National Lawyers' Guild San Francisco Chapter et al v. United States Department of Homeland Security et al

Filing 51

JOINT STATUS REPORT AND STIPULATION AND ORDER TO STAY PROCEEDINGS. Signed by Judge Richard Seeborg on 4/4/11. (cl, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 4/4/2011)

*E-Filed 4/4/11*
National Lawyers' Guild San Francisco Chapter et al v. United State...f Homeland Security et al

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JARED L. KOPEL, State Bar No. 126817 [e-mail] LISA A. DAVIS, State Bar No. 179854 [e-mail] DOMINIQUE-CHANTALE ALEPIN, State Bar No. 241648 [e-mail] WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI Professional Corporation 650 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, CA 94304-1050 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Attorneys for Plaintiffs

8 9 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 12 13 14 Plaintiffs, 15 v. 16 17 18 19 20 WHEREAS, in an effort to narrow the issues before the Court, 21 1. 22 24, 2009, to allow Defendants to conduct secondary searches and process potentially responsive 23 records, and to allow the parties to confer in an effort to resolve Plaintiffs' claims without the 24 Court's intervention. On October 30, 2009, as a result of those negotiations, Plaintiffs stipulated that 25 they did not contest the adequacy of the searches performed by Defendants DHS, DHS-OIG, or 26 CIS, or the propriety of the withholdings made by DHS-OIG; accordingly, pursuant to Rule 27 41(a)(1)(A)(ii), the parties filed a stipulation of dismissal of this action with prejudice with respect 28
NO. C 08-5137 RS JOINT STATUS REPORT AND STIPULATION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS

NATIONAL LAWYERS' GUILD SAN FRANCISCO CHAPTER, et al.,

No. C 08-5137 RS JOINT STATUS REPORT AND STIPULATION TO STAY PROCEEDINGS; AND [PROPOSED] ORDER

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, et al., Defendants. /

The parties have entered into a series of stipulations to stay proceedings since April

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to those Defendants. Negotiations continued with respect to the remaining Defendants: CBP, EOIR, and ICE. Most recently, on February 3, 2011, the Court approved the parties' stipulations (a) to further stay proceedings through and including March 31, 2011, and (b) to submit a joint report advising the Court on the status of negotiations and processing, and/or a stipulation proposing a schedule to govern further proceedings, no later than March 31, 2011; and 2. EOIR has provided Plaintiffs with a letter describing the scope of its search and a

preliminary, partial Vaughn index explaining the bases for its withholdings. In response, Plaintiffs have stipulated that they do not contest either the adequacy of the search performed by EOIR, or the propriety of the withholdings made by EOIR; and 3. ICE has provided Plaintiffs with a letter describing the scope of its search and a

preliminary, partial Vaughn index explaining the bases for its withholdings. In response, Plaintiffs have stipulated that they do not contest either the adequacy of the search performed by ICE, or the propriety of the withholdings made by ICE; and 4. CBP has provided Plaintiffs with a letter describing the scope of its search and a

preliminary, partial Vaughn index explaining the bases for its withholdings; Plaintiffs have responded with several objections and/or requests for clarification; and the parties have continued to confer to discuss the scope of CBP's search and the propriety of its withholdings. Plaintiffs are not yet prepared to stipulate to the adequacy of CBP's search or the propriety of its withholdings; however, further negotiation may eliminate the need for judicial resolution of these issues. Since the last status report, CBP has provided Plaintiffs with a supplemental preliminary, partial Vaughn index explaining the bases for its withholdings of portions of additional documents released in late January 2011 following quality control checks, and the parties remain in communication regarding a possible solution concerning the small number of documents still in dispute. Most recently, Plaintiffs extended a counterproposal to CBP, which is under active consideration, and to which CBP has agreed to respond by April 5, 2011; and WHEREAS it would minimize litigation costs and conserve judicial resources to stay further proceedings in this case to permit the above-mentioned negotiations to continue, and to permit the parties to confer further as described above;
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IT IS HEREBY AGREED AND STIPULATED by and between the parties, through undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that: 1. Further proceedings in this case are stayed for a period of approximately 2 months through and including May 31, 2011, and 2. No later than May 31, 2011, the parties shall submit a joint report advising the Court on the status of the above-mentioned negotiations and/or a stipulation proposing a schedule to govern further proceedings.

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Dated: March 31, 2011 Respectfully submitted, /s/ Dominique-Chantale Alepin JAYASHRI SRIKANTIAH IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS CLINIC STANFORD LAW SCHOOL 559 Nathan Abbott Way Stanford, CA 94305 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] LINTON JOAQUIN KAREN TUMLIN VIVEK MATTAL NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER 3435 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 2850 Los Angeles, CA 90010 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] JARED L. KOPEL LISA A. DAVIS DOMINIQUE-CHANTALE ALEPIN WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI Professional Corporation 650 Page Mill Road Palo Alto, CA 94304-1050 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] Attorneys for Plaintiffs TONY WEST Assistant Attorney General JOHN R. TYLER Assistant Branch Director /s/ Eric B. Beckenhauer ERIC B. BECKENHAUER, CSBN 237526 Trial Attorney U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch 20 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington, DC 20530 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] Attorneys for Defendants

19 SIGNATURE ATTESTATION 20 21 22 23 24 [PROPOSED] ORDER 25 Pursuant to stipulation, IT IS SO ORDERED. 26 27 28 In accordance with General Order 45(X), I hereby attest that I have obtained Eric B. Beckenhauer's concurrence in the filing of this document. /s/ Dominique-Chantale Alepin DOMINIQUE-CHANTALE ALEPIN

4/4/11 Dated: ________________________
RICHARD SEEBORG United States District Judge
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