Christian and Missionary Alliance Foundation, Inc. et al v. Burwell et al

Filing 36

ORDER granting 34 Joint Motion for Extension of Time for Defendants to Respond to the Complaint, Extension of Time to Meet and Confer, and Extension of Time for Defendants to File a Surreply, extending deadlines as follows: Defendants shall respond to 1 Plaintiffs' Complaint within thirty (30) days of the Court ruling on the pending 20 Motion for Preliminary Injunction; the parties shall meet and confer for the purpose of filing a joint Case Management Report within thirty (30) days o f Defendants filing a response to 1 Plaintiffs' Complaint; on or before 1/9/2015, Defendants collectively may file a surreply, not to exceed five (5) pages in length, to Plaintiffs' reply to Defendants' Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction. Signed by Magistrate Judge Carol Mirando on 12/19/2014.(ALB)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
FORT MYERS DIVISION
CHRISTIAN AND MISSIONARY
ALLIANCE FOUNDATION, INC.,
et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.

Case No: 2:14-cv-580-FtM-29CM

SYLVIA MATHEWS BURWELL,
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT
OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES, THOMAS E. PEREZ,
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT
OF LABOR, JACOB J. LEW and
THE UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF THE
TREASURY,
Defendants.
ORDER
Before the Court is a Joint Motion for Extension of Time for Defendants to
Respond to the Complaint, Extension of Time to Meet and Confer, and Extension of
Time for Defendants to File a Surreply (“Motion”) (Doc. 34), filed on December 10,
2014. The parties first request that the Court extend the deadline for Defendants to
respond to Plaintiffs’ Complaint (Doc. 1) until thirty (30) days after the Court rules
on the pending Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Doc. 20). As grounds for this
extension, the parties “believe that such an extension will serve the interests of
judicial economy and conserve the resources of the parties,” because if Defendants
were required to respond to the Complaint while the Motion for Preliminary

Injunction is pending they would “largely reiterate” the same arguments raised in
their opposition to the Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Doc. 29). Doc. 34 at 1.
Therefore, the parties contend, the Court’s ruling on the Motion for Preliminary
Injunction will significantly impact Defendants’ response to Plaintiffs’ Complaint.

Id. at 1-2.
The parties also request that the Court extend the time for completing the case
management conference until thirty (30) days after Defendants respond to Plaintiffs’
Complaint, and state that such an extension will not affect any other deadlines
because neither party intends to seek discovery.1 Id. at 2.
Finally, the parties jointly request that the deadline for Defendants to file a
surreply to the Motion for Preliminary Injunction be extended an additional eleven
(11) days, up to and including January 9, 2015, because the deadline for Defendants
to file their surreply, currently December 29, 2014, falls within a period of time during
which counsel for Defendants will be on vacation. Id. Upon review of the Motion,
and in light of the joint filing, the Court finds good cause and will grant the extensions
requested by the Motion.

1

The parties have not yet completed the case management meeting, so there is not a
Case Management and Scheduling Order entered in this case.

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ACCORDINGLY, it is hereby
ORDERED:
1.

The Joint Motion for Extension of Time for Defendants to Respond to

the Complaint, Extension of Time to Meet and Confer, and Extension of Time for
Defendants to File a Surreply (Doc. 34) is GRANTED as follows:
a. Within thirty (30) days of the Court ruling on the pending Motion
for Preliminary Injunction (Doc. 20), Defendants shall respond to
Plaintiffs’ Complaint (Doc. 1);
b. Within thirty (30) days of Defendants filing a response to
Plaintiffs’ Complaint, the parties shall meet and confer for the
purpose of filing a joint Case Management Report;
c. On or before January 9, 2015, Defendants collectively may file a
surreply, not to exceed five (5) pages in length, to Plaintiffs’ reply
to Defendants’ Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Motion for Preliminary
Injunction.
DONE and ORDERED in Fort Myers, Florida on this 19th day of December,
2014.

Copies:
Counsel of record

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