Ramos-Quirarte v. Omandac ( 2024 )

Attorney General 2 JESSICA E. WHELAN (Bar No. 14781) Deputy Solicitor General 3 NATHAN M. CLAUS (Bar No. 15889) Deputy Attorney General 4 State of Nevada Office of the Attorney General 5 555 East Washington Avenue Suite 3900 6 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 (702) 486-7629 (phone) 7 (702) 486-3773 (fax) Email: nclaus@ag.nv.gov 8 Attorneys for Defendants 9 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 12 LUCIA RAMOS-QUIRARTE, Case No. 2:23-cv-01778-RFB-NJK 13 Plaintiff, 14 v. JOINT MOTION TO EXTEND DISCOVERY DEADLINES 60 DAYS 15 STATE OF NEVADA ex rel. NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; [FIRST REQUEST] 16 STATE OF NEVADA ex. rel. NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION AND 17 NATURAL RESOURCES, DIVISION OF FORESTRY; BETTY T. OMANDAC, an 18 individual; MONIQUE K. LIEFERT, an individual; AMANDA J. HOPKINS, an 19 individual; CHRISTOPHER W NEHLS, an individual; SHELLLYANN WEIGERT, an 20 individual; DOES I to X, inclusive; and DOES XI to XX, inclusive; collectively, 21 Defendants. 22 23 Plaintiff Lucia Ramos-Quirarte, by and through counsel, and Defendants State of 24 Nevada ex rel. Nevada Department of Corrections (“NDOC”); Betty T. Omandac; Monique 25 K. Liefert; Amanda J. Hopkins; Christopher W. Nehls; and Shellyann Weigert, by and 26 through counsel, hereby submit this Joint Motion To Extend Discovery Deadlines 60 Days. 27 This Motion is made pursuant to the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b)(1)(A), and it is 28 2 and files contained herein. 3 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES 4 I. NATURE OF THE MOTION 5 Good cause exists to extend the discovery deadlines in this matter. 6 II. BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE CASE 7 Plaintiff filed a civil rights complaint alleging that Defendants were deliberately 8 indifferent to her medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment and analogous 9 provisions under the Nevada Constitution.1 On February 6, 2024, this Court issued a 10 scheduling order and set the following deadlines in this matter:2 11 • Initial disclosures: February 16, 2024 12 • Amend pleadings/ add parties: May 1, 2024 13 • Initial experts: May 31, 2024 14 • Rebuttal experts: July 1, 2024 15 • Discovery cutoff: July 30, 2024 16 • Dispositive motions: August 29, 2024 17 • Joint proposed pretrial order: September 30, 2024, or 30 days after resolution 18 of dispositive motions 19 III. DISCUSSION 20 Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b)(1)(A), the court may, for good cause, extend the time 21 in which an act must be done if a request is made before the original time or its extension 22 expires. The proper procedure, when additional time for any purpose is needed, is to present 23 request for extension of time before time then fixed for the purpose in question has expired.3 24 Extensions of time may always be asked for and usually are granted on a showing of good 25 cause if timely made under subdivision (b)(1) of the Rule.4 Under Local Rule 26-3, “[a] 26 1 ECF No. 1-2. 27 2 ECF No. 24. 3 Canup v. Mississippi Val. Barge Line Co., 31 F.R.D. 282 (W.D.Pa.1962) 28 4 Creedon v. Taubman, 8 F.R.D. 268 (N.D.Ohio 1947) 2 other order must … be supported by a showing of good cause for the extension.” In addition, 3 “[a] request made within 21 days of the subject deadline must be supported by a showing 4 of good cause.”5 5 At this time, the discovery completed includes the parties exchanging initial 6 disclosures on November 11, 2023 (Plaintiff) and February 16, 2024 (Defendants). 7 Defendants disclosed their initial expert report on May 31, 2024, and Plaintiff disclosed her 8 rebuttal expert report on July 1, 2024. Depositions for Defendants Expert and three of the 9 named Defendants are set to occur during the week of July 22-26. Plaintiff submitted 10 written discovery for which Defendants’ responses are due on July 31, 2024. Remaining 11 discovery includes Plaintiff’s and her rebuttals expert’s depositions along with written 12 discovery (such as requests for admissions and productions). Defendants are expecting to 13 provide supplemental disclosures within the next two weeks. 14 Plaintiff and Defendants (“the Parties”) submit that the facts and the argument 15 contained herein constitute good cause to extend all the discovery deadlines. The Parties 16 are diligently prosecuting this case. The Parties are pursuing settlement discussions, 17 which, if successful, will alleviate the need for additional discovery. In the interest of 18 judicial economy and to keep costs down for the parties, the Parties would like to hold off 19 on taking those depositions until it can be determined whether settlement is possible. This 20 cannot be done without a 60-day extension of the remaining discovery deadlines to allow 21 the deposition of remaining individuals, any discovery related to the supplemental 22 disclosures, and completion of settlement discussions. 23 The Parties’ Motion is made in good faith, without dilatory motive, does not cause 24 undue delay, and provides efficient sequencing of deadlines. This request for additional 25 time is within the 21-day requirement under Local Rule 26-3. 26 Accordingly, good cause exists for an enlargement of time of the following deadlines 27 by 60 days as follows: 28 5 Local Rule 26-3. 1 e Discovery cutoff: September 30, 2024 2 e Dispositive motions: October 28, 2024 3 e Joint proposed pretrial order: November 27, 2024, or 30 days after resolution 4 of dispositive motions. 5 IV. CONCLUSION 6 Based upon the foregoing, the Parties respectfully submit that their Joint Motion to 7 || Extend Discovery Deadlines 60 Days meets good cause and should be granted. 8 9 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 10 DATED this 15th day of July 2024. DATED this 15th day of July 2024. 12 GALLIAN WELKER & AARON D. FORD ASSOCIATES, LC Attorney General /s/ Nathan Lawerence ‘sl Nathan M. Claus Nathan E. Lawrence (Bar No. 15060) Jessica E. Whelan (Bar No. 14781) 15 || Travis N. Barrick (Bar No. 9257). Deputy Solicitor General 16 Nathan M. Claus (Bar No. 15889) Attorneys for Plaintiff Deputy Attorney General 17 18 Attorneys for Defendants 19 20 21 92 || IT IS SO ORDERED 23 || naTEp: July 16, 2024 24 BEN Bm 25 UNITED STAT 5 lL AGISTRATE JUDGE 26 27 28