Dept. of Fair Employment and Housing v. SUV Affordable LP ( 2023 )

1 JAMIE CROOK, Chief Counsel (#245757) AZADEH HOSSEINIAN, Senior Staff Counsel (#306141) 2 MACKENZIE ANDERSON, Staff Counsel (#335469) CIVIL RIGHTS DEPARTMENT 3 2218 Kausen Drive #100 4 Elk Grove, CA 95758 Telephone: (916) 478-7251 5 Facsimile: (888) 382-5293 6 Attorneys for Plaintiff CIVIL RIGHTS DEPARTMENT 7 DAVID I. DALBY (SBN 114750) 8 HINSHAW & CULBERTSON LLP 50 California Street, Suite 2900 9 San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: 415-362-6000 10 Attorney for Defendants 11 AWI MANAGEMENT CORPORATION, MICHAEL BURKE AND KIRAN CHHOTU 12 PHILIP J. TERRY (SBN 148144) 13 JUSTIN D. HEIN (SBN 249275) CARLE, MACKIE, POWER & ROSS LLP 14 100 B Street, Suite 400 Santa Rosa, California 95401 15 Telephone: (707) 526-4200 Facsimile: (707) 526-4707 16 Attorney for Defendant 17 SUV AFFORDABLE LP 18 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 19 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 20 CIVIL RIGHTS DEPARTMENT, an agency of the Case No.: 2:22-cv-00584-MCE-KJN 21 State of California, 22 Plaintiff, JOINT STIPULATION AND REQUEST TO vs. EXTEND STAY OF THIS ACTION PENDING 23 MEDIATION SUV AFFORDABLE LP, a California Limited 24 Partnership; AWI MANAGEMENT ORDER CORPORATION, a California Limited Partnership; 25 MICHAEL BURKE, an individual; and KIRAN Assigned to Honorable Morrison C. England, Jr. CHHOTU, an individual, 26 Complaint Filed: April 1, 2022 Defendants. Trial Date: None 27 28 1 TO THE HONORABLE COURT: 2 PLEASE BE ADVISED that Plaintiff Civil Rights Departments (“CRD”), formerly named the 3 Department of Fair Employment and Housing, and Defendants SUV Affordable LP (“SUV”), AWI 4 Management Corporation (“AWI”), Michael Burke, and Kiran Chhotu (collectively referred to herein as 5 the “Parties”) respectfully submit this Joint Stipulation and [Proposed] Order in support of their joint 6 stipulation and request to further extend the stay of this action pending the completion of mediation. The 7 Parties stipulate as follows: 8 WHEREAS, CRD filed this action in its own name in the United States District Court for the 9 Eastern District of California on April 1, 2022 (“Action”) alleging that the real party in interest, Katy 10 Willis, was discriminated against based on her disability, and seeking affirmative relief and 11 compensatory, statutory, and punitive damages on behalf of Ms. Willis; 12 WHEREAS, in or around January 7, 2023, Ms. Willis passed away; 13 WHEREAS, on information and belief, Ms. Willis passed away without a will and has five 14 children; 15 WHEREAS, on information and belief, Ms. Willis’ only asset is any settlement or awarded 16 damages resulting from this Action; 17 WHEREAS, on information and belief, Ms. Willis has three heirs because both her minor 18 children were adopted; 19 WHEREAS, on March 2, 2023, the Parties filed a joint stipulation and request to stay this 20 Action for 120 days to provide time for CRD to coordinate with Ms. Willis’ heirs regarding allocation of 21 any potential settlement prior to the previously scheduled mediation date of June 7, 2023; 22 WHEREAS, on March 7, 2023, this Court entered an Order staying this Action for 120 days 23 until July 5, 2023; 24 WHEREAS, on information and belief, Ms. Willis’ heirs and her sister have decided to open a 25 probate matter; 26 WHEREAS, Ms. Willis’ heirs, with assistance from CRD, have attempted to obtain pro bono 27 legal representation to open a probate matter and appoint an estate representative for purposes of settling 28 this Action and properly distributing any settlement funds; 1 WHEREAS, Ms. Willis’ heirs are hopeful that they have secured pro bono legal representation 2 to assist them with opening a probate matter; 3 WHEREAS, in an effort to resolve this Action and allow additional time for Ms. Willis’ heirs to 4 open a probate matter and appoint an estate representative, the Parties have agreed to extend the date of 5 private mediation in front of Vivien Williamson until October 18, 2023; 6 WHEREAS, district courts have “discretionary power to stay proceedings.” Lockyer v. Mirant 7 Corp., 398 F.3d 1098, 1109 (9th Cir. 2005); see also City of Sacramento v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 8 218CV00416KJMGGH, 2019 WL 11093495, at *2 (E.D. Cal. Nov. 20, 2019)(“Courts weigh various 9 factors when determining whether a stay is appropriate, including “damage that may result from the 10 granting of a stay,’ . . . ‘the hardship or inequity a party may suffer in being required to go forward,’ and 11 . . . ‘the orderly course of justice measured in terms of the simplifying or complicating of issues, proof 12 and questions of law expected to result from a stay.’”); 13 WHEREAS, the requested stay is for a minimal amount of time to give the parties sufficient 14 time to open a probate matter and appoint an estate representative; 15 WHEREAS, there is no foreseeable damage from granting such a limited stay, nor would this 16 limited stay complicate litigating this matter; and 17 WHEREAS, the current deadlines in this Action are Non-expert Discovery cut-off deadline of 18 May 2, 2023; Initial Expert Disclosures and Report deadline of July 3, 2023; Rebuttal Expert Disclosure 19 deadline of August 2, 2023; and Dispositive Motions should be filed by October 30, 2023; 20 /// 21 /// 22 /// 23 /// 24 /// 25 /// 26 /// 27 /// 28 /// 1 The Parties hereby respectfully REQUEST and STIPULATE that the Court extend the stay of 2 this Action until October 31, 2023. Any deadlines will be tolled and will begin to run again starting on 3 November 1, 2023. 4 IT IS SO STIPULATED: 5 DATED: June 5, 2023 CIVIL RIGHTS DEPARTMENT 6 By: /s/ Azadeh Hossei nia n 7 Azadeh Hosseinian 8 Attorney for Plaintiff, CRD 9 I, Azadeh Hosseinian, hereby attest that all signatories listed and on whose behalf the filing 10 is submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have authorized the filing. 11 12 13 DATED: June 5, 2023 HINSHAW & CULBERTSON LLP 14 By: /s/ David I. Dalby David I. Dalby 15 Attorney for Defendants AWI, 16 Michael Burke and Kiran Chhotu 17 DATED: June 5, 2023 CARLE, MACKIE, POWER & ROSS LLP 18 By: /s/ Justin D. Hein 19 Justin D. Hein Attorney for Defendant SUV 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 ORDER 2 Based on the foregoing stipulation, and good cause having been shown by the Parties, IT IS 3 || HEREBY ORDERED that all court dates and deadlines associated with the above-references action are 4 || STAYED until October 31, 2023. Any deadlines will begin to run again on November 1, 2023. 5 IT IS SO ORDERED. 6 || Dated: June 8, 2023 7 fy LK, 8 MORRISON C. ENGLANE BSN 9 SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 5.