Prentice v. Dzurenda

Attorney General CHARLES D HOPPER (Bar No. 6346) Deputy Attorney General State of Nevada Office of the Attorney General 555 East Washington Avenue Suite 3900 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 (702) 486-3655 (phone) (702) 486-3773 (fax) Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Defendants James Dzurenda and Brian Williams 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 DISTRICT OF NEVADA ANTHONY PRENTICE, Case No. 2:18-01801-APG-VCF 12 Plaintiff, DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR v. EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE OPPOSITION NEVADA STATE OF, et al., TO PLAINTIFF’S EMERGENCY MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY 15 Defendants.

INJUNCTIONS (ECF NOS. 14, 15) 16 ORDER 17 Defendants, James Dzurenda and Brian Williams, by and through counsel, Aaron D. Ford, Nevada Attorney General, and Charles D Hopper, Deputy Attorney General, hereby file a Motion for Extension of time to file their Oppositions to Plaintiff’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction for Religious Diet (ECF No. 14) and for Religious Practice (ECF No. 15). In light of the exigent circumstances regarding the State of Nevada’s response and directives regarding COVID-19, the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) response to the directives, along with an unexpected network outage, Defendants respectfully request a 10 day extension to respond to Plaintiff’s Emergency Motions for Preliminary Injunctions (ECF Nos. 14 and 15).

26 / / / / / / / / / I. RELEVANT BACKGROUND AND FACTS 3 On November 8, 2019, Plaintiff filed an Emergency Motion for Preliminary Injunction for Religious Diet (ECF No. 14), and an Emergency Motion for Preliminary Injunction Religious Practice (ECF No. 15).

6 On June 8, 2020, the Court entered an Order Regarding Briefing on Motion for Preliminary Injunction, ordering Defendants to file a response to the ECF Nos. 14, 15, by June 22, 2020. (See ECF No. 20.)

9 In light of the administrative obstacles at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG), related to the State guidelines in response to COVID-19, which has affected the effectiveness and responsiveness of communications among the Defendants, and the OAG’s ability to efficiently obtain documents and evidence, Defendants request the extension.

13 An additional unexpected complication is an Internet outage affecting some state agencies state-wide. See e-mail dated June 22, 2020 from State of Nevada Enterprise IT Services (indicating fiber optic cable was severed) a copy is attached as Exhibit A.

16 Thus, Defendants respectfully request a ten (10) day extension of time from the current deadline of June 22, 2020, to file responses to Plaintiff’s Motions on or before July 2, 2020.1 II. DISCUSSION 19 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b)(1) governs extensions of time and provides as follows: 21 When an act may or must be done within a specified time, the court may, for good cause, extend the time: (A) with or without motion or 22 notice if the court acts, or if a request is made, before the original time or its extension expires; or (B) on motion made after the time 23 has expired if the party failed to act because of excusable neglect.

27 1 The Ninth Circuit’s COVID-19 Notice (as of 3/26/20) implies 60 days may be sufficient for brief filing extensions. The OAG believes 10 days to be sufficient in this case.

2 litigation….” Zivkovic v. S. California Edison Co., 302 F.3d 1080, 1087 (9th Cir. 2002) (citation omitted).

4 Defendants assert that the requisite good cause is present to warrant the requested extension of time. Defendants make the instant request in light of the current issues related to COVID-19 including Nevada Governor Sisolak’s March 31, 2020 Declaration of Emergency (Directive 010) – ‘Stay at Home Order’ and the Governor’s April 1, 2020 “Stay at Home” directive. In response, the Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) has directed all AOG employees to comply with the Governor’s orders, limit in-office work and to stay at home effective immediately while and until the OAG transitions to alternate, home-based working arrangements. In light of those directives and due to the difficulties the instant circumstances place on obtaining the necessary supporting documents, including declarations and correspondence between the OAG and Defendants, Defendants respectfully request that the Court extend the current deadline by 10 days, until July 2, 2020. The deadline to file replies would likewise be extended until July 16, 2010. Defendants’ request for 10 days will not hinder or prejudice Plaintiff’s or his case as he alleges to have been a practicing Qayin Thelemite for more than 10 years “since his conversion in 2008.” (ECF No.13 at p. 34 of 55) (Plaintiff’s page 32).

19 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / 1 CONCLUSION 2 For these reasons, Defendants respectfully request a ten (10) day extension to the ||current deadline to respond to Plaintiff's Emergency Motions for Preliminary Injunctions || (ECF Nos. 14, 15).

5 Proposed Schedule for Dispositive Deadline 6 Current Response Deadline June 22, 2020 7 Proposed Response Deadline July 2, 2020 8 DATED this 22nd day of June 2020.

9 AARON D. FORD 10 Attorney General 11 By: /s/ Charles D. Hopper CHARLES D. HOPPER, Bar No. 6346 12 Deputy Attorney General 13 Attorneys for Defendants || IT ISSO ORDERED: 17 a —— || UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE Il DATED: 6/23/2020 2 I certify that I am an employee of the State of Nevada, Office of the Attorney General, and that on June 22, 2020, I electronically filed the foregoing, DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF’S EMERGENCY MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTIONS (ECF NOS. 14, 15), via this Court’s electronic filing system to the following: 7 Anthony Prentice, #74880 C/o Law Librarian 8 High Desert State Prison PO Box 650 9 Indian Springs, NV 89070 [email protected] Plaintiff, Pro Se /s/ Caitie Collins 13 An employee of the Office of the Nevada Attorney General

EXHIBIT A

E-mail dated June 22, 2020 from State of Nevada Enterprise IT Services

EXHIBIT A From: Sandra L. Geyer To: EveryoneCarson Cc: Melissa K. Mendoza; Jennifer L. Ross Subject: FW: Enterprise IT Services — Notification - Network Issues *Update* Date: Monday, June 22, 2020 2:22:46 PM Attachments: image002.png Importance: High Please see the message from EITS.

From: Outside Agency List <OUTSIDEAGENCIES @LISTSERV.STATE.NV.US> On Behalf Of State Email Admin Sent: Monday, June 22, 2020 1:53 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Enterprise IT Services — Notification - Network Issues *Update* Importance: High Enterprise IT Services - Notification - Network Issues *Update* Outage Description The fiber cut has been identified and is due to a severed utility power line. Fiber restoration efforts are pending the utility provider restoration to ensure the area is safe to work in. We will continue working on this and will send updates as they are received and needed for this event.

Thank you for your time and patience Affected Users Everyone State Audience Everyone State User Action N/A Next Update N/A If you have any questions or problems, please contact the POC below and we can assist you.

Point of Contact EITS Help Desk: [email protected] 775-684-4333 Thank you — EITS Help Desk EITS Client Services — Help Desk State of Nevada | Department of Administration | Division of Enterprise IT Services T: (775) 684.4333 | F: (775) 684.4712 | E: [email protected] Website: http://itnv.gov/Helpdesks -- Request Portal: https://helpdesk.nv.gov/HEAT EnterpriselT To unsubscribe from the OUTSIDEAGENCIES list, click the following link: ?

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