Mcalary v. Cash Cloud, Inc. ( 2024 )

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 4 CHRIS MCALARY, Case No.: 2:23-cv-01580-GMN 5 6 Appellant, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO LIFT vs. STAY 7 8 CASH CLOUD INC., et al, 9 Appellees. 10 Pending before the Court is the Motion to Lift Stay, (ECF No. 14), filed by Appellant 11 Chris Mcalary. Appellee Cash Cloud Inc. did not file a Response, and the time to do so has 12 passed. Appellee Official Community of Unsecured Creditors (“UCC”) filed a Response, (ECF 13 No. 15), to which Appellant filed a Reply, (ECF No. 17). For the reasons discussed herein, the 14 Court GRANTS Defendants’ Motion to Lift Stay. 15 This case comes from the United State Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada. 16 Appellant appealed the Bankruptcy Court’s Order on Motion to Convery to Chapter 7. (Notice 17 of Appeal 2:2–3, ECF No. 1). Prior to the filing of Appellant’s Opening Brief, the parties filed 18 a Stipulation to Stay Appeal Pending Resolution of Bankruptcy Court Approval Settlement 19 explaining that the parties had stipulated in the underlying bankruptcy case to attend a 20 settlement conference. (Stip. 2:10–12, ECF No. 8). The parties therefore requested a stay in 21 this appeal, which the Court granted. (Order Granting Stip. to Stay, ECF No. 9). The parties 22 subsequently filed a Stipulation Continuing Stay of Appeal, (ECF No. 12), which the Court also 23 granted, (ECF No. 13). Appellant now seeks a lift of the stay in the instant Motion. 24 25 1 A district court “has broad discretion to stay proceedings as an incident to its power to 2 control its own docket.” Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706 (1997) (citing Landis v. North 3 American Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936)). “The power to stay proceedings is incidental to the 4 power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the causes on its docket with 5 economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.” Landis, 299 U.S. at 254. 6 The corollary to this power is the ability to lift a stay previously imposed. 7 Appellant seeks to lift the stay of the appeal, asserting that the parties did not reach a 8 settlement after attending the settlement conference that originally incited the stay of this case. 9 (See Order Granting Stip. to Stay 2:10–12); (Reply to Mot. to Lift Stay 2:11–15, ECF No. 16). 10 UCC argues that the parties are still in continued settlement negotiations and a lift of the stay 11 would shift resources away from these negotiations. (Resp. to Mot. to Lift Stay 2:8–20, ECF 12 No. 15). But lifting the stay does not prevent the parties from negotiating or reaching a 13 settlement agreement. The case was stayed to allow the parties to attend the settlement 14 conference scheduled for February of 2024, and that settlement conference has now passed. 15 (Order Granting Stip. to Stay 3:1–4). Consequently, the parties have resumed litigation in the 16 underlying bankruptcy case. (Mot. to Lift Stay ¶ 22). Because the reason for the stay has 17 passed, and because the parties can continue to work towards a settlement without a stay in 18 place, the Court finds that lifting the stay is appropriate. 19 Accordingly, 20 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Appellant’s Motion to Lift Stay, (ECF No. 14), is 21 GRANTED. 22 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Appellant shall have a period of 14 days from the 23 date of this Order to file an opening brief. Appellees shall have 14 days after to file an 24 answering brief. Thereafter, Appellant shall have 14 days to file a final reply brief. Opening 25 1 || brief is due by December 10, 2024. Answering brief due by December 25, 2024. Reply brief 2 || due by January 8, 2025. 3 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Appellant shall file and serve excerpts of the record 4 || as an appendix to the appellant brief pursuant to Fed. R. Bankr. P. 8009(b) and LR IC 2-2. 5 || Appellee may also file/serve an appendix brief containing required material omitted by 6 || appellant. 7 DATED this 25 _ day of November, 2024. 8 9 10 Gloria ‘Navarro, District Judge United Sfates District Court 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Page 3 of 3