Opinion
1:20-cv-00809-BAM
07-12-2021
SHANNON LYNEE CAHILL, Plaintiff, v. KILOLO KIJAKAZI, [1] Acting Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant.
PHILLIP A. TALBERT, Acting United States Attorney, DEBORAH L. STACHEL, Regional Chief Counsel Social Security Administration, MARCELO ILLARMO (MABN 670079), Special Assistant United States Attorney, Attorneys for Defendant. MELISSA NEWEL Attorney for Plaintiff.
PHILLIP A. TALBERT, Acting United States Attorney, DEBORAH L. STACHEL, Regional Chief Counsel Social Security Administration, MARCELO ILLARMO (MABN 670079), Special Assistant United States Attorney, Attorneys for Defendant.
MELISSA NEWEL Attorney for Plaintiff.
STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR EXTENSION TO FILE OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF'S OPENING BRIEF
BARBARA A. MCAULIFFE, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE.
The parties stipulate through counsel that Defendant, the Commissioner of Social Security (the “Commissioner”), shall have an extension of time to file his opposition to Plaintiff's opening brief in this case. In support of this request, the Commissioner respectfully states as follows:
1. Primary responsibility for handling this case has been delegated to the Office of the Regional Chief Counsel, Region IX, in San Francisco, California (the “Region IX Office”).
2. Defendant's response to Plaintiff's opening brief is currently due August 6, 2021. Defendant has not previously requested an extension of time for this deadline.
3. The Region IX Office currently handles all district and circuit court litigation involving the Social Security program arising in Arizona, California, Hawai‘i, Nevada, and Guam.
4. The Region IX Office employs 47 staff attorneys, of whom 27 handle civil litigation involving the Social Security program in the eight assigned jurisdictions, at least part-time. For the month of June 2021, the Region IX Office has 182 district court briefs due in the jurisdictions it handles. In addition, the Region IX Office has nine appellate cases pending for briefing.
5. In addition to this “program” litigation, the 27 staff attorneys in the Region IX Office maintain other workload responsibilities, with most of them dedicating 40 percent or more of their time to these workloads. The Region IX Office provides a full range of legal services as counsel for the Social Security Administration, in a region that covers four states (including the most populous state in the nation) and three territories. These other workloads include employment litigation; civil rights investigations; bankruptcy matters; and requests for legal advice on wide-ranging topics, including employee conduct and performance, reasonable accommodation, hostile work environment, ethics, Privacy Act and disclosure, torts, property, and contracts.
6. The undersigned attorney has 15 briefs due in district court cases over the next month, as well as additional non-briefing work.
7. Due to the volume of the overall workload within the Region IX Office, neither the undersigned attorney nor another attorney in the Region IX Office anticipate being able to complete briefing by the current due date of August 6, 2021. Therefore, Defendant seeks an extension of 32 days, until September 7, 2021 to respond to Plaintiff's opening brief.
8. This request is made in good faith and is not intended to delay the proceedings in this matter.
WHEREFORE, Defendant requests until September 7, 2021, to file his opposition to Plaintiff's opening brief.
ORDER
Pursuant to the Parties stipulation, and good cause appearing, the Court HEREBY GRANTS the request. The Defendant shall file the response to Plaintiff's opening brief no later than September 7, 2021. All other dates in the Court's Scheduling Order (Doc. No. 7.) shall be extended accordingly.
IT IS SO ORDERED.