District Court, D. Nevada, 2024

Devore v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

Devore v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
District Court, D. Nevada · Decided February 5, 2024
Devore v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

Trial Court Opinion

1 Marquis Aurbach Craig R. Anderson, Esq.

2 Nevada Bar No. 6882 Jackie V. Nichols, Esq.

3 Nevada Bar No. 14246 10001 Park Run Drive Las Vegas, Nevada 89145 Telephone: (702) 382-0711 Facsimile: (702) 382-5816 [email protected] [email protected] Attorneys for Defendant Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 DISTRICT OF NEVADA ALEXANDRIA DEVORE, an individual, Case Number: 2:22-cv-01045-CDS-BNW 11 Plaintiff, 12 vs. STIPULATION AND ORDER TO EXTEND DISCOVERY PLAN AND LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE SCHEDULING ORDER DEADLINES DEPARTMENT, a municipal corporation; SHERIFF JOSEPH LOMBARDO, an (THIRD REQUEST) individual; LIEUTENANT KURT MCKENZIE, an individual, SONNY URANICH, an individual, PATRICK WESLOWSKI, an individual, UNKNOWN OFFICERS 3-12, individuals, Defendants.

19 Plaintiff Alexandria Devore (“Plaintiff”), by and through her counsel of record, Margaret A. McLetchie, Esq., N. Pieter O’ Leary, Esq. and Leo S. Wolpert, Esq., of McLetchie Law, and Defendant, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (the “Department” or “LVMPD”), by and through their counsel of record, Craig R. Anderson, Esq.

23 and Jackie V. Nichols, Esq., of Marquis Aurbach, hereby stipulate and agree to extend the Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order deadlines an additional nine (9) months. This Stipulation is being entered in good faith and not for purposes of delay (supplemented information noted in bold-face type).

27 . . .

1 I. STATUS OF DISCOVERY.

2 A. PLAINTIFF’S DISCOVERY.

3 1. Plaintiff’s Initial Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FRCP 26.1(a)(1) dated October 3, 2022.

5 2. Plaintiff’s Interrogatories to Defendant Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - Set One dated October 26, 2022.

7 3. Plaintiff’s Request for Production to Defendant Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department - Set One dated October 28, 2022.

9 4. Plaintiff Alexandria Devore's Requests for Production to LVMPD - Set Two dated May 16, 2023.

11 5. Plaintiff Devore’s Responses to LVMPD’s First Set of Requests for Production of Documents dated July 12, 2023.

13 6. Plaintiff Devore’s Answers to LVMPD’s First Set of Interrogatories dated July 12, 2023.

15 7. Plaintiff’s First Supplemental Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FRCP 26.1(a)(1) dated July 12, 2023.

17 B. DEFENDANTS’ DISCOVERY.

18 1. LVMPD Defendants’ Initial Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FRCP 26.1(a)(1) dated October 3, 2022.

20 2. LVMPD’s Answers to Plaintiff Alexandria Devore’s Interrogatories - Set One dated November 28, 2023.

22 3. LVMPD Defendants’ First Supplemental Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FRCP 26.1(a)(1) dated November 30, 2022.

24 4. LVMPD Defendants’ Second Supplemental Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FRCP 26.1(a)(1), dated December 7, 2022.

26 5. LVMPD’s Responses to Plaintiff Alexandria Devore’s Request for Production - Set One dated December 7, 2022.

1 6. LVMPD’s First Set of Interrogatories to Plaintiff Alexandria Devore dated April 21, 2023.

3 7. LVMPD’s First Set of Requests for Production of Documents to Plaintiff Alexandria Devore dated April 21, 2023.

5 8. LVMPD’s Responses to Alexandria Devore’s Requests for Production of Documents - Set Two dated July 17, 2023.

7 9. LVMPD Defendants’ Third Supplemental Disclosure of Witnesses and Documents Pursuant to FRCP 26.1(a)(1), dated July 17, 2023.

9 II. DISCOVERY THAT REMAINS TO BE COMPLETED.

10 The Parties have been engaged in settlement negotiations in an effort to resolve Plaintiff’s claims. All deadlines were stayed from November 9, 2023, until January 8, 2024, to allow counsel to negotiate. (See ECF No. 60). Further, the Parties are also actively conducting discovery. The Parties are working on depositions of named parties and witnesses.

14 For the reasons explained below, the Parties will need additional time to propound written discovery, respond to written discovery, conduct depositions, and disclose experts.

16 III. SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF WHY EXTENSION IS NECESSARY.

17 Pursuant to Local Rule 26-3, the Parties submit that good cause exists for the extension requested. This is the first request for an extension of discovery deadlines in this matter. The Parties acknowledge that, pursuant to Local Rule 26-3, a stipulation to extend a deadline set forth in a discovery plan must be submitted to the Court no later than 21 days before the expiration of the subject deadline, and that a request made within 21 days must be supported by a showing of good cause. Further, requests made after the expiration of the subject deadline will not be granted unless the Parties demonstrate that the failure to act was the result of excusable neglect. Here, most of the deadlines the Parties seek to extend are outside of the 21- day window, the deadline for initial expert disclosures, however, has passed. As such, the excusable neglect applies to the deadline for initial expert disclosures.

27 The Parties have been diligently conducting discovery and continue to conduct witnesses. The Parties previously entered into a stay of the discovery deadlines pending settlement discussions, but to no avail. See ECF Nos. 57 and 60. The Parties contend an extension of discovery deadlines enables them to continue to conduct necessary discovery so that this matter is fairly resolved and give the experts the opportunity to review all discovery produced in this dispute. Finally, the Parties together request this in good faith and to further the resolution of this complicated case on the merits, and not for any purpose of delay.

7 The Parties thus respectfully request an extension of time to extend the discovery in this matter to enable to them to conduct necessary discovery in this matter and so that this matter is fairly resolved on the merits. “Good cause to extend a discovery deadline exists ‘if it cannot reasonably be met despite the diligence of the party seeking the extension.’” Derosa v. Blood Sys., Inc., No. 2:13-cv-0137-JCM-NJK, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108235, 2013 WL 12 3975764, at 1 (D. Nev. Aug. 1, 2013) (quoting Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 13 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992)); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 1 (providing that the Rules of Civil Procedure “should be construed, administered, and employed by the court and the parties to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action and proceeding”). As the procedural history of this case illustrates, the Parties have been diligent in litigating this matter. The Parties are continuing to engage in written discovery and have begun coordinating the taking of depositions.

19 Additionally, counsel for the Parties in this matter are litigating several other unrelated matters against each other which are well-advanced and have competing demands, and while competing demands of litigation are merely one of many reasons for the instant request, it should be noted that the other litigation between the same counsel involving similar issues can only benefit from expanded discovery so that in other litigation, similar requests can be expedited because they may have been done at least in part in this case; in this case, it would be a matter of a universal benefit to the ends of justice and future efficiencies.

26 Finally, counsel for Defendants has been ill through December and January, which necessitated several medical appointments and required her to be out of the office.

1 future. Counsel for Plaintiff has also been ill during December and January, including a respiratory illness, and is currently recovering from COVID. These circumstances further compound the need for an extension of the discovery deadlines.

4 Thus, the standards to extend all deadlines, including the expert deadlines, are satisfied here.

6 IV. PROPOSED SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETING ALL REMAINING DEADLINES Current Deadline Proposed New Deadline Amend Pleadings and Add Parties February 7, 2023 Past Due/Unchanged Initial Expert Disclosures September 7, 2023 August 9, 2024 Rebuttal Expert Disclosures October 7, 2023 September 9, 2024 Discovery Cut-Off December 5, 2023 October 8, 2024 [ Dispositive Motions January 3, 2024 November 7, 2024 Pretrial Order February 2, 2024 December 6, 2024 (If 14 dispositive motions are filed, the deadline shall be 15 suspended until thirty (30) days after the decision of the 16 dispositive motions or further order of the Court.)

20 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / 1 Based on the foregoing stipulation and proposed deadlines plan, the Parties request that the Discovery Plan and Scheduling Order deadlines be extended additional nine (9) || months so that the parties may conduct additional discovery and conduct depositions.

4|| Dated this 2"4 day of February, 2024. Dated this 2"4 day of February, 2024.

MCLETCHIE LAW MARQUIS AURBACH By: _/s/N. Pieter QO’ Leary By: ___/s/ Jackie V. Nichols Margaret A. McLetchie, Esq. Craig R. Anderson, Esq.

8 Nevada Bar No. 10931 Nevada Bar No. 6882 N. Pieter O’ Leary, Esq. Jackie V. Nichols, Esq.

9 Nevada Bar No. 15297 Nevada Bar No. 14246 Leo S. Wolpert, Esq. 10001 Park Run Drive 10 Nevada Bar No. 12658 Las Vegas, Nevada 89145 ul 602 South 10th Street Attorneys for Defendant Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 Metropolitan Police Department 12 Attorneys for Plaintiff Alexandria Devore 13 14 ORDER 15 The above Stipulation is hereby GRANTED. = 16 IT IS SO ORDERED.

817 LE Qa les Are bat ~ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 19 DATED: _2/5/2024 Page 6 of 7 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 I hereby certify that I electronically filed the foregoing STIPULATION AND ORDER TO EXTEND DISCOVERY PLAN AND SCHEDULING ORDER DEADLINES (THIRD REQUEST) with the Clerk of the Court for the United States District Court by using the court’s CM/ECF system on the 2nd day of February, 2024.

6 I further certify that all participants in the case are registered CM/ECF users and that service will be accomplished by the CM/ECF system.

8 I further certify that some of the participants in the case are not registered CM/ECF users. I have mailed the foregoing document by First-Class Mail, postage prepaid, or have dispatched it to a third party commercial carrier for delivery within 3 calendar days to the following non-CM/ECF participants: 12 N/A

14 /s/ Rosie Wesp An employee of Marquis Aurbach

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.