Hill v. Wynn Resorts Limited

JOSHUA A. SLIKER, ESQ.

1 Nevada Bar No. 12493 HOLLY E. WALKER, ESQ.

2 Nevada Bar No. 14295 JACKSON LEWIS P.C.

300 S. Fourth Street, Suite 900 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 Telephone: (702) 921-2460 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Attorneys for Defendant Wynn Las Vegas, LLC 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 DISTRICT OF NEVADA WEBB HILL, an individual, Case No. 2:21-cv-02113-GMN-DJA 11 Plaintiff, DEFENDANT WYNN LAS VEGAS, vs. LLC’S MOTION FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME TO RESPOND WYNN LAS VEGAS, LLC d/b/a Encore Las TO PLAINTIFF’S FIRST AMENDED Vegas, a Domestic Corporation, 14 COMPLAINT (ECF No. 16) Defendant, 15 (FIRST REQUEST) 17 Defendant Wynn Las Vegas, LLC d/b/a Encore Las Vegas (“Defendant”), by and through its attorneys, Jackson Lewis P.C., hereby submits the instant Motion for an Extension of Time to Respond to Plaintiff Webb Hill’s First Amended Complaint, to April 15, 2022. This Motion is based on the following Memorandum of Points and Authorities, all pleadings and documents on file with the Court, and any oral argument that the Court deems proper.

22 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES 23 I. BACKGROUND 24 This is an employment termination case in which Plaintiff alleges discrimination and retaliation claims pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq., the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., and state law. Plaintiff filed his Complaint on November 29, 2021. ECF No. 1. On January 26, 2022, the parties stipulated to allow Plaintiff to file a First Amended Complaint which dismissed Wynn Resorts, Limited, as a party, and named Wynn Las Vegas, LLC as a defendant. ECF No. 13. The Court granted the stipulation on January 28, 2022. ECF No. 15. Defendant’s Counsel accepted service of the First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) on behalf of Defendant on February 1, 2022. Defendant’s response to the FAC is currently due on April 1, 2022.

7 On March 9, 2022, Plaintiff’s former counsel, Jenny Foley, filed a motion to withdraw as counsel. ECF No. 24. The Court granted Ms. Foley’s motion on March 29, 2022. ECF No. 25.

9 Accordingly, Plaintiff is currently proceeding pro se and must notify the Court as to whether he intends to proceed pro se or retain counsel by April 19, 2022. Id. 11 II. LEGAL ARGUMENT 12 FRCP 6(b)(1) provides that when an act must be done within a specified time, the Court “may, for good cause, extend the time . . . with or without motion or notice if the court acts, or if a request is made, before the original time or its extension expires . . . .” “Good cause” is not a rigorous or high standard, and courts have construed the test broadly. Ahanchion v. Kenan Pictures, 624 F.3d 1253 (9th Cir. 2010). Rule 6(b) “[is] to be liberally construed to effectuate the general purpose of seeing that cases are tried on the merits.” Rodgers v. Watt, 722 F.2d 456, 459 (9th Cir. 1983); Wong v. Regents of the Univ. of Calif., 410 F.3d 1052, 1060 (9th Cir. 2005) (“Of course, courts should not mindlessly enforce deadlines.”). Indeed, the “good cause” standard “primarily considers the diligence of the party seeking the amendment.” In re W. States Wholesale Nat. Gas Antitrust Litig., 715 F.3d 716, 737 (9th Cir. 2013).

22 Here, good cause exists to extend the deadline for Defendant to respond to the FAC because Defendant requires additional time to review and finalize its response to the FAC. Specifically, Defendant’s Counsel is travelling from March 29, 2022 to April 3, 2022 for the purpose of handling depositions in another case, and the client representative for Defendant is currently out of the office and will not return until approximately April 6, 2022. Accordingly, Defendant will need sufficient time to review and finalize its response to the FAC. Further, Defendant brings the instant motion || Ahanchian, 624 F.3d at 1259 (requests for extensions of time made before the applicable deadlin || has passed should generally be granted in the absence of bad faith or prejudice to adverse party) || Because Plaintiff's former counsel withdrew from this case and Plaintiff is currently proceedin; || pro se, Defendant was unable to secure a stipulation for an extension of time and instead files thi || motion out of an abundance of caution.

6 Accordingly, good cause exists to grant Defendant’s Motion and allow Defendant up to ||including April 15, 2022 to respond to Plaintiff's First Amended Complaint. See Doyle v. Gittere || No. 3:00-cv-00101-RCJ-WGC, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 224478, at *2 (D. Nev. Dec. 1, 2020 || (finding good cause for extending time for defendant to respond to motion where defendant’ || counsel had obligations in other cases); Michaud v. Baker, 3:17-cv-00718-MMD-CBC, 2019 WI 11 || 1292679, *1 (D. Nev. March 20, 2019) (citing Canup v. Miss. Valley Barge Line Co., 31 F.R.D || 282, 283 (D. Pa. 1962) (explaining that the “practicalities of life” (such as an attorney’s “conflictin; || professional engagements” or personal commitments such as vacations, family activities, illnesses || or death) often necessitate an enlargement of time to comply with a court deadline)).

15 Dated this lst day of April, 2022.

JACKSON LEWIS P.C. /s/ Joshua A. Sliker 17 JOSHUA A. SLIKER, ESQ.

Nevada Bar No. 12493 18 HOLLY E. WALKER, ESQ.

Nevada Bar No. 14295 19 300 S. Fourth Street, Suite 900 20 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 Attorneys for Defendant Wynn Las Vegas, LLC 23 For good cause appearing therein, IT IS SO ORDERED.

95 DATED: April 4, 2022 26 IP LX) /) aA IO O 27 DANIEL J. ALBREGIS 28 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 I HEREBY CERTIFY that I am an employee of Jackson Lewis P.C., and that on this 1st day of April, 2022, I caused to be served via U.S. Mail, a true and correct copy of the above foregoing DEFENDANT WYNN LAS VEGAS, LLC’S MOTION FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME TO RESPOND TO PLAINTIFF’S FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT (ECF No. 16) properly addressed to the following: Webb Hill 5129 Mountain View Drive Las Vegas, NV 89146 [email protected] Plaintiff in Proper Person /s/ Kelley Chandler 12 Employee of Jackson Lewis P.C.

18 4891-7476-0730, v. 1