Lenoir v. Albertsons, LLC ( 2024 )

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 Peggy Lenoir, 2:23-cv-01066-RFB-MDC 4 Plaintiff(s), 5 vs. Order 6 Albertsons, LLC, 7 Defendant(s). 8 Pending before the Court is a Motion To Withdraw As Counsel (ECF No. 19). Attorneys Scott L. 9 Poisson and Amber N. King, counsel for plaintiff, request to withdraw as counsel of record and a ninety 10 (90) day extension of all deadlines. The Court grants the Motion and extends the remaining discovery 11 deadlines. 12 DISCUSSION 13 Pursuant to Local Rule (“LR”) IA 11-6, an attorney who seeks to withdraw must “file a motion 14 or stipulation and serve it on the affected client and opposing counsel.” LR IA-11-6(b). Amber N. King, 15 Esq., indicates in her declaration that plaintiff “gave notice to counsel on June 3, 2024, to terminate their 16 services” and “[p]laintiff and [c]ounsel have irreconcilable differences as to the litigation.” ECF No. 19 17 at 4, ¶¶6-7. The requirements of LR IA 11-6(b) have been met. 18 Along with the request to withdraw, plaintiff’s counsel also included a request to extend 19 deadlines for 90 days to give plaintiff time to obtain new counsel. While defendant does not oppose the 20 withdrawal, they do oppose the request for extension. Local Rule IA 11-6(d) states, “discharge, 21 withdrawal, or substitution of any attorney will not alone be reason for delay of pretrial proceedings, 22 discovery, the trial or any hearing in the case.” However, good cause exists to grant the extension. 23 Without extending the deadlines, “discovery would proceed which Plaintiff may be ill-equipped to 24 handle and which may increase the workload and raise the costs of Plaintiff’s new counsel if and when 25 she retains them.” Armstrong v. Boulder City Hosp., Inc., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118829, at *3 (D. Nev. 1 || June 25, 2021) (granting a stay in discovery after withdrawal of counsel because staying discovery 2 || would accomplish the goals of Rule 1). 3 4 ACCORDINGLY, 5 IT IS ORDERED that: 6 1. The Motion To Withdraw (ECF No. 19) is GRANTED. 7 2. A 90 day extension on the remaining discovery deadlines is granted, and the new deadlines 8 will be: 9 a. Initial expert disclosures: October 7, 2024 10 b. Rebuttal expert disclosures: November 6, 2024 11 c. Close of Discovery: December 9, 2024 12 3. Plaintiff Peggy Lenoir must file a notice of new counsel or intent to proceed pro se by 13 August 1, 2024. Failure to comply with the Court’s order may result in a recommendation of 14 sanctions, including that this case be dismissed. 15 16 DATED this 21st day of June 2024. 42-4 _ 17 IT IS SO ORDERED. LLP, Jb fA i8 po ff | J 9 ie i 50 United States Magtrate Judge 21 22 23 24 25