Betten v. Berryhill

Filing 24

ORDER granting 23 Motion to Extend Time; Re: 21 Motion to Remand to Agency. Responses are extended 30 days. Signed by Magistrate Judge Nancy J. Koppe on 12/6/2018. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - JM)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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DISTRICT OF NEVADA

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ROBERT D. BETTEN,

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Case No.: 2:18-cv-00536-KJD-NJK

Plaintiff(s),

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v.

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NANCY A. BERRYHILL,

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ORDER

Defendant(s).

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The Court provides an extended briefing period to counsel in Social Security cases as a

17 matter of course. See Docket No. 16 at 3-4. Pending before the Court is the Commissioner’s
18 unopposed motion to extend that briefing schedule by a whopping 45 additional days. Docket No.
19 23. The unopposed motion is premised on counsel being “out of the office unexpectedly,” 1 and
20 that counsel has other cases on which she is focussed. The Court is cognizant of the difficulties in
21 managing “competing workload demands,” but it appears to have become a matter of routine for
22 the Commissioner to point to such issues in seeking extensions.2 This issue needs to be rectified,
23 as the Court will not continue to indulge such requests ad infinitum.
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The unopposed motion identifies neither the reason nor the duration of that absence.

To be clear, this is not an issue isolated to the attorney assigned to this case, and the Court
is not impugning her through this order. Instead, this appears to be a common issue for the various
28 attorneys who represent the Commissioner in this Court.
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In the circumstances of this case, the Court will GRANT in part and DENY in part the

2 unopposed motion. The deadline to respond to Plaintiff’s motion to reverse or remand is
3 EXTENDED by 30 days. As noted above, the Commissioner should not expect that the Court
4 will grant future requests based on the apparent over-staffing of its attorneys. Within 7 days of the
5 issuance of this order, counsel shall file a proof of service indicating that she has provided a copy
6 of this order to Deborah Lee Stachel, Regional Chief Counsel, Region IX.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.

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Dated: December 6, 2018

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______________________________
Nancy J. Koppe
United States Magistrate Judge

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