Heckathorn v. Holland

Filing 21

ORDER GRANTING 15 Extension of Time to File Responsive Pleading, signed by Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on 3/27/2018. Defendant's responsive pleading due by 4/10/2018. The Order to Show Cause 17 is DISCHARGED. (Hall, S)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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JOSHUA HECKATHORN,

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Plaintiff,
v.
KIM HOLLAND,

Case No. 1:17-cv-1416 AWI-JLT
ORDER GRANTING EXTENSION OF
TIMETO FILE RESPONSIVE
PLEADING
(Doc. 15)

Defendants.

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S. Zarris, J. Foster, P. Perez, R. Ruiz, B. Morse and R. Ruvalcaba have applied ex parte for

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a three-week extension of time in which to file their responsive pleading to the first amended

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complaint. (Doc. 15) The plaintiff refused to stipulate to the extension because the defendants

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refused to provide early discovery and because the defendants’ lawyer failed to adequately

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explain why she had not had sufficient communications earlier such to verify they wished

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representation. (Doc. 19)

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The plaintiff does not explain how refusing to agree to the extension of time advances his

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cause in any fashion. It did not speed up the start of discovery. Seemingly, all it did was to

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require opposing counsel to seek relief and require the Court to drop other, more substantive work

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to devote its attention to this matter. Then when the Court did this, the plaintiff failed to respond

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as ordered.1 Thus, the Court ORDERS:

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1.

Defendants’ request for an extension of time to file a responsive pleading to the first

amended complaint is GRANTED;

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2.

Defendants SHALL file their responsive pleading no later than April 10, 2018;

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3.

The order to show cause (Doc. 17) is DISCHARGED.

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In future, counsel SHALL work diligently and cooperatively. They SHALL file only

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properly noticed motions after meeting an conferring and they SHALL timely respond to motions

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and the Court’s order.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated:

March 27, 2018

/s/ Jennifer L. Thurston
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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Notably, plaintiff’s counsel explained why counsel failed to respond by March 20, 2018. (Doc. 20 at 2)
However, the deadline to respond was March 23. (Doc. 17)