Steinhart v. County of Sonoma et al

Filing 17

STIPULATION AND ORDER RE: 16 TO CONTINUE DATE TO HEAR COUNTY DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS; EXTEND COUNTY DEFENDANTS' TIME TO FILE ANTI-SLAPP MOTION. Motion Hearing set for 9/30/2010 01:30 PM in Courtroom 3, 17th Floor, San Francisco. Signed by Judge Richard Seeborg on 8/23/10. (Attachments: # 1 Appendix Certificate of Service)(cl, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 8/23/2010)

Steinhart v. County of Sonoma et al

Doc. 17

*E-Filed 8/23/10*

1 STEVEN M. WOODSIDE, State Bar No. 58684 2 ANNE L. KECK, State Bar No. 136315 3 County of Sonoma
Deputy County Counsel 575 Administration Drive, Room 105A Telephone: [phone] County Counsel

4 Santa Rosa, California 95403-2815 5 Facsimile: [phone] 6

E-mail: [e-mail]

7 Attorneys for Defendants the County 8 William Cogbill, Nicholas Honey,

of Sonoma, Jerry Allen, Sheriff-Coroner Sheriff's Deputy Michael Shanahan, Sheriff's employees, Betty Johnson, Jo Weber, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION No. CV-10-00841 RS

9 Deputy Caroline Japp, and County 10 and Robin Smith 11 12 13 14 SALLY STEINHART, 15 16
v. Plaintiff,

17 COUNTY OF SONOMA, SHERIFF-CORONER 18 SHANAHAN and CAROLYN JAAP; HUMAN 19 WEBER; FAMILY, YOUTH & CHILDREN'S 20 BAUER; YOUTH & CHILDREN'S SERVICES 21 CHILD WELFARE SERVICES/ PROTECTIVE 22 BETTY JOHNSON, and ROBIN SMITH,
individually and in their official capacities, DIVISION DIRECTOR NICHOLAS HONEY; SERVICES SOCIAL WORKERS JERRY ALLEN, SERVICES DIVISION DIRECTOR CAROL SERVICES DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR JO BILL COGBILL and DEPUTY SHERIFFS M.

STIPULATION TO (1) CONTINUE DATE TO HEAR COUNTY DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO DISMISS; (2) EXTEND COUNTY DEFENDANTS' TIME TO FILE ANTISLAPP MOTION UNDER CAL. CCP SECTION 425.16(f); [PROPOSED] ORDER

23 CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL 24 MOES 1-50, inclusive, jointly and severally, 25 26 27 28
Stipulation to (1) Continue Date to Hear County 1

SERVICES; DOES 1-50, and ROES 1-50, and Defendants.

/

USDC Case No. CV-10-00841 RS

Defendants' Motion to Dismiss; (2) Extend County Defendants' Time to File Anti-Slapp Motion Under Cal. CCP Section 425.16(f); [proposed] Order

Dockets.Justia.com

1

This joint stipulation and request for entry of order pursuant to Civil Local Rule 7-12 is

2 entered into by and between Plaintiff in pro per, Sally Steinhart ("Plaintiff"), and Defendants the 3 County of Sonoma, Sheriff-Coroner William Cogbill, and County employees Michael Shanahan, 4 Caroline Jaap, Jo Weber, Nicholas Honey, Jerry Allen, Betty Johnson and Robin Smith (collectively, 5 "County Defendants"). Defendant the California State Department of Social Services is not a party 6 to this stipulation. This stipulation and concomitant request for an Order is based upon both Plaintiff 7 and the County Defendants' request to continue the hearing date of the County Defendants' Motion 8 to Dismiss First Amended Complaint, and Motion for More Definite Statement, filed on July 26, 9 2010, and currently to be heard on September 9, 2010; as well as to provide County Defendants 10 additional time in which to file an Anti-SLAPP Motion under California Code of Civil Procedure 11 Section 425.16 to a date after the County Defendants' Motion to Dismiss the First Amended 12 Complaint is heard. The terms and provisions of this stipulation and request for order are set forth 13 below. 14 15
A. RECITALS Plaintiff filed her Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief and Damages

16 herein on February 26, 2010. Plaintiff believes that she effectuated service of the Complaint on all 17 County Defendants identified above on or about May 12, 2010. Plaintiff has not yet effectuated 18 service on Defendant the State Department of Social Services, nor Defendant and former Sonoma 19 County employee Carol Bauer (retired). 20
B. Plaintiff filed a First Amended Complaint (the "First Amended Complaint") herein on

