Kumar v. United States Department of Homeland Security

1 District Judge John H. Chun 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 CASE NO. 2:22-cv-1523-JHC SANJEEV KUMAR, et al., STIPULATED MOTION 10 Plaintiffs, TO HOLD CASE IN ABEYANCE AND ORDER 11 v. NOTED FOR CONSIDERATION: February 15, 2023 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, et al., Defendants.

15 The parties, by and through their counsel of record, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6 and Local Rules 10(g) and 16, hereby jointly stipulate and move to stay the proceedings until March 20, 2023. Plaintiffs are foreign nationals who bring this litigation pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act and the Mandamus Act seeking, inter alia, to compel U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to adjudicate their I-485 applications, as well as any derivative applications. Dkt. No. 1. Defendants have yet to answer the Complaint.

21 Good cause exists to stay the litigation until March 20, 2023.

22 Courts have “broad discretion” to stay proceedings. Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706 (1997). “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936); see also Fed. R. Civ. P.1.

3 The parties continue to work towards resolution of this litigation. USCIS has adjudicated twelve of the thirteen Plaintiffs’ applications and issued a Request for Evidence (“RFE”) for the remaining application. Shortly after USCIS receives this Plaintiff’s response to the RFE, the agency intends to adjudicate the remaining application. Plaintiffs have agreed to voluntarily dismiss this case once their applications have been adjudicated, and, if approved, they have received their lawful permanent resident cards. To give Plaintiff time to submit the RFE response, as well as allow USCIS additional time to complete the adjudication, the parties stipulate and jointly request that the Court stay this case until March 20, 2023.

11 // // // // // // // // // // // // DATED this 15th day of February, 2023.

Respectfully submitted, NICHOLAS W. BROWN 4 United States Attorney 5 s/ Michelle R. Lambert MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 6 Assistant United States Attorney United States Attorney’s Office 7 1201 Pacific Avenue, Suite 700 Tacoma, WA 98402 8 Phone: 253-428-3824 Email: [email protected] Attorney for Defendants /s/ Daniel P. Pierce 11 DANIEL P. PIERCE (pro hac vice) Fragomen Del Rey Bernsen & Loewy, LLP 1101 15th Street NW, Ste 700 Washington, DC 200005 13 Phone: 202-223-5515 Email: [email protected] /s/ Al Roundtree 15 AL ROUNDTREE, WSBA #54851 Fox Rothschild LLP 16 1001 Fourth Ave., Ste 4400 Seattle, WA 98154 17 Phone: 206-624-3600 E-mail: [email protected] Attorneys for Plaintiffs 1 ORDER 2 The Parties having so stipulated and agreed, the Court hereby ORDERS that this litigation be stayed until March 20, 2023. The parties shall submit a joint status report on or before March 20, 2023.

6 Dated this 15th day of February , 2023.

8 A 9 JOHN H. CHUN United States District Judge