Loren L. Qualls v. Regents, University of California, Unitversity of California-Merced, School of the Humanities, Merritt Writing Program
Filing
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MEMORANDUM ORDER DENYING Plaintiff's 49 Motion for an Extension of Time to Respond to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment, signed by District Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill on 7/24/15. The hearing on the motion for summary judgment, currently set for July 30, 2015, is VACATED. (Marrujo, C)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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LOREN L. QUALLS,
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Case No. 1:13-CV-000649-LJO-SMS
Plaintiff,
v.
REGENTS, UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA, UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA-MERCED, SCHOOL OF
HUMANITIES, MERRITT WRITING
PROGRAM,
Defendants.
MEMORANDUM ORDER DENYING
PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR AN
EXTENSION OF TIME TO RESPOND TO
DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY
JUDGMENT.
(Doc. 49)
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Before the Court in the above-styled and numbered cause of action is pro se Plaintiff Loren
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L. Qualls’s (“Plaintiff,” or “Qualls”) “Declaration of Loren LaMonte Qualls, Pro Se, Requesting
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Continuance of Hearing to Provide Additional Time to Respond to Defendants’ (“the University”)
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Motion for Summary Judgment,” filed July 16, 2015 (Doc. 49). The Court construes Plaintiff’s July
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16, 2015 request as a motion to extend time to respond to Defendants’ summary judgment motion.
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Defendants filed a response in opposition on July 21, 2015 (Doc 50), and Plaintiff filed another
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“Declaration” in support of his request on July 22, 2015 (Doc. 51). The Court finds the matter
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appropriate for resolution without oral argument. See Local Rule 230(g). Having considered the
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instant record, the parties’ briefing, and the relevant law, the Court will deny Plaintiff’s motion.
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PROCEDURAL HISTORY
The instant matter stems from an employment discrimination case based on Plaintiff’s
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termination from his employment at the University. See generally Complaint (Doc. 1).
The Magistrate Judge’s Scheduling Order (Doc. 42) rendered September 4, 2014, sets forth
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the following relevant deadlines: Discovery due by July 24, 2015; Non-Dispositive Motions filed
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by August 7, 2015; Dispositive Motions filed by August 28, 2015; Pretrial Conference set for
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October 27, 2015 at 08:30 a.m. in Courtroom 4 before the undersigned district judge; Jury Trial set
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for December 8, 2015 at 08:30 a.m. in Courtroom 4 before the undersigned district judge. The
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Magistrate Judge recently vacated the settlement conference date pending resolution of the motion
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for summary judgment.
Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment on June 26, 2015 (Doc. 46). As the
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hearing on the motion is set for July 30, 2015, the deadline for Plaintiff to file an Opposition was
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July 16, 2015. On July 16, 2015, Plaintiff filed a motion requesting a continuance for the hearing on
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Defendants’ motion for summary judgment and an extension of time in which to file his opposition
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(Doc. 49). This matter is now ripe for review.
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BACKGROUND
Defendants took Plaintiff’s deposition on March 24, 2015. On or about April 20, 2015,
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Plaintiff received notification that his deposition transcript was available for review. Although an
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appointment for Plaintiff to review the transcript was available as early as May 8, 2015, as a result
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of both parties’ scheduling conflicts, delays occurred. Instead, Plaintiff received a digital copy of
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the deposition for his review on or about May 11, 2015.
Plaintiff indicates that he contacted Defendants about a month later, on June 9, 2015, to
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request exhibits which he noticed were missing from his deposition transcript. In response,
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Defendants emailed Plaintiff electronic copies of the requested documents that same day. On
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June 14, 2015, Plaintiff signed a copy of his corrected deposition and sent it to Defendants.
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On June 24, 2015, Plaintiff propounded a second set of requests for admissions and
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interrogatories to Defendants, to which Defendants have not yet responded.
