Armando Arias Maldonado v. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, et al.

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: December 30, 2025
• Docket: 2:25-cv-02145
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE

9 ARMANDO ARIAS MALDONADO, Case No. 2:25-cv-02145-JHC 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD 11 CASE IN ABEYANCE AND ORDER v.

12 Noted for Consideration: U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION December 29, 2025 SERVICES, et al., 13

Defendants. 14 15 Plaintiff and Defendants, by and through their counsel of record, pursuant to Federal Rule 16 of Civil Procedure 6 and Local Rules 7(d)(1), 10(g) and 16, hereby jointly stipulate and move to 17 stay these proceedings until March 6, 2026. Plaintiff brought this litigation pursuant to the 18 Administrative Procedure Act and Mandamus Act seeking, inter alia, to compel U.S. Citizenship 19 and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to adjudicate his application for adjustment of status. 20 Defendants’ response to the Complaint is currently due on January 5, 2026. The parties are 21 currently working towards a resolution to this litigation. For good cause, the parties request that 22 the Court hold the case in abeyance until March 6, 2026. 23 Courts have “broad discretion” to stay proceedings. Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706 24 (1997). “[T]he power to stay proceedings is incidental to the power inherent in every court to 1 control the disposition of the causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for 2 counsel, and for litigants.” Landis v. N. Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936); see also Fed. R. Civ.

3 P. 1.

4 With additional time, this case may be resolved without the need of further judicial 5 intervention. USCIS is diligently working on processing Plaintiff’s application but requires more 6 time to do so, particularly given shortstaffing during the busy holiday season. Once the application 7 is adjudicated, Plaintiff will dismiss the case with each party to bear their own litigation costs and 8 attorneys’ fees. Accordingly, the parties request this abeyance to allow USCIS more time to 9 process Plaintiff’s application and thus, the parties hope, to resolve this matter without further 10 court proceedings.

11 As additional time is necessary for this to occur, the parties request that the Court hold the 12 case in abeyance until March 6, 2026. The parties will submit a status update on or before that 13 date. 14 // 15 // 16 // 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1 DATED this 29th day of December, 2025. 2 Respectfully submitted,

3 CHARLES NEIL FLOYD United States Attorney 4 s/ Sarah Louise Bishop 5 SARAH LOUISE BISHOP, NY No. 5256359 Assistant United States Attorney 6 United States Attorney’s Office Western District of Washington 7 700 Stewart Street, Suite 5220 Seattle, Washington 98101-1271 8 Phone: 206-553-4063 Fax: 206-553-4067 9 Email: sarah.bishop@usdoj.gov

10 Attorneys for Defendants 11 I certify that this memorandum contains 304 words, in compliance with the Local Civil Rules. 12

13 s/ Shara Svendsen 14 SHARA SVENDSEN, WSBA No. 38151 Law Office of Shara Svendsen 15 16300 Mill Creek Blvd., Suite 206 Mill Creek, WA 98104 16 Phone: 425-361-1511 Fax: 425-953-2410 17 Email: shara@svenlaw.com

18 Attorney for Plaintiff 19 20 21 22 23 24 1 ORDER 2 The case is held in abeyance until March 6, 2026. The parties shall submit a status update 3 or before that date. 4 It is so ORDERED. 5 6 DATED this 30th day of December, 2025 7 8 C Lehn. 4 Chur John H. Chun 9 United States District Judge 10 1] 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 STIPULATED MOTION TO HOLD CASE IN ABEYANCE