Blue Bay Ventures LLC v. John Buys Bay Homes LLC, et al.

Opinion

1 2 3 6 7 BLUE BAY VENTURES LLC, Case No. 24-cv-07146-TSH

8 Plaintiff, ORDER RE: MOTION FOR 9 v. SUMMARY JUDGMENT BRIEFING DEADLINES 10 JOHN BUYS BAY HOMES LLC, et al., Re: Dkt. No. 27 11 Defendants.

12 13 Pending before the Court is Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, filed February 17, 14 2026. ECF No. 27. Under Civil Local Rule 7, any opposition to Defendants’ motion was to be 15 filed “not more than 14 days after the motion was filed.” Civ. L.R. 7-3(a). Despite this, Plaintiff 16 filed its opposition one day late on March 4, stating: “The Law offices of Steffanie Stelnick would 17 like to apologize to the Court for the delayed filing of this motion, it was mistakenly calendared 18 for 21 days prior to the hearing.” Opp’n at 1, ECF No. 37. 19 “A Court order is required for any enlargement or shortening of time that alters an event or 20 deadline already fixed by Court order or that involves papers required to be filed or lodged with 21 the Court.” Civ. L.R. 6-1(b). Although Plaintiff did not seek an extension, the Court finds it 22 preferable to resolve cases on their merits rather than based on procedural technicalities to the 23 extent possible. See Aki v. Univ. of California Lawrence Berkeley Nat’l Lab’y, 74 F. Supp. 3d 24 1163, 1174 (N.D. Cal. 2014) (declining to strike declaration filed one day late because “Plaintiff 25 has proffered an excuse for why the affidavit was late, and because Defendant has not shown how 26 this minor delay has prejudiced its position”); Cai v. Fishi Cafe, Inc., 2007 WL 2781242, at *1 n. 27 2 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 20, 2007) (“Although the opposition and declaration were filed one day late ] Defendants have shown no prejudice as a result of the late filing.”). As such, the Court shall 2 exercise its discretion and consider Plaintiff's opposition. To avoid any prejudice to Defendants, 3 the Court EXTENDS the deadline for Defendants to file a reply to March 12, 2026. 5 6 Dated: March 5, 2026

THOMAS S. HIXSON 8 United States Magistrate Judge 9 10 1] a 12

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