Opinion
1:20-cv-1830-SKO
12-20-2021
JUAN VILLALON, Plaintiff, v. KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, Defendant.
JONATHAN PENA Attorney for Plaintiff (as approved via email) PHILLIP A. TALBERT Acting United States Attorney SATHYA OUM Special Assistant United States Attorney Attorneys for Defendant
JONATHAN PENA Attorney for Plaintiff (as approved via email)
PHILLIP A. TALBERT
Acting United States Attorney
SATHYA OUM
Special Assistant United States Attorney
Attorneys for Defendant
STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR EXTENSION TO FILE DEFENDANT'S OPPOSITION TO PLAINTIFF'S OPENING BRIEF (DOC. 26)
SHEILA K. OBERTO, 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 her 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 December 20, 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 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 had to re-assign dozens of cases and substitute in new counsel who have had to absorb these reassigned cases into their existing caseloads.
5. As of December 8, 2021, the Region IX Office has 277 district court briefs due in the next thirty days in the jurisdictions it handles. In addition, the Region IX Office has 12 appellate cases pending for briefing.
6. In addition to this “program” litigation, the 30 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.
7. The undersigned attorney has 15 briefs due in district court cases over the next thirty days, in addition to managing this office's legal opinion and advice workgroup, which currently has 20 pending legal opinion requests and advice for guidance.
8. 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 20, 2021. Therefore, Defendant seeks an Stip. for Ext. 20-1830-SKO extension of 30 days, until January 19, 2022 to respond to Plaintiff's opening brief.
9. This request is made in good faith and is not intended to delay the proceedings in this matter.
WHEREFORE, Defendant requests until January 19, 2022, to file her opposition to Plaintiff's opening brief.
ORDER
Pursuant to the parties' above stipulation (Doc. 26), and for good cause shown, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant shall have an extension, up to and including January 19, 2022, to file her response to Plaintiff's opening brief. All other dates in the Scheduling Order (Doc. 18) shall be extended accordingly.
IT IS SO ORDERED.