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LEGAL STANDARD
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A. Extension of Time to File Opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment
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An “extension of a time limitation must be for good cause shown.” Hill v. England, No. 03-
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cv-6903-LJO, 2007 WL 3132930, at *2 (E.D.Cal. Oct.23, 2007) (citing Lujan v. Nat’l Wildlife
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Fed’n, 497 U.S. 871, 896 (1990)). “[A]lthough extensions before expiration of the time period may
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be ‘with or without motion or notice,’ any postdeadline extension must be ‘upon motion made,’ and
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is permissible only where the failure to meet the deadline ‘was the result of excusable neglect.’”
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Lujan, 497 U.S. at 896; see McLaughlin v. City of LaGrange, 662 F.2d 1385, 1387 (11th Cir. 1981)
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(citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 6(b)(2)). Excusable neglect under Rule 6(b)(2) requires “a demonstration of
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good faith by the parties seeking the enlargement ... [and] a reasonable basis for not complying
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within the specified period.” In re Four Seasons Sec. Laws Litig., 493 F.2d 1288, 1290 (10th Cir.
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1974).
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Whether “excusable neglect” has been established is determined by balancing four factors:
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“(1) the danger of prejudice to the non-moving party, (2) the length of the delay and its potential
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impact on judicial proceedings, (3) the reason for the delay, including whether it was within the
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reasonable control of the movant, and (4) whether the moving party’s conduct was in good faith.”
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Pincay v. Andrews, 389 F.3d 853, 855 (9th Cir. 2004) (citing Pioneer Inv. Servs. Co. v. Brunswick
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Assocs. Ltd. P’ship, 507 U.S. 380, 395 (1993)). For example, “[a] solo practitioner’s ‘busy practice’
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and preparation of other cases does not establish excusable neglect under [Rule 6(b)(2)].” Hill,
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2007 WL 3132930, at *2; (citing McLaughlin, 662 F.2d at 1387). Rather, “excusable neglect
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includes ‘situations in which the failure to comply with a filing deadline is attributable to
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negligence.’” Marx v. Loral Corp., 87 F.3d 1049, 1054 (9th Cir. 1996) (quoting Pioneer, 507 U.S.
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at 394). “In the end, this is a decision committed to the discretion of the district court.” In re Veritas
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Software Corp. Sec. Litig., 496 F.3d 962, 974 (9th Cir. 2007).
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B. Continuance
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A court may issue an order granting a continuance of a hearing on a motion for summary
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judgment where the party opposing the motion demonstrates in a declaration that he cannot present
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facts essential to his opposition of the motion. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(d). The declaration must set forth
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“specific facts that further discovery would reveal, and explain why those facts would preclude
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summary judgment.” Id.; Tatum v. County of San Francisco, 441 F.3d 1090, 1100 (9th Cir. 2006).
DISCUSSION
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Plaintiff asserts that his request for a continuance for the hearing and an extension of time to
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file an opposition to Defendants’ summary judgment motion meets his burden under Rule 56, and
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also implicitly argues that it is supported by good cause or excusable neglect, for two reasons.
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I.
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Whether Delayed Receipt of Plaintiff’s Own Deposition Transcript Warrants an
Extension
First, Plaintiff asserts that Defendants’ failure to timely provide his deposition transcript
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precluded him from including necessary facts to support his opposition to the summary judgment
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motion. Plaintiff asserts that not until June 9, 2015 did he receive a full copy of his transcript
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including exhibits. He argues that he required these materials, in their entirety, to produce an
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opposition to Defendants’ summary judgment motion. He also argues that he had an abbreviated
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period in which to file his opposition because did not receive a copy of Defendants’ summary
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judgment motion until July 8, 2015.
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Defendants counter that Plaintiff fails to explain how his failure to complete a timely review
of his deposition transcript demonstrates good cause for a continuance under Rule 56(d).
The Court agrees that Plaintiff’s argument that the delay concerning exhibits attached to his
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uncorrected deposition precluded him from presenting facts essential to justify his opposition in a
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timely manner is unavailing. Even if the transcript was delayed as Plaintiff describes, Plaintiff does
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not articulate any specific facts denied him that would preclude his preparing an opposition to
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Defendants’ motion for summary judgment. This may be because he cannot. The facts Plaintiff
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argues Defendants kept from him are his own: the deposition at issue is Plaintiff’s. In addition,
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notwithstanding any missing exhibits, Plaintiff concedes he had his deposition transcript as early as
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May 11, 2015. Between May 11, 2015 and the due date for his opposition to Defendants’ motion
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two months later on July 16, 2015, the Court finds that Plaintiff had ample time to review the
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deposition. That Plaintiff waited until the opposition filing deadline to move for an extension
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further undercuts his argument that he proceeded in good faith, when he claims that his delay stems
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from previous delays he knew about in early June. Plaintiff further argues that somehow he did not
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receive a copy of Defendants’ summary judgment motion until July 8, 2015, leaving him only one
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week to respond to the motion. However, he does not dispute that Defendants mailed it on June 26,
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2015, and is silent about why he did not receive the mail for another twelve days. Whatever the
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cause, these cannot be imputed to Defendants, as service is complete upon mailing. Fed. R. Civ. P.
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5(b)(2)(C) (service is made by “mailing it to the person’s last known address--in which event
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service is complete upon mailing,” which occurs at the point the documents are deposited at a post
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office or placed in a mailbox, not when it is received).
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Under the Pioneer four-factor test, the Court finds that Plaintiff fails to demonstrate that
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good cause exists or that his failure to meet the deadline was as a result of excusable neglect.
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Pincay, 389 F.3d at 855. First, Plaintiff’s proposed extension and continuance is lengthy, more than
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a month (from July 30 to August 28, 2015). Asking the nonmoving party on the deadline to
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accommodate the opposing parties’ scheduling whims is prejudicial. Second, the Court finds the
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length of the requested continuance unreasonably long. Granting Plaintiff’s request would result in
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a new filing deadline of August 14, 2015, or approximately a month after the original July 16
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opposition deadline. Not only is a month’s delay prejudicial to the nonmoving party, it negatively
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impacts the Court’s docket by condensing the window in which the Court – and the parties – have
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to prepare for a fast-approaching October pretrial conference and December trial. Third, the Court
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has concluded that Plaintiff’s argument is based on an unwarranted assumption (being deprived of
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his own deposition does not preclude his filing an opposition because he has not actually been
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deprived of specific material facts), therefore, on the third element Plaintiff cannot make a showing
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that he was not in reasonable control of the delay. Finally, the timing of Plaintiff’s additional
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discovery requests tends to support Defendants’ argument that Plaintiff is not proceeding in good
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faith because, by late June, the July 16 opposition deadline was looming. In other words, that
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Plaintiff made such late-breaking discovery requests, ones that are apparently duplicative, and
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because he fails to make a showing that these are meaningfully connected to material facts essential
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to his opposition, it is a reasonable conclusion that he did so strategically, to validate his request for
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an extension and continuance. This weighs against Plaintiff’s argument.
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Balancing the four factors, the Court concludes that Plaintiff fails to demonstrate that good
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cause or any excusable neglect exists to warrant an extension. Absence of an acceptable
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explanation for failure to act warrants denial of Rule 6(b) relief.
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II.
Whether Outstanding Discovery Requests Warrant a Continuance
Second, Plaintiff contends that he has good cause for a continuance because some of his
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propounded discovery requests to Defendants remain outstanding.
Defendants rightly emphasize that Plaintiff does not meet his burden to connect these
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discovery requests to any specific material facts which the requested discovery may reveal. The
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Court also finds that Plaintiff is silent on how any specific fact would preclude summary judgment.
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As such, the Court concludes that the motion for a continuance fails. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(d); Tatum,
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441 F.3d at 1100.
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III.
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CONCLUSION AND ORDER
For the foregoing reasons, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion for
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extension of time to file an opposition to Defendants’ summary judgment motion (Doc. 49) is
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DENIED. Plaintiff also fails to make a sufficient showing under Rule 56(d), therefore, Plaintiff’s
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request for a continuance on the hearing for Defendants’ summary judgment motion is DENIED.
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Because the Court has reviewed preliminarily the motion for summary judgment and finds
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the matter suitable for decision on the papers pursuant to Local Rule 230(g), the hearing on the
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motion for summary judgment, currently set for July 30, 2015, is VACATED.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
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Dated:
/s/ Lawrence J. O’Neill
July 24, 2015
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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