Granda v. CA Dept. of Health Care Services ( 2022 )

1 ROB BONTA, State Bar No. 202668 Attorney General of California 2 JODI L. CLEESATTLE, State Bar No. 230537 Supervising Deputy Attorney General 3 MELISSA A. LEWIS, State Bar No. 282579 Deputy Attorney General 4 600 West Broadway, Suite 1800 San Diego, CA 92101 5 P.O. Box 85266 San Diego, CA 92186-5266 6 Telephone: (619) 738-9160 Fax: (619) 645-2581 7 E-mail: Melissa.Lewis@doj.ca.gov Attorneys for Defendant 8 California Department of Health Care Services 9 Andrea Rosa THE ROSA LAW GROUP 10 9300 W. Stockton Blvd. Suite 111 Elk Grove, CA 95758 11 916-647-9425 andrea.rosa@therosalawgroup.com 12 Attorney for Plaintiff Sara Granda 13 14 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 15 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 16 SACRAMENTO DIVISION 17 18 SARA GRANDA, 2:21-cv-02259-MCE-CKD 19 Plaintiff, STIPULATION AND ORDER TO STAY LITIGATION AND CONTINUE THE 20 v. DATES IN THE INITIAL PRETRIAL SCHEDULING ORDER 21 Courtroom: 7 22 CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF Judge: Honorable Morrison C. HEALTH CARE SERVICES, a public England, Jr. 23 entity, and DOES 1 through 10, Inclusive, Trial Date: Not Set Action Filed: September 8, 2021 24 Defendants. 25 26 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 1. The “Parties,” Plaintiff, Sara Granda, and Defendant, California Department 2 Healthcare Services, by and through their attorneys of record, hereby stipulate to stay this litigation 3 for six months and correspondingly continue the dates in the Initial Pretrial Scheduling Order [ECF 4 No. 3]. 5 2. This stipulation is supported by good cause, specifically, Plaintiff is a quadriplegic 6 who is fully dependent on a ventilator, Plaintiff has not ability to breathe on her own. Plaintiff has 7 been in and out of the Intensive Care Unit of the University of California San Francisco starting on 8 April 29, 2022. Plaintiff’s Disability and the ongoing hospital admissions are to repair her 9 ventilator condition that would allow her to breathe on her own without the aid of the ventilator. 10 3. These series of hospitalizations and anticipated surgeries have resulted in her 11 inability to participate in the litigation. For example, Plaintiff has been unable to provide responses 12 to written discovery propounded on April 12, 2012. The discovery cut off is currently December 13 15, 2022. 14 4. In July 2022, Plaintiff was hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit and has several 15 surgeries scheduled that will render her unable to meaningfully participate in discovery. Thus, the 16 Parties have agreed that a six month stay is necessary to allow time for Plaintiff to recover and 17 participate in discovery in this case. 18 5. Within 30 days of the stay Plaintiff will do the following: 19 a. Provide responses to written discovery served on April 12, 2022, 20 specifically: Defendant California Department of Health Care Services’ First Set of 21 Interrogatories to Plaintiff Sara Granda and Defendant California Department of Health 22 Care Services’ First Set of Request for Production of Documents to Plaintiff Sara Granda. 23 b. After the parties meet and confer on the subpoenaed medical records, 24 Plaintiff will sign and return the Authorization for the Release of Information so that 25 Defendant can obtain medical records important to this litigation. 26 c. Provide five dates for Plaintiff’s deposition to take place within 60 days of 27 the end of the stay, but following the service of the written discovery responses. 28 d. Provide an assurance that Plaintiff is capable of meaningfully participating 1 in discovery. If Plaintiff is still unable to meaningfully participate, the Parties will meet 2 and confer regarding an additional stay and continuance. 3 6. The policy of the Court has been to enforce stipulations entered into voluntarily 4 and in the absence of any mistake of fact. In re Four Winds Enterprises, Inc., 87 B.R. 624, 630 5 (Bankr. S.D. Cal. 1988). Further, a trial court has the inherent authority to control its own docket 6 and calendar, and the trial court’s primary justification for the stay was that it would conserve 7 judicial resources. Landis v. North American Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254–55 (1936). Here, this stay 8 and continuance seek to prevent a motion to compel discovery and other motions regarding 9 Plaintiff’s inability to participate in this litigation, and thus, it will conserve judicial resources. 10 7. All Parties to this matter have stipulated to this stay and continuance. 11 8. All Parties agree that a six-month stay of litigation and a six-month continuance of 12 dates in the Initial Pretrial Scheduling Order, will not result in prejudice to either party in this action. 13 Now, therefore, IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between both Parties to this action 14 that litigation be stayed for six months and the dates in the Initial Pretrial Scheduling Order, be 15 continued a corresponding six months. 16 SO STIPULATED. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 2 Dated August 2, 2022 Respectfully submitted, 3 ROB BONTA Attorney General of California 4 JODI L. CLEESATTLE Supervising Deputy Attorney General 5 6 7 8 MELISSA A. LEWIS Deputy Attorney General III Attorneys for Defendants 9 California Department of Health Care Services 10 Dated: August 2, 2022 THE ROSA LAW GROUP 11 12 13 By: _________________________________ Andrea Rosa, Esq. 14 Attorneys for Plaintiff Sara Granda 15 16 17 ORDER 18 Pursuant to the Stipulation submitted by the Parties and good cause found therein, the Court 19 hereby ORDERS that the litigation be stayed for six months and the dates in the Initial Pretrial 20 Scheduling Order [ECF No. 3], be continued a corresponding six months. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. 22 DATED: August 17, 2022 23 24 25 26 27 28