Opinion
2:20-cv-1099 AC (SS)
12-07-2021
JULIE DEL CORSO, Plaintiff, v. KILOLO KIJAKAZI[1], Acting Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant.
PHILLIP A. TALBERT Acting United States Attorney DEBORAH LEE STACHEL, CSBN 230138 ELLINOR R. CODER, CSBN 258258 Special Assistant United States Attorney Attorneys for Defendant
PHILLIP A. TALBERT
Acting United States Attorney
DEBORAH LEE STACHEL, CSBN 230138
ELLINOR R. CODER, CSBN 258258
Special Assistant United States Attorney
Attorneys for Defendant
MOTION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME
ALLISON CLAIRE, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Defendant respectfully moves the Court for an extension to respond to Plaintiff's Opening Brief by sixty-three (63) days from December 10, 2021, up to and including February 11, 2022. This the first request to move Defendant's deadline. In support, the Commissioner respectfully states as follows:
1. Primary responsibility for handling this case has been delegated to the Office of 1 the Regional Chief Counsel, Region IX, in San Francisco, California (the “Region IX Office”). 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.
2. The Region IX Office employs 44 staff attorneys, of whom 30 are actively handling civil litigation involving the Social Security program in the eight assigned jurisdictions. Most of the attorneys who handle program litigation cases have additional responsibilities, such as litigating in other practice areas described below, acting as Jurisdictional leads, reviewing the work product of junior attorneys, conducting trainings, and participating in national workgroups. In addition, because of attorneys taking unexpected leave or resigning, the Region IX Office has re-assigned dozens of cases and substituted in new counsel who absorbed these re-assigned cases into their existing caseloads.
3. As of September 14, 2021, the Region IX Office has 404 district court briefs due in the next sixty days in the jurisdictions it handles; at least 300 of these are due in the next thirty days. In addition, the Region IX Office has nine appellate cases pending for briefing.
4. In addition to “program” litigation, 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 Regional office client requests for advice on program issues, employee conduct and performance, reasonable accommodation, hostile work environment, ethics, Privacy Act and disclosure, and torts. Because of the high volume of program litigation cases, the Region IX Office has focused its efforts on processing only other workloads that are subject to statutory, regulatory, and court deadlines.
5. The undersigned attorney has been recalled to full-time active duty pursuant to military orders, and is expected to return to the Region IX Office in late January 2022. The undersigned completed numerous District Court and Ninth Circuit matters in advance of their deadlines prior to departing, but this matter could not be completed because Plaintiff's brief was 2 not yet filed.
6. 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 December 10, 2021. Therefore, Defendant seeks an extension of 63 days, until February 11, 2022, to respond to Plaintiffs Opening Brief.
7. Plaintiff s counsel does not oppose this request.
8. This request is made in good faith and is not intended to delay the proceedings in this matter.
ORDER
Pursuant to the parties' request, and for good cause shown, IT IS SO ORDERED that Defendant shall have an extension, up to and including February 11, 2022, to respond to Plaintiffs Opening Brief. 3