21 June 21, 2010. 22
C. County Defendants filed a Motion to Dismiss the First Amended Complaint and

23 concurrent Motion for More Definite Statement on July 26, 2010 (hereinafter collectively, "Motion 24 to Dismiss"). This Motion to Dismiss is currently set to be heard on September 9, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. 25 The thrust of this Motion to Dismiss is to request dismissal of all claims for relief against County 26 Defendants. 27 28
Stipulation to (1) Continue Date to Hear County 2 USDC Case No. CV-10-00841 RS

Defendants' Motion to Dismiss; (2) Extend County Defendants' Time to File Anti-Slapp Motion Under Cal. CCP Section 425.16(f); [proposed] Order

1

D.

If certain issues are not resolved pursuant to the Motion to Dismiss, County

2 Defendants intend to file an Anti-SLAPP Motion under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 3 425.16 (see Exhibit A). The Anti-SLAPP Motion would request this Court to strike all state law 4 claims and related allegations against the County's Human Services Department employee 5 defendants on grounds of protected speech activities by governmental entities and their 6 representatives. 7
E. Pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedural Section 426.16(f), Anti-SLAPP

8 motions should be brought within 60 days of the service of the relevant complaint. However, under 9 California Code of Civil Procedure Section 425.16(f), the Court has the discretion to extend the 60 10 day filing period to "any later time upon terms it deems proper." It is reasonable and proper on 11 grounds of judicial economy to allow the County Defendants additional time in which to file and 12 serve their Anti-SLAPP Motion to a time after their Motion to Dismiss is heard, as the reasons to 13 bring the Anti-SLAPP Motion would become moot if this Court issues an order which grants the 14 County's Motion to Dismiss, thus dismissing the County's Human Services Department employee 15 defendants from the lawsuit. 16 17
F. Hence, on August 5, 2010, the County approached Plaintiff with the request to

stipulate to extend the time to file and serve the Anti-SLAPP motion until after the Court issues its

18 order resolving the pending Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff indicated she would stipulate to such as 19 long as the County agreed to continue the hearing date of the Motion to Dismiss for three weeks, as 20 she is presently in trial on another matter and is in the middle of moving her residence. The County 21 so agreed. 22 23 24
1. WHEREFORE, the parties hereby stipulate and request entry of a court order as follows: STIPULATION The current hearing date for the County Defendant's Motion to Dismiss the First

25 Amended Complaint, and Motion for More Definite Statement (along with the concurrent Request 26 for Judicial Notice re the Motion to Dismiss and Administrative Motion to File Under Seal 27 28
Stipulation to (1) Continue Date to Hear County 3 USDC Case No. CV-10-00841 RS

Defendants' Motion to Dismiss; (2) Extend County Defendants' Time to File Anti-Slapp Motion Under Cal. CCP Section 425.16(f); [proposed] Order

1 Documents Attached to Request for Judicial Notice in Support of Motion to Dismiss), is set for 2 September 9, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. This date shall be continued to September 30, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. 3
2. County Defendants shall have until and including December 2, 2010, in which to

4 file and serve their Anti-SLAPP motion under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 425.16. 5
3. This stipulation does not prevent or preclude the parties from seeking additional relief

6 from this Court, to amend this stipulation and order or otherwise. 7 8 Dated: August 18, 2010 9 10 11 Dated: August 18, 2010 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Stipulation to (1) Continue Date to Hear County 4

Respectfully submitted, Stephen M. Woodside, County Counsel By: /s/ Anne L. Keck Anne L. Keck, Deputy County Counsel Attorneys for County Defendants

Sally Steinhart, Plaintiff in pro per By: /s/ Sally Steinhart Sally Steinhart * [PROPOSED] ORDER *

*

PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, and with good cause appearing, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the current hearing date for the County Defendant's Motion to Dismiss the First Amended Complaint, and Motion for More Definite Statement (along with the concurrent Request for Judicial Notice re the Motion to Dismiss and Administrative Motion to File Under Seal Documents Attached to Request for Judicial Notice in Support of Motion to Dismiss) shall be continued from September 9, 2010, to September 30, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that County Defendants shall have up to and including December 2, 2010, in which to file and serve their Anti-SLAPP motion under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 425.16. 8/23/10 Date: _____________ ___________________________________ HONORABLE RICHARD SEEBORG United States District Judge

USDC Case No. CV-10-00841 RS

Defendants' Motion to Dismiss; (2) Extend County Defendants' Time to File Anti-Slapp Motion Under Cal. CCP Section 425.16(f); [proposed] Order