Breast Cancer Prevention Partners v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

• Court: District Court, N.D. California
• Decided: July 15, 2022
• Docket: 4:21-cv-07360
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 2 OAKLAND DIVISION 3 ) 4 ) BREAST CANCER PREVENTION ) 5 PARTNERS, et al., ) Case No. 4:21-cv-07360-HSG 6 ) Plaintiffs, ) 7 ) JOINT STIPULATION BETWEEN PLAINTIFFS AND FEDERAL v. ) 8 DEFENDANTS TO STAY BRIEFING ON ) PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR 9 UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL ) ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND COSTS; PROTECTION AGENCY, et al., ) 10 ) ORDER Defendants. ) 11 ) 12 13 Pursuant to Local Civil Rule 6-2, Plaintiffs Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, et al., and 14 Defendants U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its Administrator, Michael S. Regan, 15 (collectively, the “Parties”) hereby stipulate to a stay of briefing on Plaintiffs’ motion for an 16 award of attorneys’ fees and costs for sixty days, such that Federal Defendants’ opposition brief 17 is due September 26, 2022. The Parties request this stay to facilitate settlement discussions 18 regarding Plaintiffs’ pending motion. Plaintiffs and Federal Defendants therefore stipulate as 19 follows: 20 1. Concurrently with this stipulation, Plaintiffs are filing a motion for an award of 21 attorneys’ fees and costs. Plaintiffs’ motion will be supplemented as appropriate to account for 22 any future litigation in this case concerning Plaintiffs’ claim for attorneys’ fees and costs. See 23 United States v. Hristov, 396 F.3d 1044, 1047 (9th Cir. 2005) (affirming that timely motion for 24 attorneys’ fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act may be later amended “as long as doing so 25 would not prejudice the government”). 26 2. Plaintiffs and Federal Defendants agree that briefing and argument on Plaintiffs’ 27 claim for fees and costs may be unnecessary in light of the Parties’ intent to explore the 28 possibility of settling that claim. 1 3. Accordingly, the Parties agree that further proceedings on Plaintiffs’ motion for 2 an award of fees and costs, including the filing of memoranda and evidentiary and other 3 materials supporting the motion, should be deferred for sixty days. 4 4. Plaintiffs are filing their motion for attorneys’ fees and costs concurrently with the 5 filing of this joint stipulation. Local Civil Rule 7-3(a) provides that Federal Defendants’ 6 opposition brief is due fourteen days after the filing of Plaintiffs’ motion, or July 28, 2022. A 7 sixty-day stay will postpone Federal Defendants’ opposition brief deadline until September 26, 8 2022. Local Civil Rule 7-3(c) provides that Plaintiffs’ reply brief is due seven days after Federal 9 Defendants’ opposition brief is due, or August 4, 2022. A sixty-day stay will postpone 10 Plaintiffs’ reply brief deadline until October 3, 2022. 11 5. There have been no previous time modifications to this briefing schedule. 12 6. Notwithstanding these deadlines, the Parties will either jointly propose a briefing 13 schedule to address Plaintiffs’ motion for fees and costs or otherwise apprise this Court of the 14 status of Plaintiffs’ motion and any request for action by this Court by September 12, 2022. 15 7. By joining this stipulation, Federal Defendants do not concede Plaintiffs’ 16 entitlement to attorneys’ fees or costs and do not waive any defense to Plaintiffs’ claim for fees 17 and costs. 18 Based on the joint stipulation set forth above, the parties respectfully request that this 19 Court stay briefing on Plaintiffs’ motion for attorneys’ fees and costs for sixty days. Pursuant to 20 Local Civil Rules 6-2(a) and 7-12, a proposed order accompanies this stipulation. Pursuant to 21 Local Civil Rule 5-1(h)(3), undersigned counsel for Plaintiffs attests that the other signatories 22 listed below concur in the filing of this document. 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 Respectfully submitted this 14th day of July, 2022, 2 /s/Katherine K. O’Brien /s/Martha C. Mann Katherine K. O’Brien (pro hac vice) Martha C. Mann (FL Bar No. 155950) 3 Earthjustice U.S. Department of Justice 4 P.O. Box 2297 Environment & Natural Resources Division South Portland, ME 04116 150 M Street NE, Suite 4.528 5 (212) 284-8036 Washington, D.C. 20002 kobrien@earthjustice.org (202) 514-2664 6 martha.mann@usdoj.gov 7 /s/Gregory C. Loarie Gregory C. Loarie (SBN 215859) /s/Paul A. Caintic 8 Earthjustice Paul A. Caintic (D.C. Bar No. 1779847) 50 California Street, Suite 500 U.S. Department of Justice 9 San Francisco, CA 94111 Environment & Natural Resources Division 10 (415) 217-2000 150 M Street NE gloarie@earthjustice.org Washington, D.C. 20002 11 (202) 514-2593 Counsel for Plaintiffs paul.caintic@usdoj.gov 12

13 Counsel for Defendants 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 * * * 2 |} PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED. 3 4 || DATED: 7/15/2022 Aare 8 |). HAYWOOD S. GILLIAM, JR. 5 United States District Judge 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

JOINT STIPULATION TO STAY BRIEFING ON PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR FEES AND COSTS CASE No. 4:21-cv-07360-HS