Howard v. Cox

Attorney General AUSTIN T. BARNUM (Bar No. 15174) Deputy Attorney General State of Nevada Office of the Attorney General 555 East Washington Ave., Suite 3900 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 (702) 486-0661 (phone) (702) 486-3773 (fax) Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Defendants Minor Adams, Romeo Aranas, Sonya Clark, James G. Cox, James Dzurenda, Jo Gentry, Kyle Groover, Benedicto Gutierrez, Julio Mesa, Wilfredo Piscos, Conrad Porter, Francisco Sanchez, David Tristan, Joselo Vicuna and Dean Willett 11 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 DISTRICT OF NEVADA REGINALD C. HOWARD, Case No. 2:17-cv-01002-JAD-BNW 14 Plaintiff, DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO VACATE THE ORDER v. SCHEDULING SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE (ECF NO. 81) AND GREG COX, et al., RESCHEDULE (FIRST REQUEST) 17 Defendants.

18 Defendants, Minor Adams, Romeo Aranas, Sonya Clark, James G. Cox, James Dzurenda, Jo Gentry, Kyle Groover, Benedicto Gutierrez, Julio Mesa, Wilfredo Piscos, Conrad Porter, Francisco Sanchez, David Tristan, Joselo Vicuna, and Dean Willett, by and through counsel, Aaron D. Ford, Nevada Attorney General, and Austin T. Barnum, Deputy Attorney General, hereby submit this motion to vacate and reschedule the settlement conference currently set for November 19, 2021, at 09:00 a.m. to the first half of December 2021 on a date convenient to the Court. The Motion is based upon the attached memorandum of points and authorities, the pleadings herein on file, and any other evidence the Court determines is appropriate.

27 /// /// 2 Defendant respectfully requests this Court to vacate the scheduled settlement conference and reschedule to the first half of December 2021 at the Court’s convenience.

4 The Court ordered a settlement conference and scheduled said conference for November 19, 2021. ECF No. 81. The Court’s order mandated parties with settlement authority to attend. Id. at 2:1-10. The Tort Claims Manager, a non-party member of the defense, retains settlement authority for monetary settlements above $500. This makes the Tort Claims Manager a required attendee. The Tort Claims Manager has three separate Early Mediation Conferences with the Federal District Court scheduled for the same day. The Torts Claims Manager advised their schedule is more open in the first half of December 2021.

12 Additionally, the previous Deputy Attorney General and Senior Deputy Attorney General assigned to this case left the employ of the State of Nevada’s Office of the Attorney General a short time before this order from the Court. Undersigned counsel returned to the office from long-term military orders on October 4, 2021. Counsel was provided a full case load on the same day and reviewed this case on October 5, 2021.

17 II. LEGAL ARGUMENT 18 Defendant respectfully requests this Court vacate the order scheduling a settlement conference because good cause exists. District Courts have inherent power to control their dockets. Hamilton Copper & Steel Corp. v. Primary Steel, Inc., 898 F.2d 1428, 1429 (9th Cir. 1990) (citation excluded). “[T]he court may, for good cause, extend time . . . if a request is made, before the original time or its extension expires.” FED. R. OF CIV. PROC. 6(b)(1)(A).

23 “A motion . . . to extend any date set by . . . scheduling order must . . . be supported by a showing of good cause for the extension.” Nevada Local R. 26-3. The Tort Claims Manager is a required attendee to this conference. This is the only person authorized to settle claims over $500. This person has three separate Early Mediation Conferences scheduled by the court on the same day. Additionally, undersigned counsel was assigned this case and a full case load. Undersigned counsel will benefit from the additional time to properly prepare ||/for this settlement conference and his role as legal adviser to the Defendants and ||individuals authorized to settle this case.

3 CONCLUSION 4 Defendant respectfully requests this Court vacate the order scheduling a settlement ||conference and reschedule the settlement conference in the first half of December 2021.

6 DATED this 13th day of October, 2021.

7 Respectfully submitted, 8 AARON D. FORD 9 Attorney General By: /s/ Austin T. Barnum 10 Austin T. Barnum (Bar No. 15174) Deputy Attorney General 11 Attorneys for Defendants 17 Order IT IS ORDERED that ECF No. 83 is GRANTED. The Settlement 18 Conference scheduled for 11/19/2021 is VACATED and 19 RESCHEDULED to 12/6/2021 at 9:00 a.m.

20 On 11/29/2021, parties and counsel must send their confidential written evaluation statement and preferred e-mail address for the 21 Zoom invitation to judicial clerk Radia Amari at 99 [email protected].

23 A pre-Settlement Conference telephonic conference is set for 12/3/2021 at 3:00 p.m.

25 IT ISSO ORDERED 26 DATED: 4:51 pm, October 14, 2021 27 ug le weet 28 BRENDA WEKSLER UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 I certify that I am an employee of the State of Nevada, Office of the Attorney General, and that on October 13, 2021, I electronically filed the foregoing DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO VACATE THE ORDER SCHEDULING SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE (ECF NO. 81) AND RESCHEDULE (FIRST REQUEST), via this Court’s electronic filing system. Parties who are registered with this Court’s electronic filing system will be served electronically.

8 Reginald Howard, #13891 Ely State Prison 9 P.O. Box 1989 Ely, Nevada 89301 10 [email protected] Plaintiff, Pro Se /s/ Sheri Regalado 12 Sheri Regalado, an employee of the Office of the Nevada Attorney General