Speaks v. Employers Holdings Inc.

1 || JOSHUA A. SLIKER, ESQ Nevada Bar No. 12493 ||KATLYN M. BRADY, ESQ.

4 Nevada Bar No. 14173 JACKSON LEWIS P.C.

4 South Fourth Street, Suite 900 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 || Telephone: (702) 921-2460 Email: [email protected] 6 [email protected] Attorneys for Defendant Employers Holdings Inc. 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 DISTRICT OF NEVADA TAMARA SPEAKS, Case No. 2:23-cv-00068-GMN-BNW 12 Plaintiff, 13 vs. DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR EMPLOYERS HOLDINGS INC., DOES I EXTENSION OF TIME TO RESPOND T MPLAINT || THROUGH X, INCLUSIVE, AND ROE, oco 15 Defendants. (FIRST REQUEST) 17 Defendant Employers Holdings, Inc. “Defendant” or “EHI”), by and through its counse || the law firm of Jackson Lewis P.C., hereby brings the instant Motion for Extension of Time 1 || Respond to Plaintiff's Complaint. Defendant’s response to the Complaint is currently due o || January 19, 2023. Defendant seeks an extension up to an including to February 10, 2023. This.

21 || the first request by Defendant to extend time to file its response to the Complaint. This Motion | || based on the following Memorandum of Points and Authorities, all pleadings and documents o || file with the Court, and any oral argument that the Court deems proper.

24 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES 25 I. BACKGROUND 26 This case appears to be an employment discrimination case brought by Plaintiff □□□□□ || Speaks against Employer Holdings, Inc., a Defendant that has never employed Ms. Speaks. Plainti || attempted to serve the Summons and Complaint on Defendant’s counsel’s office □□□□□□ || authorization.

3 On January 19, 2023, Defendant file a motion to extend time to respond to Plaintiff || Complaint. ECF No. 4. This Court denied the motion without prejudice and ordered the parties |;meet and confer regarding the request. ECF No. 5. Defendant promptly contacted Plaintt: || regarding its request for an extension of time to respond to Plaintiff's Complaint. On January 2: || 2023, Plaintiff stated she agreed to extend Defendant’s responsive deadline to February 10, 202: || Exhibit 1. Accordingly, Defendant now resubmits its request to extend its responsive deadline t || February 10, 2023.

10 Il. LEGAL ARGUMENT 11 Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b)(1) provides that when an act must be done within a specified time, th || Court “may, for good cause, extend the time . . . with or without motion or notice if the court act || or if a request is made, before the original time or its extension expires . . . .”[1] “Good cause” ||not a rigorous or high standard, and courts have construed the test broadly. Ahanchion v. Kena || Pictures, 624 F.3d 1253 (9th Cir. 2010). Rule 6(b) “[is] to be liberally construed to effectuate th || general purpose of seeing that cases are tried on the merits.” Rodgers v. Watt, 722 F.2d 456, 45 || (9th Cir. 1983); Wong v. Regents of the Univ. of Calif, 410 F.3d 1052, 1060 (9th Cir. 2005) “C 1g ||course, courts should not mindlessly enforce deadlines.”). Indeed, the “good cause” standar || “primarily considers the diligence of the party seeking the amendment.” Jn re W. States Wholesa || Nat. Gas Antitrust Litig., 715 F.3d 716, 737 (9th Cir. 2013). In general, an application for extensic || of time under Rule 6(b)(1)(A) will be granted in the absence of bad faith. Ahanchion, 624 F.3d | || 1259 (quoting 4B CHARLES ALAN WRIGHT & ARTHUR R. MILLER, FEDERAL PRACTICE AN || PROCEDURE § 1165 (3d ed. 2004)) (internal quotations omitted).

Here, there is good cause to extend the time for Defendant to file its response to Plaintiff Complaint to February 10, 2023. Defendant’s Counsel is investigating the allegations in Plaintiff Complaint and working to prepare Defendant’s response. However, Counsel has been delayed ||doing so due to numerous depositions and settlement conferences in other matters. In additio: Defendant’s Counsel will be out of the office and travelling internationally from January 22, 202 || through January 29, 2023 and does not anticipate having consistent and reliable access to telephon ||and email. Defendant’s Counsel will also need time to confer with Defendant regarding th || response.

4 As such, Defendant requires time to have a fair and sufficient opportunity to investigate an || evaluate these matters and prepare its response. Accordingly, Defendant expressly reserves the □□□□ ||to assert defenses, including without limitation, motions under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b), as no suc ||motion is made here and therefore none are waived. Szanto v. Marina Marketplace 1, LLC, Ne || 3:11-cv-00394-RCJ-VPC, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168028, at *10 (D. Nev. Nov. 26, 2013 || Defendant has acted diligently to retain defense counsel and begin preparing its defense. No pric || extensions have been requested, and this request is not made in bad faith or to delay the proceeding: 11 Further, Plaintiff agreed to Defendant’s request and thus will not be prejudiced by th 12. {|| extension.!

13 II. CONCLUSION 14 For the foregoing reasons, Defendant respectfully requests the Court grant its Motion 1 || Extend Time to Respond to Plaintiff's Complaint up to and including February 10, 2023.

16 Dated this 23rd day of January, 2023.

17 JACKSON LEWIS P.C.

18 /s/ Katlyn M. Brad JOSHUA A. SLIKER, ESQ 19 Nevada Bar No. 12493 KATLYN M. BRADY, ESQ.

20 Nevada Bar No. 14173 21 300 South Fourth Street, Suite 900 Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 Attorneys for Defendant 23 Employers Holdings, Inc. ORDER 24 IT IS SO ORDERED 25 DATED: 1:44 pm, January 24, 2023 26 ign ta we BRENDA WEKSLER ee UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE ||} Following Plaintiff's agreement, undersigned counsel provided Plaintiff a copy of a proposed stipulation extending the deadline to respond. As of this filing, Defendant has not received a response regarding the stipulation.

1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 I HEREBY CERTIFY that I am an employee of Jackson Lewis P.C., and that on this 231 || day of January, 2023, I caused to be served via Electronic Mail and U.S. Mail, a true and corres ||copy of the above foregoing DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME T¢ 5 RESPOND TO COMPLAINT (FIRST REQUEST) properly addressed to the following: || Tamara Speaks P.O. Box 750151 || Las Vegas, Nevada 89136 [email protected] Plaintiff in Proper Person 10 Wende Hughey 4 Employee of Jackson Lewis P.C.

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