Brizuela v. City of Sparks ( 2019 )

1 Chester H. Adams, #3009 Sparks City Attorney 2 cadams@cityofsparks.us Alyson L. McCormick, #13187 3 Assistant City Attorney amccormick@cityofsparks.us 4 P.O. Box 857 Sparks, Nevada 89432-0857 5 Tel: (775) 353-2324 Attorneys for Defendant City of Sparks 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 10 ROSA ESTER BRIZUELA, individually, and as the appointed special administrator of the Case No. 3:19-CV-00692-MMD-WGC 11 estate of ROLANDO ANTONIO BRIZUELA, 12 Plaintiff, STIPULATION AND PROPOSED ORDER FOR SIXTY-DAY STAY 13 vs. PENDING COMPLETION OF INVESTIGATION 14 CITY OF SPARKS; CITY OF SPARKS POLICE DEPARTMENT; ELI MAILE; (First Request) 15 BRIAN SULLIVAN and DOES 3 - 10, inclusive, (LR IA 6-1) 16 Defendants. 17 18 19 COMES NOW Defendant CITY OF SPARKS (Defendant), together with Plaintiff ROSA 20 ESTER BRIZUELA, individually and as the appointed special administrator of the estate of 21 ROLANDO ANTONIO BRIZUELA (Plaintiff), by and through their respective counsel, and 22 hereby stipulate to stay all deadlines in this matter for a period of sixty (60) days. This Stipulation 23 is based on the following Memorandum of Points and Authorities and all papers and pleadings on 24 file in this matter. 25 /// 26 /// 27 /// 1 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES 2 This case arises from an officer-involved shooting involving police officers employed by 3 Defendant and Plaintiff’s husband, Rolando Antonio Brizuela (Brizuela), which resulted in 4 Brizuela’s death. Reno Police Department (RPD) is leading the investigation of the shooting 5 pursuant to the Regional Officer-Involved Shooting Protocol, but RPD’s investigation is not yet 6 complete. Once RPD’s investigation is complete, RPD will provide its investigation to the Washoe 7 County District Attorney (WCDA) for review. After the WCDA reviews the investigation, the 8 WCDA will determine whether the shooting was justified or, alternatively, whether to initiate 9 criminal proceedings against the officers involved in the incident. 10 This Court has discretion to stay civil litigation pending completion of a related criminal 11 investigation or criminal proceedings. Keating v. Office of Thrift Supervision, 45 F.3d 322, 324 12 (9th Cir. 1995). Such a decision “should be made ‘in light of the particular circumstances and 13 competing interests involved in the case.’” Id. (quoting Fed. Sav. & Loan Ins. Corp. v. Molinaro, 14 889 F.2d 899, 902 (9th Cir. 1989)). Relevant circumstances include “the extent to which the 15 defendant’s fifth amendment rights are implicated,” the burdens or prejudice the delay or 16 proceedings will impose on the parties, “the convenience of the court in the management of its 17 cases,” and the interests of the public and nonparties. Molinaro, 889 F.2d at 902-03 (internal 18 quotation marks omitted). 19 Until RPD finishes its investigation and the WCDA determines whether to initiate criminal 20 proceedings, the officers’ participation in this civil matter will be constrained because their Fifth 21 Amendment rights are implicated. In addition, RPD’s report is not yet available to the Parties 22 because the investigation remains pending. The unavailability of RPD’s report will hinder 23 Defendant’s ability to respond to the Complaint and all Parties’ ability to meaningfully participate 24 in discovery. Further, the Parties do not anticipate that any current or future party to this action 25 will be prejudiced if this matter is stayed for sixty (60) days. 26 /// 27 /// 1 Therefore, in order to provide additional time for RPD to complete its investigation and the □□ WCDA to determine whether to initiate criminal proceedings, the Parties stipulate to stay all 3 || proceedings and deadlines in this matter for sixty (60) days. 4 PETER GOLDSTEIN LAW CORP CHESTER H. ADAMS ‘ Sparks City Attorney 6||By: /s/Peter Goldstein By: = /s/ Alyson L. McCormick PETER GOLDSTEIN ALYSON L. McCORMICK 7 Attorney for Plaintiff Assistant City Attorney Attorneys for Defendant City of Sparks 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 i, 11 AS 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 13 DATED: 12/20/2019 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 5(b), I hereby certify that I am an employee of the Sparks City 3 Attorney’s Office, Sparks, Nevada, and that on this date I served the foregoing document(s) 4 entitled STIPULATION FOR SIXTY-DAY STAY PENDING COMPLETION OF 5 INVESTIGATION on the persons set forth below by: 6 ✓ Case Management/Electronic Case Filing (CM/ECF) and/or; 7 Placing an original or true copy thereof in a sealed envelope placed for collection and mailing in the United States Mail, at Sparks, Nevada, postage prepaid, following ordinary 8 business practices, and/or; 9 Personal Delivery, and/or; 10 Facsimile (FAX), and/or; 11 Federal Express or other overnight delivery, and/or; 12 Reno/Carson Messenger Service. 13 14 If physically delivered, each is addressed as follows: 15 Peter Goldstein PETER GOLDSTEIN LAW CORP 16 10785 West Twain Avenue, Ste. 230 Las Vegas, Nevada 89135 17 peter@petergoldsteinlaw.com 18 19 DATED this 18th day of December, 2019. 20 /s/ Roxanne Doyle Roxanne Doyle 21 22 23 24 25 26 27