Drevaleva v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 10 TATYANA EVGENIEVNA DREVALEVA, 11 No. C 19-02665 WHA Plaintiff, 12 v. 13 ORDER GRANTING LEAVE FOR ROBERT WILKIE, United States Secretary SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEFING 14 of Veteran’s Affairs, 15 Defendants. 16 17 INTRODUCTION 18 The Court is in receipt of pro se plaintiff’s letter (Dkt. No. 55) explaining her cause for 19 belief that she is entitled to file several supplemental briefs (Dkt. Nos. 48, 50, 52) in support of 20 her Rule 60 motion to vacate an order dismissing her case (Dkt. No. 38). Though plaintiff is 21 mistaken, her mistake was reasonable. Leave to file these briefs is retroactively GRANTED. 22 STATEMENT 23 This is the third of several lawsuits plaintiff has brought against the Secretary of Veterans 24 Affairs. The facts are set out in prior orders (Dkt. No. 38). Following dismissal of plaintiff’s 25 case for failure to state a claim and for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction (ibid.), plaintiff filed 26 a Rule 60 motion for relief from judgment (Dkt. No. 44). Plaintiff also requested leave to file a 27 supplemental brief (Dkt. No. 42). 1 Following the secretary’s opposition (Dkt. No. 47), plaintiff filed three supplemental 2 briefs on December 7 (Dkt. No. 48), December 11 (Dkt. No. 50), and December 12 (Dkt. No. 3 52). On December 12, plaintiff also filed her reply (Dkt. No. 53). A December 20 order (Dkt. 4 No. 54) noted plaintiff failed to show cause for the necessity of supplemental briefing. The 5 next day, plaintiff objected (Dkt. No. 55). 6 ANALYSIS 7 Plaintiff points to Civ. L.R. 7-3(c) in support of her three supplemental briefs: “[a]ny 8 reply to an opposition may include affidavits or declarations, as well as a supplemental brief or 9 memorandum under Civil L.R. 7-4.” Moreover, because Civ. L.R. 7-3(c) does not require 10 leave of the Court, plaintiff’s three supplemental briefs, filed before and in support of her reply 11 are proper. 12 Plaintiff is incorrect. The Civil Local Rules provide for three-part motion briefing. The 13 moving party files a 25-page brief along with the motion. Civ. L.R. 7-2(b). Then, the 14 opposing party files a 25-page brief in opposition to the motion. Civ. L.R. 7-3(a). Last, the 15 moving party files a 15-page reply brief. Civ. L.R. 7-3(c), 7-4(b). “Once a reply is filed, no 16 additional memoranda, papers or letters may be filed without prior Court approval.” Civ. L.R. 17 7-3(d). 18 Read in context, the “supplemental brief” plaintiff points to in the first line of Civ. L.R. 19 7-3(c) is the 15-page reply brief. Indeed, it is explicitly a “supplemental brief or memorandum 20 under Civil L.R. 7-4.” Both Civ. L.R. 7-3(a), for an opposition, and 7-3(c), for a reply, point to 21 Civ. L.R. 7-4. Subpart (a) provides for three types of briefs, those in “support, opposition or 22 reply to a motion . . . .” Subpart (b) provides: 23 Unless the Court expressly orders otherwise pursuant to a party’s request made prior to the due date, briefs or memoranda filed with 24 opposition papers may not exceed 25 pages of text and the reply brief or memorandum may not exceed 15 pages of text. 25 26 Simply, Civ. L.R. 7-4 does not contemplate supplemental briefs, except where a “Court 27 expressly orders otherwise pursuant to a party’s request . . . .” 1 The important takeaway, however, is that the use of the term “supplemental” in Civ. L.R. 2 7-3(c) is confusing. Plaintiff is mistaken, her three supplemental briefs require prior 3 permission. But the mistake was reasonable and made in good-faith reliance on the rules. 4 CONCLUSION 5 Finding plaintiff's mistaken understanding of the Civil Local Rules reasonable, 6 retroactive leave to file plaintiff's three supplemental briefs is GRANTED. In recognition of 7 plaintiff's 90 pages of supplemental briefing, the secretary may submit a 10 PAGE supplemental 8 opposition by JANUARY 9 AT NOON. 9 For the future, plaintiff shall please keep in mind the standard, three-part motion briefing 10 scheme of the Civil Local Rules. When plaintiff moves for relief, she may file one 25-page 11 brief and one 15-page reply brief. When the secretary moves for relief, plaintiff may file one 12 25-page opposition brief. Of course, plaintiff may submit necessary affidavits, declarations, or 5 13 exhibits with these briefs. 14 If, however, plaintiff wishes to file supplemental briefing, she shall please ask leave of 3 15 the Court and not file until permission is given. Plaintiff shall also please take note that 16 requests for supplemental briefing do need to show good cause. See, e.g., Dongziao Yue v. 3 17 Storage Tech. Corp., No. C 07-05850 JW, 2008 WL 11349928 (N.D. Cal. June 24, 2009) 18 (Judge James Ware). 19 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 22 Dated: January 2, 2020. 23 24 Al = j ( □ LLIAM ALSUP 25 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 26 27 28