Vanhoose v. Old Town Trolley Tours of Savannah, Inc. et al

Filing 10

ORDER granting 6 Motion to Stay for 180 days. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 7/6/17. (wwp)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
RUBY VANHOOSE,

)
)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
OLD TOWN TROLLEY TOURS
)
OF SAVANNAH, INC.,
)
HISTORIC TOURS OF AMERICA, )
INC., BUGGY BUS, INC., and XYZ )
ENTITY d/b/a OLD TOWN
)
TROLLEY TOURS OF
)
SAVANNAH, INC.,
)
)
Defendants.
)

CV417-91

ORDER

Counsel for plaintiff Ruby Vanhoose moves for an emergency stay
of all proceedings for 180 days due to Vanhoose’s death on April 28,
2017. Doc. 6. Defendants do not oppose the stay, responding only to
emphasize their disagreement with plaintiff’s characterization of the
facts.

Doc. 9.

Accordingly, the motion is deemed unopposed and

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GRANTED.1
SO ORDERED, this 6th day of July, 2017.

______________________________________
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

The Court notes that Fed. R. Civ. P. 25 gives a party 90 days to file a motion
for substitution when a party dies. However, because plaintiff’s 180-day-stay
request is unopposed and “[t]he District Court has broad discretion to stay
proceedings as an incident to its power to control its own docket”, the 180-day
stay is granted. Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 683 (1997). If further extensions
are necessary to accommodate the probate of plaintiff’s estate, the Court will
administratively close the case, unless the parties show cause why it should not
be administratively closed. See Lomax v. Woodmen of World Life Ins. Soc'y, 228
F. Supp. 2d 1360, 1366 (N.D. Ga. 2002) (“Administratively closing a case is a
docket control device used by the Court for statistical purposes and does not
prejudice the rights of the parties to this litigation in any manner.”)
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