Anderson v. DeJoy

1 HONORABLE JOHN H. CHUN UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE VICTORIA ANDERSON, an individual, NO. 2:22-cv-01394-LK Plaintiff, STIPULATION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND 11 PLAINTIFF’S COMPLAINT v. Noted on Motion Calendar: LOUIS DEJOY, in his capacity as the 13 February 17, 2023 Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service, UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, a government agency, 16 Defendant.

I. INTRODUCTION Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(2) and LCR 15, the parties, by and through their respective counsel of record, hereby stipulate to leave to amend the Plaintiff’s complaint in the above-captioned case to subtract and supplement facts. In support of this Motion, Plaintiff submits a proposed Amended Complaint, attached as Exhibit A to this Motion. Plaintiff further requests the Court issue an Order stating that the Amended Complaint relate back to the Complaint’s original filing date of September 29, 2022.

STIPULATION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND PLAINTIFF’S Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC COMPLAINT - 1 601 Union Street, Suite 4100 Seattle, WA 98101-2380 (206) 628-6600 1 II. BACKGROUND 2 Plaintiff filed this lawsuit on September 29th, 2022 and subsequently served the Summons and Complaint on Defendants. Subsequently, it came to the attention of the Plaintiff and Defendants that some of Plaintiff’s facts were time-barred. The parties stipulated and agreed to extend Defendant’s deadline to respond to the Complaint by one week, to January 30, 2023. The parties then stipulated to amend Plaintiff’s Complaint. Plaintiff filed an amended complaint on January 27, 2023. The parties actively conferred regarding subject matter jurisdiction issues that may plague the amended complaint. Subsequently, the parties stipulated and agreed to extend Defendant’s deadline to respond to the Complaint by one week, to February 17, 2023. The partied now stipulate and agree to amend Plaintiff’s Complaint.

11 III. ARGUMENT 12 Fed. R. Civ. P 15(a)(2) allows for the amendment of pleadings with leave of the court, or with opposing counsel’s written consent, before trial. The Rule further provides that “the court should freely give leave when justice so requires.” Id. 15 The Ninth Circuit has instructed that the Fed. R. Civ. P 15(a)(2) “should be interpreted with ‘extreme liberality,’” Jackson v. Bank of Hawaii, 902 F.2d 1385, 1387 (9th Cir. 1990) (quoting United States v. Webb, 655 F.2d 977, 979 (9th Cir. 1981)), and “[a]n outright refusal to grant leave to amend without a justifying reason is … an abuse of discretion.” Smith v. Constellation Brands, Inc., 2018 WL 991450, at *2 (9th Cir. Feb. 21, 2018) (quoting Leadsinger, Inc. v. BMG Music Publ’g, 512 F.3d 522, 532 (9th Cir. 2008)). A district court only has discretion to deny leave to amend “‘due to … repeated failure to cure deficiencies by amendments previously allowed, undue prejudice to the opposing party by virtue of allowance of the amendment, [and] futility of amendment.’” Id. at *2 (quoting Zucco Partners, LLC v. Digimarc Corp., 52 F.3d 981, 1007 (9th Cir. 2009) and Leadsinger, Inc., 512 F.3d at 532).

STIPULATION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND PLAINTIFF’S Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC COMPLAINT - 2 601 Union Street, Suite 4100 Seattle, WA 98101-2380 (206) 628-6600 1 An amendment to a pleading relates back to the date of the original pleading when the amendment changes the party against whom a claim is asserted if the amendment asserts a claim that arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set out (or attempted to be set out) in the original pleading. Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(c)(1)(B).

6 DATED this 17th day of February, 2023.

7 s/Sumeer Singla NICHOLAS W. BROWN Sumeer Singla, WSBA # 32852 United States Attorney Bethany Nolan, WSBA # 55788 WILLIAMS, KASTNER & GIBBS PLLC s/ Erin K. Hoar Union Street, Suite 4100 ERIN K. HOAR, CA No. 311332 Seattle, WA 98101-2380 Assistant United States Attorney Telephone: (206) 628-6600 United States Attorney’s Office Fax: (206) 628-6611 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220 [email protected] Seattle, Washington 98101-1271 12 Phone: 206-553-7970 Attorneys for Plaintiff Fax: 206-553-4067 Email: [email protected] s/Lawand Anderson Lawand Anderson, WSBA # 49012 Attorney for Defendants L.A. LAW & ASSOCIATES 22030 7th Ave. S., Ste. 103 Des Moines, WA 98198 Telephone: (206) 817-0577 Fax: (888) 694-2619 [email protected] Attorney for Plaintiff STIPULATION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND PLAINTIFF’S Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC COMPLAINT - 3 601 Union Street, Suite 4100 Seattle, WA 98101-2380 (206) 628-6600 ORDER IT IS SOORDERED.

4 DATEDthis 17th day of February, 2023.

A 6 JOHN H. CHUN United States District Judge STIPULATION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND PLAINTIFF’S Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC COMPLAINT - 4 601 Union Street, Suite 4100 Seattle, WA 98101-2380 (206) 628-6600 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 I hereby certify that on the date below, I caused to be electronically filed the Notice of Appearance with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system which will send notification of such filing to counsel or record for all parties. I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Washington and the United States of America that the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.

DATED: February 17, 2023.

WILLIAMS, KASTNER & GIBBS PLLC s/Marissa Lock 10 Marissa Lock Legal Assistant STIPULATION FOR LEAVE TO AMEND PLAINTIFF’S Williams, Kastner & Gibbs PLLC COMPLAINT - 5 601 Union Street, Suite 4100 Seattle, WA 98101-2380 (206) 628-6600