Johnson v. HDSP et al

Filing 70

ORDER granting 69 Unopposed Motion to Extend Dispositive Motion Deadline; Motions due by 3/4/2021. Signed by Magistrate Judge Elayna J. Youchah on 2/4/2021. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - HAM)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 AARON D. FORD Attorney General KATLYN M. BRADY (Bar No. 14173) Senior Deputy Attorney General State of Nevada Office of the Attorney General 555 E. Washington Ave., Ste. 3900 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 (702) 486-0661 (phone) (702) 486-3773 (fax) Email: katlynbrady@ag.nv.gov Attorneys for Defendants James Dzurenda, Julio Calderin, Jennifer Nash, Brian Williams, Jeremy Bean, Taylor Paryga, Anthony Ritz, Pamela Del Porto, Harold Wickham, Sheryl Foster, Renee Baker, and Benjamin Estill 11 12 13 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 14 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 15 LAUSTEVEION JOHNSON, Case No. 2:18-cv-01078-JCM-EJY Plaintiff, 16 17 v. 18 HIGH DESERT STATE PRISON, et al., DEFENDANTS’ UNOPPOSED MOTION TO EXTEND THE DISPOSITIVE MOTION DEADLINE [FIFTH REQUEST]1 Defendants. 19 20 21 22 Defendants James Dzurenda, Julio Calderin, Jennifer Nash, Brian Williams, 23 Jeremy Bean, Taylor Paryga, Anthony Ritz, Pamela Del Porto, Harold Wickham, Sheryl 24 Foster, Renee Baker, and Benjamin Estill, by and through counsel, Aaron D. Ford, Nevada 25 Attorney General, and Katlyn M. Brady, Senior Deputy Attorney General, of the State of 26 /// 27 1 28 Although this is Defendants’ fifth request, this is the second request filed by Defendants’ new counsel. Both of the extension requests filed by counsel were agreed to by Plaintiff due to the COVID restrictions at Southern Desert Correctional Center. 30 Page 1 of 6 1 Nevada, Office of the Attorney General, request this Court grant Defendants’ unopposed 2 motion to extend the dispositive motion deadline. 3 I. INTRODUCTION 4 Defendants respectfully request this Court extend the dispositive motion deadline 5 from February 4, 2021, to March 4, 2021. Good cause supports this request because new 6 counsel has been unable to complete the dispositive motion due to her heavy caseload. 7 Further, counsel spent a significant amount of time out of the office quarantining due to a 8 potential COVID exposure. Additionally, Plaintiff has been unable to complete a dispositive 9 motion due to the COVID restrictions at Southern Desert Correctional Center (SDCC). 10 II. BACKGROUND 11 This is a prisoner civil rights matter. Plaintiff Lausteveion Johnson (Johnson) is an 12 inmate in the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC). Currently, Johnson is housed 13 at SDCC, which has imposed restrictions on inmate movements to prevent against the 14 spread of COVID-19. 15 On February 2, 2021, the parties engaged in a meet and confer to discuss multiple 16 matters across three cases. Declaration of counsel attached as Exhibit A. Counsel explained 17 to Johnson that she had been unable to complete the dispositive motion deadline because 18 she had been required to complete three summary judgments over the last two weeks and 19 had a fourth motion for summary judgment due February 8th.2 Accordingly, the dispositive 20 motion in this matter would have been counsel’s fifth dispositive motion in less than 21 4 weeks. Id. Further, counsel has been involved in responding to two emergency motions 22 regarding High Desert State Prison (HDSP)’s lockdown procedures.3 23 During the phone call, Johnson noted that he was recovering from an illness and 24 that due to the SDCC’s lockdown restrictions, he had been unable to complete a dispositive 25 motion in this matter. Id. Further, the parties discussed that Johnson has an opposition to 26 a motion for summary judgment due in another matter. Id. Accordingly, the parties agreed 27 2 28 The cases are: 2:17-cv-00641-JCM-BNW, 2:17-cv-00431-JCM-VCF, 2:17-cv-02500JCM-NJK, and 2:19-cv-00326-JAD-BNW. 3 2:20-cv-01768-RFB-EJY and 2:20-cv-00518-RFB-VCF. 30 Page 2 of 6 1 to extend the dispositive motion deadline 30 days to allow both sides to complete a 2 dispositive motion. Johnson agreed that Defendants would file the unopposed motion in 3 this matter. 4 III. INFORMATION REQUIRED BY LOCAL RULE 26-4 5 Defendants provide the following information in accordance with Local Rule 26-4. 6 A. 7 The parties have completed the following discovery to date. 8 On October 15, 2019, Defendant Estill served Answers to Plaintiff’s Interrogatories. 9 On October 15, 2019, Defendant Baker served Answers to Plaintiff’s Interrogatories. 10 On October 16, 2019, Defendant Williams served Answers to Plaintiff’s 11 Discovery Completed Interrogatories. 