Chen v. Vilsack

Opinion

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8&6 Chambers Street, 3rd floor New York, New York 10007 April 6, 2023 BY ECF The Honorable Valerie E. Caproni United States District Judge Southern District of New York Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse 40 Foley Square New York, New York 10007 Re: Chen et al. v. Vilsack, No. 23 Civ. 1440 (VEC) Dear Judge Caproni: This Office represents defendants Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”), and Cindy Long, Administrator of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, in the above-referenced matter. Presently, an initial conference 1s scheduled for Friday, April 21, 2023, at 10:00 a.m., and the parties’ deadline to file a joint pre-conference letter is Thursday, April 13, 2023. (ECF No. 16). Respectfully, we write to request that the initial conference be adjourned to Friday, May 19, 2023, Friday, June 2, 2023, or a date thereafter that is convenient for the Court, and that the deadline for filing the joint pre-conference letter correspondingly be extended. This is defendants’ first request for an adjournment and extension of these dates, and plaintiffs’ counsel consents to the request. Plaintiffs bring a claim under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) alleging that certain policies and regulations implemented by defendants concerning the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are “not in accordance with the law.” (ECF No. | at 9 111-17). Defendants will answer or otherwise respond to the complaint by May 8, 2023. In addition, because plaintiffs’ claim is brought pursuant to the APA, defendants are in the process of compiling an administrative record for filing with the Court. See 5 U.S.C. § 706 (APA review is based on “the whole record or those parts of it cited by a party”); New York y. U.S. Dep’t of Health and Human Services, 414 F. Supp. 3d 475, 516 (S.D.N.Y. 2019) (“When an agency action is challenged under the APA, summary judgment serves as the mechanism for deciding, as a matter of law, whether the agency action is supported by the administrative record and otherwise consistent with the relevant APA standard of review.” (citation omitted)). Adjournment of the initial conference and

extension of the parties’ pre-conference letter deadline will provide defendants with time to respond to the complaint and finalize the administrative record, and will allow the parties to discuss appropriate next steps in the litigation, such as a briefing schedule. As noted above, plaintiffs’ counsel consents to the request. We thank the Court for its consideration of this letter.

Respectfully submitted, DAMIAN WILLIAMS United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York By: /s/ Christopher Connolly CHRISTOPHER CONNOLLY Assistant United States Attorney 86 Chambers Street, 3rd Floor New York, New York 10007 Telephone: (212) 637-2761 Facsimile: (212) 637-2786 christopher.connolly@usdoj.gov Counsel for Defendants

ce: Plaintiffs’ counsel (by ECF)

Application GRANTED. The Initial Pre-Trial Conference scheduled for Frida April 21, 2023 at 10:00 A.M. is hereby adjourned until Friday, June 2, 2023 a 10:00 A.M. The parties’ joint letter and case management plan is due on Thursday, May 25, 2023. SO ORDERED.

04/06/2023 HON. VALERIE CAPRONI UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE