff United States of America filed its complaint on May 28, 2021. (Doc. 3 1.) On July 28, 2021, Plaintiff and Defendant Bank of America, N.A. (“Defendant”) 4 stipulated to extend the time for Defendant to respond to the complaint to September 5 3, 2021. (See Docs. 22 & 23.) 6 The parties filed the above stipulation to extend the time for Defendant to 7 respond to the complaint (Doc. 38) on September 16, 2021—thirteen days after 8 Defendant’s responsive pleading deadline. Although the Court may extend time to 9 file a responsive pleading after the deadline has expired because of “excusable 10 neglect,” Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b)(1)(B), no such excusable neglect has been articulated— 11 much less shown—here. Notwithstanding this deficiency, given the absence of bad 12 faith or prejudice to Plaintiff (as evidenced by the parties’ agreement to the extension 13 of time), and in view of the liberal construction of Fed. R. Civ. 6(b)(1) to effectuate 14 the general purpose of seeing that cases are tried on the merits, see Ahanchian v. 15 Xenon Pictures, Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1258–59 (9th Cir. 2010), the Court GRANTS the 16 parties’ stipulated request. The parties are cautioned that future post hoc request for 17 extensions of time will be viewed with disfavor. 18 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant Bank of America, N.A. shall 19 respond to Plaintiff’s complaint on or before September 30, 2021. 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 22 Dated: September 17, 2021 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 23 24 25 26 27