Camarata v. McDonald's Corporation ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 10 GENE CAMARATA, CASE NO. C19-6236JLR 11 Plaintiff, ORDER v. 12 MCDONALD’S CORPORATION, 13 Defendant. 14 15 Before the court is pro se Plaintiff Gene Camarata’s motion for extension of time 16 to respond and to strike Defendant McDonald’s Corporation’s (“McDonald’s”) motion 17 for summary judgment. (Mot. (Dkt. # 44); see MSJ (Dkt. # 41).) Mr. Camarata 18 represents that COVID-19 has presented difficulties accessing an “adequate computer at 19 public libraries” and conducting “legal research at law libraries because of closures” and 20 thus requests an extension of the deadline for his response. (Mot. at 1.) Additionally, 21 Mr. Camarata asks the court to strike McDonald’s motion “as pre-mature.” (Id.) 22 // 1 The court notes that trial is currently set for this matter on May 17, 2021. (Sched. 2 Order (Dkt. # 33).) Discovery closed on January 19, 2021, and dispositive motions were 3 due on February 16, 2021. (Id.) McDonald’s filed its motion for summary judgment on 4 February 11, 2021. (See MSJ.) Thus, the court disagrees with Mr. Camarata that the 5 motion is “pre-mature” and DENIES his motion to strike. 6 Mr. Camarata’s motion for an extension was received on the day his response was 7 due. (See Mot.) The court reminds Mr. Camarata that although he is pro se, he still 8 “must follow the same rules of procedure that govern other litigants,” see Briere v. 9 Chertoff, 271 F. App’x 682, 683 (9th Cir. 2008), including the requirement that a motion 10 for relief from a deadline must be filed “sufficiently in advance of the deadline to allow 11 the court to rule on the motion prior to the deadline,” Local Rules W.D. Wash. LCR 7(j). 12 Mr. Camarata requests an extension until March 29, 2021 (Mot. at 1), but due to the 13 fast-approaching trial dates, the court GRANTS Mr. Camarata’s motion (Dkt. # 44) and 14 extends the deadline only until March 12, 2021, to file his response. McDonald’s reply, 15 if any, is due on March 17, 2021. The Clerk is directed to renote the motion (Dkt. # 41) 16 for March 17, 2021. 17 Dated this 2nd day of March, 2021. 18 A 19 20 JAMES L. ROBART United States District Judge 21 22