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

10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 DISTRICT OF NEVADA ANTHONY PRENTICE, Case No. 2:18-01801-APG-VCF 13 Plaintiff, DEFFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR v. EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF’S NEVADA STATE OF, et al., EMERGENCY MOTIONS FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTIONS 16 Defendants. (ECF NOS. 14, 15) (Second Request) 18 ORDER 19 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). This request is made in light of exigent circumstances regarding counsel’s unavailability due to a medical emergency. 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 On June 22, 2020, the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) filed Motion for Extension of Time to Respond the ECF Nos. 14 and 15, due to complications related to COVID-19. (See ECF No. 21.)

12 On June 26, 2020, the Court granted the Motion (ECF No. 22).

13 In the meantime, counsel for Defendants, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Hopper became unavailable due to a medical emergency. The OAG is in the process of assigning another DAG to associate into this case to address existing deadlines.

16 Thus, Defendants respectfully request a ten (10) day extension of time from the current deadline of July 2, 2020, to file responses to Plaintiff’s Motions on or before July 13, 2020.

18 II. DISCUSSION 19 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b)(1) governs extensions of time and provides: 20 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 21 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 22 has expired if the party failed to act because of excusable neglect.

23 “The district court is given broad discretion in supervising the pretrial phase of litigation….” Zivkovic v. S. California Edison Co., 302 F.3d 1080, 1087 (9th Cir. 2002) (citation omitted). See also, Thorne v. United States, No. 1:14-CR-165 (LMB), 2017 WL 1363312, at *8 (E.D. Va. Apr. 12, 2017) (request for continuance was reasonable in context of right to speedy trial and lack of prejudice: “Because defense counsel requested a continuance with good cause and accommodating medical emergencies serves the ends of justice….”) (unreported).

1 Defendants asserts that the requisite good cause is present to warrant the requested ||}extension of time. As noted above, Defendants make the instant request in light of the || Defendants’ counsel’s unavailability due to a medical emergency. Accordingly, Defendants || respectfully request that the Court extend the current deadline by 10 days, until July 13, 2020. The deadline to file replies would likewise be extended until July 27, 2010. Defendants’ request for 10 days will not hinder or prejudice Plaintiff or his case as he alleges to have been 7 practicing Qayin Thelemite for more than 10 years “since his conversion in 2008.” (ECF || No.138 at p. 34 of 55 (Plaintiffs page 32).

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

13 Proposed Schedule for Dispositive Deadline 14 Current Response Deadline July 2, 2020 15 Proposed Response Deadline July 13, 2020 16 DATED this 2nd day of July 2020.

17 AARON D. FORD Attorney General By: /s/ Peter E. Dunkley 19 PETER E. DUNKELY, Bar No. 11110 20 Senior Deputy Attorney General CHARLES D. HOPPER, Bar No. 6346 91 Deputy Attorney General Attorneys for Defendants IT IS SO ORDERED: 25 ( Gor 26 U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE 97 7/6/2020 DATED: 2 I certify that I am an employee of the Office of the Attorney General, State of Nevada and that on this 2nd day of June, 2020, I caused a copy of the foregoing, DEFFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO FILE OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF’S EMERGENCY MOTIONS FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTIONS (ECF NOS. 14, 15) (Second Request), to be served, by U.S. District Court CM/ECF Electronic Filing on the following: Anthony Prentice, #74880 Care of HDSP Law Librarian High Desert State Prison P.O. Box 650 Indian Springs, NV 89070 [email protected] Plaintiff, Pro Se

/s/Connie L. Fondi An employee of the Office of the Nevada Attorney General