Bartell Ranch LLC v. McCullough ( 2024 )

1 Christopher Mixson (NV Bar#10685) 2 KEMP JONES, LLP 3800 Howard Hughes Parkway, Suite 1700 3 Las Vegas, Nevada 89169 702-385-6000 4 c.mixson@kempjones.com 5 Attorney for Plaintiffs 6 Roger Flynn, Pro Hac Vice 7 Jeffrey C. Parsons, Pro Hac Vice 8 WESTERN MINING ACTION PROJECT P.O. Box 349, 440 Main St., #2 9 Lyons, CO 80540 10 (303)823-5738 wmap@igc.org 11 Attorneys for Great Basin Resource Watch, Basin and Range Watch, and Wildlands Defense 12 13 Jamie Park, Pro Hac Vice WESTERN WATERSHEDS PROJECT 14 P.O. Box 37198 Albuquerque, NM 87110-9998 15 (505)750-0334 jaimie@westernwatersheds.org 16 Attorney for Western Watersheds Project 17 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 18 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 19 BARTELL RANCH LLC, et al., Case No.: 3:21-cv-80-MMD-CLB 20 (LEAD CASE) Plaintiffs, 21 ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION 22 v. BY ENVIRONMENTAL PLAINTIFFS AND FEDERAL DEFENDANTS FOR 23 ESTER M. MCCULLOUGH, et al., STAY OF BRIEFING ON PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR 24 Defendants, ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND EXPENSES 25 and 26 LITHIUM NEVADA CORPORATION, 27 Intervenor-Defendant 28 1 WESTERN WATERSHEDS PROJECT, et al., Case No.: 3:21-cv-103-MMD-CLB 2 (CONSOLIDATED CASE) Plaintiffs, 3 and 4 5 RENO SPARKS INDIAN COLONY, 6 Intervenor-Plaintiff, 7 and 8 BURNS PAIUTE TRIBE, 9 Intervenor-Plaintiff, 10 11 v. 12 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, et al., 13 14 Defendants, 15 and 16 LITHIUM NEVADA CORPORATION, 17 Intervenor-Defendant. 18 19 Plaintiffs Western Watersheds Project, et al. (WWP or Environmental Plaintiffs), and the 20 Federal Defendants, the United States Bureau of Land Management et al. (BLM), file this Joint 21 Motion and Status Report to continue the stay of briefing on WWP’s Motion for attorneys’ fees 22 23 and expenses, in order to facilitate negotiations that may result in settlement of WWP’s fees 24 Motion. 25 Pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. §2412 (EAJA), WWP filed its fees 26 Motion on November 10, 2023 (ECF No. 309). In order to meet EAJA’s filing deadline, 28 27 U.S.C. §2412(d)(1)(B), and in support of potential settlement, WWP filed a “placeholder” fees 28 1 avoid further briefing and evidence submittals while negotiations continue. See Greenpeace v. 2 Stewart, No. 17-35945, 2020 WL 2465321, *4-5 (9th Cir. Commissioner, May 12, 3 2020)(approving use of placeholder fees motion to facilitate settlement). 4 5 Pursuant to this Court’s Order (ECF No. 317) approving WWP’s and the Federal 6 Defendants’ previous joint status report and motion to extend the deadlines regarding WWP’s 7 fees Motion, this status report is due February 26, 2024. 8 WWP and the Federal Defendants are currently engaged in negotiations and propose that 9 briefing be continued to be stayed while these discussions are ongoing. In the event that a 10 11 settlement cannot be reached, WWP and the Federal Defendants further propose that WWP and 12 the Federal Defendants will inform the Court and, at that time, file a joint schedule to allow 13 WWP to amend its fees Motion and submit additional declarations and materials in support of its 14 Motion, as well as a schedule for the Federal Defendants’ response and WWP’s reply. 15 Accordingly, WWP and the Federal Defendants respectfully request that this Court issue 16 17 an Order such that: 18 1. Briefing on WWP’s Motion continues to be stayed; 19 2. The parties will submit a status report on the potential settlement of WWP’s 20 Motion within 60 days of the date of this Court’s Order on this Joint Motion; and 21 3. If settlement cannot be reached, WWP and the Federal Defendants will file a joint 22 23 schedule for WWP to amend its Motion, and include additional declarations and materials in 24 support, as well as for the Federal Defendants’ response and WWP’s reply. 25 Respectfully submitted this 21st day of February, 2024. 26 /s/ Roger Flynn 27 Roger Flynn Jeffrey C. Parsons 28 WESTERN MINING ACTION PROJECT P.O. Box 349, 440 Main St., #2 Lyons, CO 80540 (303) 823-5738 roger@ wmaplaw.org 3 4 Attorneys for GBRW, BRW, WD 5 | Jamie Park Pro Hac Vice WESTERN WATERSHEDS PROJECT P.O. Box 37198 Albuquerque, NM 87110-9998 7 | (505) 750-0334 jaimie @ westernwatersheds.org 8 9 Attorney for Western Watersheds Project 10 Christopher Mixson (NV Bar#10685) KEMP JONES, LLP 11 | 3800 Howard Hughes Parkway, Suite 1700 Las Vegas, Nevada 89169 12) 702-385-6000 13 c.mixson@kempjones.com Attorney for Plaintiffs /s/Michael K. Roberston (signed with permission) 16 Michael K. Robertson (DC Bar 1017183) Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Natural Resources Section P.O. Box 7611 Washington, D.C. 20044-7611 18 | 202-305-9609 19 michael.robertson @usdoj.gov 20 | Attorney for Federal Defendants 2] CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 22 Thereby attest that I served the foregoing on counsel of record for all parties via the 23 | Court’s CM/ECF system, this 21st day of February, 2024. 24 /s/ Roger Flynn 25 IT IS SO ORDERED. 26 DATED: _ Februray 22, 2024 27 28 CHIEF U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE MIRANDA M. DU