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 third 6 joint stipulation and request to further extend the stay of this action pending the completion of 7 mediation. The 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 has three heirs because both her minor 16 children were adopted; 17 WHEREAS, on information and belief, Ms. Willis’ only asset is any settlement or awarded 18 damages resulting from this Action; 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 June 5, 2023, the Parties filed a second joint stipulation and request to stay this 25 Action until October 30, 2023 after Ms. Willis’ heirs informed CRD that they planned to open a probate 26 matter and needed time to secure low-cost legal representation for the probate matter; 27 28 1 WHEREAS, on June 8, 2023, this Court entered an Order staying this Action until October 30, 2 2023; 3 WHEREAS, Ms. Willis’ heirs had difficulty finding low-cost legal representation for the 4 probate matter, but finally secured pro bono legal representation through Teal Schoonover with the law 5 firm Husch Blackwell; 6 WHEREAS, Ms. Schoonover informed CRD of delays in the probate process resulting from a 7 heir who is currently incarcerated as well as discussions on who will serve as the estate representative; 8 WHEREAS, Ms. Schoonover recommended a mediation date of mid-December 2023 to ensure 9 that an estate representative has been named in Ms. Willis’ estate prior to the mediation; 10 WHEREAS, the earliest mediation date available for the private mediator in this matter, Vivien 11 B. Williamson, is February 5, 2024, 12 WHEREAS, in an effort to resolve this Action and allow additional time for appointment of an 13 estate representative, the Parties have agreed to extend the date of mediation with Ms. Williamson until 14 February 5, 2024; 15 WHEREAS, district courts have “discretionary power to stay proceedings.” Lockyer v. Mirant 16 Corp., 398 F.3d 1098, 1109 (9th Cir. 2005); see also City of Sacramento v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 17 218CV00416KJMGGH, 2019 WL 11093495, at *2 (E.D. Cal. Nov. 20, 2019)(“Courts weigh various 18 factors when determining whether a stay is appropriate, including “damage that may result from the 19 granting of a stay,’ . . . ‘the hardship or inequity a party may suffer in being required to go forward,’ and 20 . . . ‘the orderly course of justice measured in terms of the simplifying or complicating of issues, proof 21 and questions of law expected to result from a stay.’”); 22 WHEREAS, the requested stay is for a minimal amount of time to give the parties sufficient 23 time to open a probate matter and appoint an estate representative; 24 WHEREAS, there is no foreseeable damage from granting such a limited stay, nor would this 25 limited stay complicate litigating this matter; and 26 The Parties hereby respectfully REQUEST and STIPULATE that the Court extend the stay of 27 this Action until February 29, 2024. Any deadlines will be tolled and will begin to run again starting on 28 February 29, 2024. 1 IT IS SO STIPULATED: 2 3 DATED: 10/18/2023 CIVIL RIGHTS DEPARTMENT 4 5 By: /s/ Azadeh Hossein ia n Azadeh Hosseinian 6 Attorney for Plaintiff, CRD 7 I, Azadeh Hosseinian, hereby attest that all 8 signatories listed and on whose behalf the filing is submitted, concur in the filing’s content and 9 have authorized the filing. 10 11 DATED: 10/18/2023 HINSHAW & CULBERTSON LLP 12 13 By: /s/ David I. Dalby 14 David I. Dalby Attorney for Defendants AWI, 15 Michael Burke and Kiran Chhotu 16 17 DATED: 10/18/2023 CARLE, MACKIE, POWER & ROSS LLP 18 19 By: /s/ Justin D. Hein Justin D. Hein 20 Attorney for Defendant SUV 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 February 29, 2024. Any deadlines will begin to run again on March 1, 2024. 5 IT IS SO ORDERED. 6 || Dated: October 20, 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.