12 On October 18, 2019, Defendant Nash served Answers to Plaintiff’s Interrogatories. 13 On October 21, 2019, Defendant Calderin served Answers to Plaintiff’s 14 Interrogatories. 15 16 On October 21, 2019, Defendant Del Porto served Answers to Plaintiff’s Interrogatories. 17 18 On October 22, 2019, Defendant Estill served Responses to Plaintiff’s first set of Requests for Production of Documents. 19 20 On November 5, 2019, Defendant Nash served Responses to Plaintiff’s first set of Requests for Admissions. 21 22 On November 6, 2019, Defendant Williams served Responses to Plaintiff’s first set of Requests for Admissions. 23 24 On November 7, 2019, Defendant Calderin served Responses to Plaintiff’s first set of Requests for Admissions. 25 On November 7, 2019, Defendant Del Porto served Responses to Plaintiff’s first set 26 of Requests for Admissions. 27 /// 28 /// 30 Page 3 of 6 1 2 On November 8, 2019, Defendant Del Porto served Responses to Plaintiff’s first set of Requests for Production of Documents. 3 B. 4 No additional discovery is needed in this matter. The remaining case management 5 Discovery That Remains To Be Completed deadlines are: 6 Dispositive motion deadline: February 4, 2020 7 Joint pretrial order (if no dispositive motions filed): March 4, 2021 8 C. 9 The dispositive motion deadline was not completed for several reasons. For 10 Defendants, counsel was unable to complete the dispositive motion deadline as she has 11 been required to complete four motions for summary judgment over the last three weeks 12 and is additionally working on two emergency motions for preliminary injunctions. 13 14 Reasons Why The Deadlines Were Not Satisfied For Plaintiff, the deadline cannot be satisfied due to SDCC’s lockdown restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic and his recent illness. 15 D. 16 Dispositive motion deadline March 4, 2021 17 Joint pretrial order (if no dispositive motions filed): April 4, 2021 18 E. 19 Good cause supports granting this unopposed request to extend the dispositive 20 motion deadline. As counsel has been required to complete numerous substantive motions 21 over a short time, counsel has been unable to complete the dispositive motion in this 22 matter. Similarly, Plaintiff has been unable to complete a dispositive motion due to SDCC’s 23 COVID restrictions. Proposed Deadlines Good Cause Supports The Request 24 There will be no prejudice caused by granting this extension. Both parties have 25 agreed that an extension is necessary to ensure the claims can be adequately briefed for 26 this Court. Further, Plaintiff has indicated that he has yet to receive requested research or 27 items from the SDCC Law Library. As a result, Plaintiff has been unable to complete the 28 /// 30 Page 4 of 6 1 dispositive motion. Finally, there is no trial date in this matter and thus, there is no 2 prejudice in granting this extension request. 3 IV. CONCLUSION 4 Defendants respectfully request an extension to complete the dispositive motion 5 deadline from February 4, 2021, to March 4, 2021. The parties have agreed an extension in 6 this matter is necessary due to counsel’s heavy caseload and SDCC’s COVID restrictions. 7 8 9 10 11 12 DATED this 4th day of February, 2021. AARON D. FORD Attorney General By: /s/ Katlyn M. Brady KATLYN M. BRADY (Bar No. 14173) Senior Deputy Attorney General Attorneys for Defendants 13 14 15 IT IS SO ORDERED. 16 17 18 19 ________________________________ U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE Dated: February 4, 2021 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 30 Page 5 of 6 Case 2:18-cv-01078-JCM-EJY Document 69 Filed 02/04/21 Page 6 of 6 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 I certify that I am an employee of the State of Nevada, Office of the Attorney General, 3 and that on February 4, 2021, I electronically filed the foregoing DEFENDANTS’ 4 UNOPPOSED MOTION TO EXTEND THE DISPOSITIVE MOTION DEADLINE 5 [FIFTH REQUEST] via this Court’s electronic filing system. Parties who are registered 6 with this Court’s electronic filing system will be served electronically. For those parties 7 not registered, service was made by emailing a copy at Las Vegas, Nevada, addressed to 8 the following: 9 10 11 12 Lausteveion Johnson, #82138 Southern Desert Correctional Center P.O. Box 208 Indian Springs, Nevada 89070 Email: sdcclawlibrary@ag.nv.gov Plaintiff, Pro Se 13 14 15 /s/ Carol A. Knight CAROL A. KNIGHT, an employee of the Office of the Nevada Attorney General 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 30 Page 6 of 6

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