Lee v. Commissioner of Social Security

Filing 16

Stipulation and ORDER re extension of time signed by Magistrate Judge Gary S. Austin on 8/4/2009. (Esteves, C)

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LAWRENCE G. BROWN Acting United States Attorney LUCILLE GONZALES MEIS Regional Chief Counsel, Region IX Social Security Administration ELIZABETH FIRER Special Assistant United States Attorney 333 Market Street, Suite 1500 San Francisco, California 94105 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Attorneys for Defendant UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA FRESNO DIVISION

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 The parties hereby stipulate by counsel, with the Court's approval as indicated by issuance of the attached Order, that Defendant shall have a FIRST extension of time of up to and including September 16, 2009, to respond to Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. This request is due to an unexpected increase to an already heavy work load on the part of the undersigned attorney for the Commissioner. For the months of June and July, she has been responsible for briefing in approximately 26 district court cases and 2 appellate cases. Further, she has the responsibility to draft the Commissioner's recommendation to the Solicitor General for a writ of certiorari in Vasquez v. Astrue, 547 F.3d 1101 (9th Cir. 2008) after the July 9, 2009, decision of the Ninth Circuit declining en banc review. This task was unpredictable and involves extremely tight and unavoidable deadlines. BLIA LEE, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) MICHAEL J. ASTRUE, ) Commissioner of ) Social Security, ) ) Defendant. ) _________________________________) CASE NO. 1:08-cv-01505-GSA STIPULATION AND ORDER

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The undersigned attorney for the Commissioner's heavy schedule has been occasioned, in large part, by staffing shortages in the Commissioner's regional office. The Commissioner's Office of Regional Chief Counsel recently experienced sudden departures of four senior attorneys, two of whom accepted positions as administrative law judges, which provided only a short time between the offer dates and starting dates. Also, one senior attorney is on extended emergency medical leave, another senior attorney is on extended paternity leave, and a third senior attorney is currently working part-time due to the serious medical condition of a family member. Due to this, the attorneys in this office have experienced an unanticipated increase in workload due to office restructuring and reassignment of over 250 district court cases and approximately 20 Ninth Circuit appeals. The shortage of attorneys able to readily brief cases has eliminated reassigning cases as a method of avoiding extensions. Counsel will also be out of the office from August 5-10, 2009, in order to attend a family wedding. The parties further stipulate that the Court's Scheduling Order shall be modified accordingly. Respectfully submitted,

Dated: August 3, 2009 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Dated: August 3, 2009

/s/ Laura Krank (As authorized via email) LAURA KRANK Attorney for Plaintiff

LAWRENCE G. BROWN Acting United States Attorney LUCILLE GONZALES MEIS Regional Chief Counsel, Region IX Social Security Administration /s/ Elizabeth Firer ELIZABETH FIRER Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Attorneys for Defendant

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1 2 IT IS SO ORDERED. 3 Dated: 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 6i0kij

ORDER

August 4, 2009

/s/ Gary S. Austin UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE