Wilson v. Commissioner of Social Security

Filing 26

ORDER GRANTING 23 the Request for an Extension of Time, signed by Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on 6/22/2017. Response to opening brief due by 7/26/2017. (Hall, S)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DWAYNE WILSON, 12 13 14 Plaintiff, v. 1 NANCY A. BERRYHILL , Acting Commissioner of Social Security, 15 Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No.: 1:16-cv-01012- JLT ORDER GRANTING THE REQUEST FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME (Doc. 23) 16 17 The parties filed a stipulation for a thirty-day extension of time for Defendant to file a response 18 to Plaintiff’s opening brief. (Doc. 14) The Scheduling Order allows for a single extension of thirty 19 days by the stipulation (Doc. 9 at 4), which was previously used by Plaintiff for the filing of his 20 opening brief. (Docs. 18, 19) Beyond that extension, “requests to modify [the scheduling] order must 21 be made by written motion and will be granted only for good cause.” (Doc. 9 at 4) Accordingly, the 22 Court construes the stipulation as a motion for modification of the briefing schedule. 23 Here, Defendant’s counsel, Carolyn Chen, reported the extension was necessary because she 24 was out of the office for illness as well as pre-approved leave. (Doc. 23 at 1) Ms. Chen reported she 25 “is still addressing the backlog of cases that had to be continued during her absence,” and must prepare 26 for “[a] hearing, about 10 pending district court briefs, and two pending Equal Employment 27 28 1 Nancy A. Berryhill is now the Acting Commissioner of Social Security. Pursuant to Rule 25(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court substitutes Nancy A. Berryhill, Carolyn W. Colvin, as the defendant. 1 1 Opportunity Commission matters involving a brief in one matter and discovery in another matter that 2 was also recently assigned to Defendant’s counsel as an emergency and that could not be assigned to 3 another attorney.” (Id. at 1-2) Given the weight of her workload, Ms. Chen requested “additional time 4 up to and including July 26, 2017, to fully review the record and research the issues presented by 5 Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment.” (Id.) 6 Notably, the same day as Ms. Chen requested additional time to prepare the Commissioner’s 7 response to the opening brief, she was terminated as counsel of record. (See Doc. 25) In light of the 8 fact that Plaintiff does not object to the extension of time (see Doc. 24) and the need of counsel to learn 9 the facts of the case to prepare the Commissioner’s response, the Court finds good cause to grant the 10 extension of thirty days. Accordingly, the Court ORDERS: 11 1. Defendant’s request for an extension of time is GRANTED; and 12 2. Defendant SHALL file a response to the opening brief on or before July 26, 2017. 13 14 15 16 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: June 22, 2017 /s/ Jennifer L. Thurston UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

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