Hawatmeh v. City of Henderson ( 2024 )

1 ROGER P. CROTEAU, ESQ. Nevada Bar No. 4958 2 ROGER P. CROTEAU & ASSOCIATES, LTD. 2810 W. Charleston Blvd., #67 3 Las Vegas, Nevada 89102 (702) 254-7775 (Telephone) 4 (702) 228-7719 (Facsimile) croteaulaw@croteaulaw.com 5 Attorney for Plaintiffs 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 8 *** 9 IEHAB HAWATMEH, individually; 10 YASMEEN HAWATMEH, individually; LAYTH HAWATMEH, individually; and 11 IEHAB HAWATMEH, as Administrator of the Case No.: 22-cv-1786 -APG-DJA 12 Estate of JOSEPH HAWATMEH, deceased, 13 Plaintiffs, STIPULATION TO STAY DISCOVERY 14 AND LITIGATION vs. 15 CITY OF HENDERSON, NEVADA, a political 16 subdivision of the State of Nevada; CITY OF HENDERSON POLICE DEPARTMENT, a 17 political subdivision of the State of Nevada; 18 THEDRICK ANDRES, individually and as a policy maker and Chief of CITY OF 19 HENDERSON POLICE DEPARTMENT; LIEUTENANT THOMAS CHIELLO 20 individually and in his official capacity; 21 SERGEANT JAIME SMITH fka SERGEANT JAIME CLEAR, individually and in her official 22 capacity; SERGEANT SETH VAN BEVEREN, individually and in his official capacity; 23 OFFICER BRETT ANDERSON individually 24 and in his official capacity; OFFICER JESSE HEHN individually and in his official capacity; 25 OFFICER JESSE LUJAN individually and in his official capacity; OFFICER JAMES 26 PENDLETON individually and in his official 27 capacity; OFFICER LUIS AMEZCUA individually and in his official capacity; 28 1 1 OFFICER PHILIP DUFFY individually and in his official capacity; OFFICER SETH PRICE 2 individually and in his official capacity; DOE 3 CITY OF HENDERSON POLICE DEPARTMENT SUPERVISORS I through X, 4 inclusive; ROE CITY OF HENDERSON POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICERS XI 5 through XX, inclusive, 6 Defendants. 7 COMES NOW, Plaintiffs, IEHAB HAWATMEH; YASMEEN HAWATMEH; LAYTH 8 HAWATMEH; and IEHAB HAWATMEH, as Administrator of the ESTATE OF JOSEPH 9 HAWATMEH, and Defendants, CITY OF HENDERSON; CITY OF HENDERSON POLICE 10 DEPARTMENT; THEDRICK ANDRES; LIEUTENANT THOMAS CHIELLO; SERGEANT 11 JAIME SMITH fka SERGEANT JAIME CLEAR; SERGEANT SETH VAN BEVEREN; 12 OFFICER BRETT ANDERSON; OFFICER JESSE HEHN; OFFICER JESSE LUJAN; OFFICER 13 JAMES PENDLETON; OFFICER LUIS AMEZCUA; OFFICER PHILIP DUFFY; OFFICER 14 SETH PRICE, by and through their respective attorneys of record, and pursuant to Local Rules 6- 15 16 1 and 7-1, hereby stipulate and agree as follows: 17 1. Plaintiffs filed this action on October 25, 2022. [ECF #1]. 18 2. Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss on December 13, 2022. [ECF #25] 19 3. The parties submitted a proposed Discovery Plan on February 13, 2023. [ECF #29]. 20 4. On February 14, 2023, the Defendants filed a Motion to Stay Discovery. [ECF 21 #30]. 22 5. The Motion to Stay Discovery was briefed and eventually denied pursuant to an 23 Order of the Magistrate Judge dated July 3, 2023. [ECF #51]. 24 6. On September 6, 2023, the Court entered an Order granting Defendants’ Motion to 25 Dismiss. [ECF #54]. The Court granted Plaintiffs leave to amend but seemed to 26 indicate that it did not believe that the facts at issue give rise to constitutional 27 claims. Id. 28 2 1 7. The parties commenced discovery prior to the entry of the District Court’s Order 2 granting Motion to Dismiss; however, the entry of said Order rendered the then- 3 current Discovery Plan moot. 4 8. Plaintiffs filed their First Amended Complaint on January 15, 2024. [ECF #59]. 5 9. Defendants filed their Second Motion to Dismiss on January 29, 2024. [ECF #60]. 6 Said Motion is fully briefed and awaiting a decision. The Second Motion to 7 Dismiss asserts that a stay of discovery is warranted for the same reasons asserted 8 in the initial Motion to Stay Discovery. In addition, the Defendants assert that it is 9 highly likely that the District Court will again dismiss the Plaintiffs’ action. 10 10. The Plaintiffs believe that the First Amended Complaint sets forth valid claims for 11 relief which should not be dismissed. However, the Plaintiffs acknowledge that the 12 District Court Judge may feel otherwise. 