Wang v. Nevada System of Higher Education

Filing 200

ORDER: Since the Court continued the scheduled trial, the Court has amended Temporary General Order 2020-03 ("GO 2020-03") to postpone jury trials until further notice in light of the sustained increase in the COVID-19 transmission rat es in the State of Nevada. (See attached Third Amended Temporary General Order 2020-03.) GO 2020-03 further supports the Court's decision to continue trial in this case. To the extent Plaintiff seeks reconsideration of the Court's decision to continue trial (ECF No. 199 ) Plaintiff's response/motion is denied. Signed by Chief Judge Miranda M. Du on 11/13/2020. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - PAV)

Case 3:18-cv-00075-MMD-CLB Document 200 Filed 11/13/20 Page 1 of 2
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NOVEMBER 12, 2020

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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DISTRICT OF NEVADA
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IN RE: COURT OPERATIONS UNDER THE
EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES CREATED
BY COVID-19 AND RELATED
CORONAVIRUS

THIRD AMENDED TEMPORARY
GENERAL ORDER 2020-03

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In response to the recent outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”)

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in the District of Nevada, the Court has issued a series of general orders to address the

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Court’s efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. See Temporary General Orders

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2020-02, 2020-03, 2020-04, 2020-05, 2020-08, 2020-9.1 To reflect the Court’s

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commitment to gradually resuming in-person proceedings and jury trials, on August 27,

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2020, the Court issued an amended order to allow jury trials to proceed in accordance

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with the Court’s internal plan for resuming jury trials. See, e.g., Temporary General

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Orders 2020-03 (as amended), 2020-08. However, given the pattern of sustained

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increase in COVID-19 transmission rates in the State of Nevada,2 the Court has once

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Available at https://www.nvd.uscourts.gov/court-information/rules-andorders/general-orders/.
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For example, daily new cases by specimen collection date are at their secondhighest level of any point in the pandemic, and have been increasing rapidly as of late.
See Nevada Health Response, https://nvhealthresponse.nv.gov/ (last visited Nov. 10,
2020) (by navigating to the table, and then selecting the “Confirmed Case Trends” tab).
Further, the highest number of daily active cases are in Clark and Washoe County,
where this District’s courthouses are located. See id. (by navigating to the table,
selecting the “Statistics by County” tab, and then sorting by “Cases per 100,000”). Both
Clark and Washoe counties are also showing increases in their case rate per 100,000,
and test positivity rate, approaching or exceeding their highest levels to date. See id. (by
navigating to the table, selecting the ”County Tracker Trends” tab, and then viewing
both the “Case Rate per 100,000” and “Test Positivity Rate” tabs). Moreover, as to

Case 3:18-cv-00075-MMD-CLB Document 200 Filed 11/13/20 Page 2 of 2

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again determined that jury trials must be further postponed, and each presiding judge

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will address the need for any trial continuance in their individual cases.

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IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that all jury trials will be postponed until

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further notice, and the presiding judges will address the need for any trial continuance

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in their individual cases.

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DATED THIS 12th Day of November 2020.

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MIRANDA M. DU, CHIEF JUDGE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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Washoe County, “[d]ue to elevated transmission of COVID-19 in our community,
Washoe County Health District’s recommendation is that public gatherings be limited to
25 or fewer and private gatherings be limited to 10 or fewer.” Washoe County, Nevada,
COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus), https://www.washoecounty.us/health/programs-andservices/ephp/communicable-diseases-and-epidemiology/educational-materials/COVID19.php (last visited Nov. 10, 2020). Because jury selection tends to involve bringing
more than 25 people together indoors, allowing jury trials to proceed would conflict with
this prevailing public-health guidance. Finally, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak recently
announced a directive he calls “Stay at Home 2.0.” At a press conference on November
10, 2020, he said:
For the next two weeks, we must mimic our stay-at-home behaviors from this
past spring,” Sisolak said at a press conference Tuesday evening. “If we do so,
we believe we can begin to turn around things in two weeks without having to
place increased restrictions on our businesses or our schools.”
Riley Snyder and Megan Messerly, Sisolak urges Nevadans to limit nonessential travel
under ‘Stay at Home 2.0’ or face further restrictions in two weeks, THE NEVADA
INDEPENDENT, https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/sisolak-urges-nevadans-tolimit-nonessential-activities-under-stay-at-home-2-0-or-face-further-restrictions-in-twoweeks (last visited November 12, 2020).
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