13 11. The parties agree it is in the best interest of all parties to wait until the Second 14 Motion to Dismiss has been ruled upon prior to setting amended discovery 15 deadlines and incurring the time and expense of written discovery and depositions 16 in the event the Court dismisses the action in whole or in part. 17 12. The District Court has indicated that if the federal claims are dismissed, it is not 18 inclined to accept jurisdiction over the Plaintiffs’ state law claims and that it would 19 likely transfer said claims to the State Court. Under such circumstances, there will 20 be no need for a discovery plan in this Court. 21 22 13. Federal district courts have “wide discretion in controlling discovery.” Little v. 23 City of Seattle, 863 F.2d 681, 685 (9th Cir. 1988). In exercising this discretion, a 24 district court may stay discovery based on the filing of a motion that is “potentially 25 dispositive of the entire case.” Tradebay, LLC v. eBay, Inc., 278 F.R.D. 597, 601 26 (D. Nev. 2011). See also Turner Broadcasting Sys. v. Tracinda Corp., 175 F.R.D. 27 554, 556 (D. Nev. 1997) (holding that “[w]hether to grant a stay is within the 28 3 1 discretion of the Court…”); Ministerio Roca Solida v. U.S. Dep’t of Fish & 2 Wildlife, 288 F.R.D. 500, 506 (D. Nev. 2013) (“discovery should be stayed while 3 dispositive motions are pending only when there are no factual issues in need of 4 further immediate exploration, and the issues before the Court are purely questions 5 of law…”) (internal quotations omitted). Defendants take the position that their 6 Second Motion to Dismiss raises purely legal questions that can be resolved 7 without discovery. As such, it is within the Court’s power to grant a stay of 8 discovery at this time. 9 14. It would be burdensome and unfair to have the parties incur the expense of time- 10 consuming and costly discovery because the parties have agreed to a stay. Rule 1 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that the federal rules of practice 12 should be “construed and administered to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive 13 determination of every action and proceeding.” (Emphasis added). Thus, staying 14 discovery in this case is consistent with the spirit and intent of the Federal Rules of 15 Civil Procedure. If a stay is not granted, the parties will be required to engage in 16 and incur the costs of discovery which may not be necessary. 17 15. In order to preserve the parties’ and the Court’s resources, and to promote judicial 18 economy, the parties have agreed, subject to the Court’s approval, to stay discovery 19 (1)for approximately 90 days, until September 16, 2024; or (2) until the Court 20 rules on the Second Motion to Dismiss. 21 22 16. The parties further stipulate to delay submission of an amended discovery until ten 23 (10)days following the expiration of the stay. 24 17. Assuming that this stipulation is approved, Defendants’ Second Motion to Stay 25 Discovery [ECF #69] shall be withdrawn as moot. 26 18. In the event that the Court determines that a stay of discovery is not appropriate, 27 the parties shall submit a proposed Amended Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order 28 4 1 within five (5) days after the entry of an order denying this stipulation or such othe 2 time period as the Court may require. 3 DATED this 17" day of June, 2024. 5 ROGER P. CROTEAU & ASSOCIATES, LTD. | MARQUIS & AURBACH a ne 6 c 7 /s/Timothy E Rhoda /s/Craig R. Anderson 5 ROGER P. CROTEAU, ESQ. CRAIG R. ANDERSON, ESQ. g ||| Nevada Bar No. 4958 Nevada Bar No. 6882 aS TIMOTHY E. RHODA, ESQ. 10001 Park Run Drive go 9 ||| Nevada Bar No. 7878 Las Vegas, Nevada 89145 = < 10 2810 West Charleston Blvd., #67 702-382-0711 Las Vegas, Nevada 89102 canderson@maclaw.com ||| 702-254-7775 Attorney for Defendants croteaulaw@croteaulaw.com Bw 12 ||| Attorney for Plaintiffs an || IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the parties stipulation (ECF No. 70) is GRANTED. mi 14 5 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that discovery is stayed until the Court rules on Defendants’ © 15 || motion to dismiss pending at ECF No. 60. — -- S = 16 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that if this case proceeds in this Court after the Court rules on 2 17 || Defendants’ motion to dismiss, the parties shall file a stipulated discovery plan thirty days = after the Court rules on the motion to dismiss. 18 go 19 || IL IS FURTHER ORDERED that Defendants’ motion to stay discovery (ECF No. 69) is ° DENIED AS MOOT. 20 21 \ 22 DANIEL J. ALBREGTS} 23 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 24 DATED: June 18, 2024 25 26 27 28