Joshua v. Oliver

CourtDistrict Court, D. Nevada
DecidedOctober 18, 2024
Docket2:23-cv-01087
StatusUnknown

This text of Joshua v. Oliver (Joshua v. Oliver) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joshua v. Oliver, (D. Nev. 2024).

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 Karl Joshua, 2:23-cv-01087-MMD-MDC 4 Plaintiff, ORDER REGARDING MOTIONS 5 vs. 6 James Dzurenda, et al, 7 Defendants. 8 This order disposes of the following motions submitted by pro se plaintiff Karl Joshua and 9 defendants as follows:

10 (1) Plaintiff’s Motion to Disqualify Counsel (ECF No. 31) is DENIED. 11 (2) Plaintiff’s Motion to Exclude Case From Mediation (ECF No. 32) is DENIED. 12 (3) Defendants’ Countermotion To Strike (ECF No. 43) is GRANTED. 13 (4) Plaintiff’s Motion for Appointment of Counsel (ECF No. 33) is DENIED without prejudice. 14 (5) Plaintiff’s Motion for Enlargement of Time to Complete Service (ECF No. 34) is GRANTED. 15 (6) Plaintiff’s Motion to Conduct Discovery and Mental Health Exam (ECF No. 36) is DENIED. 16 (7) Defendants’ Motions for Extension of Time to Respond (ECF Nos. 40 and 44) are GRANTED. 17 The grounds for the Court’s decisions are set forth below.

18 I. BACKGROUND 19 This is civil action arising under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See ECF No. 6. Plaintiffs brings First, Fourth 20 and Eighth Amendment violation claims. See ECF Nos. 6, 13. Plaintiff alleges a First Amendment 21 retaliation claim, a Fourth Amendment unreasonable strip search claim, Eighth Amendment excessive 22 force claims, and Eighth Amendment medical indifference claims. ECF Nos. 6, 13. 23 // 24 // 25 1 II. DISCUSSION

2 (1) MOTION TO DISQUALIFY COUNSEL (ECF No. 31) 3 Plaintiff filed a Motion to Disqualify Counsel (ECF No. 31) seeking to “disqualify the Attorney 4 General’s Office from representing NDOC defendants.” ECF No. 31 at 1. 5 A. Legal Standard For Disqualification Of Counsel 6 Whether an attorney should be disqualified is an issue of state law. In re Cnty. of Los Angeles, 7 223 F.3d 990, 995 (9th Cir. 2000). “The burden of proof is on the moving party to present sufficient 8 facts justifying disqualification.” United States v. Walker River Irrigation Dist., 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9 95342, 2006 WL 618823 at *3 (D. Nev. Mar. 10, 2006) (citing Colyer v. Smith, 50 F.Supp.2d 966, 967 10 (C.D. Cal. 1999)). “A motion to disqualify should be accompanied by declarations and admissible 11 evidence sufficient to establish the factual predicate upon which the motion depends.” Colyer, 50 F. 12 Supp. 2d at 967. 13 “Motions to disqualify are disfavored and are only granted when ‘absolutely necessary.’” Tate v. 14 Univ. Med. Ctr. of S. Nev., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14591, at * 2 (D. Nev. Feb. 5, 2016) (internal 15 citations omitted). This is because disqualification “takes away one party’s ability to choose his own 16 representation and is often a tactic used to create delay or harassment.” Walker River Irrigation Dist., 17 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95342, at * 17. “Because of this potential for abuse, disqualification motions 18 should be subjected to particularly strict judicial scrutiny.” Optyl Eyewear Fashion Int’l Corp. v. Style 19 Cos., Ltd., 760 F.2d 1045, 1050 (9th Cir. 1985) (internal quotations and citations omitted). 20 B. Analysis 21 Plaintiff relies on Nevada Revised Statutes (“NRS”) 41.0333-41.0339 in support of his motion. 22 ECF No. 31 at 4. Plaintiff argues that “[w]hen a correctional officer acts in bad faith he/she should not 23 receive representation by the Attorney General’s Office.” Id. Based on plaintiff’s motion, it seems that 24 the most applicable statute is NRS § 41.0339. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94, 127 S. Ct. 2197, 25 167 L. Ed. 2d 1081 (2007) (“A document filed pro se is ‘to be liberally construed[.]’”). However, “[t]he 1 language of [NRS 41.0339] does not provide for a post-acceptance, re-analysis of the initial 2 determination of the employee's acts being committed (or omitted) in good faith.” Manley v. Zimmer, 3 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160608, at *6 (D. Nev. Oct. 31, 2013). The Office of the Attorney General has 4 already determined that representation is proper and has not made any indication to the contrary. See 5 ECF No. 25. To the extent that plaintiff is reliant on his allegations of bad faith and the Nevada Revised 6 Statutes, NRS 41.0346 provides for withdrawal of representation if there is “[d]iscovery of any fact 7 which indicates that the act or omission on which the civil action is based was not within the course and 8 scope of public duty or employment or was wanton or malicious.” Nev. Rev. Stat. 41.0346(1)(d). 9 However, “[t]he statute does not provide a mechanism for an opposing party to make that 10 application…[rather] it is the Office of the Attorney General who determines the scope of representation 11 and whether the representation of a client will cease.” Manley, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160608, at * 7-8. 12 Thus, no statutory basis exists to support plaintiff’s request to disqualify defense counsel. Accordingly, 13 the Court denies plaintiff’s motion. 14 The Court also denies plaintiff’s motion per Local Rule 7-2(d) and because plaintiff lacks 15 standing. Pursuant to LR 7-2(d), “[t]he failure of a moving party to file points and authorities in support 16 of the motion constitutes a consent to the denial of the motion.” Plaintiff provides no “points and 17 authority” other than a general citation the Nevada Revised Statutes and a conclusory assertion that 18 correctional officers’ bad faith acts warrant disqualification. See generally ECF No. 31. 19 Pursuant to LR IA 11-7(a)1, “[a]n attorney admitted to practice under any of these rules must 20 adhere to the standards of conduct prescribed by the Model Rules of Professional Conduct as adopted 21 and amended from time to time by the Supreme Court of Nevada, except as these standards may be 22 modified by this court.” As noted above, whether an attorney should be disqualified is an issue of state 23 law. In re Cnty. of Los Angeles, 223 F.3d at 995. 24

25 1 Defendants reference LR IA 10-7(a) in their opposition, however, the April 2020 version of the Local Rule provides the citation at LR IA 11-7(a). 1 Under Nevada law, “the party seeking to disqualify an attorney bears the burden of establishing 2 that it has standing to do so.” State ex rel. Cannizzaro v. First Jud. Dist. Ct. in & for Cnty. of Carson 3 City, 136 Nev. 315, 466 P.3d 529, 531-32 (Nev. 2020) (internal quotations omitted). “The general rule is 4 that only a former or current client has standing to bring a motion to disqualify counsel on the basis of a 5 conflict of interest.” Id. Here, plaintiff has not established standing as he has not represented that there 6 was any former or currently has an attorney-client relationship with the Office of the Attorney General. 7 Because plaintiff has failed to establish that there exists a conflict, he lacks standing. Thus, the Court 8 also denies the motion on these grounds. 9 (2) MOTION TO EXCLUDE CASE FROM MEDIATION (ECF No. 32) 10 Plaintiff seeks to exclude his case from future mediations as he “believes from this point forward 11 that there is no basis to hold any further mediation or settlement conferences” since parties were unable 12 to reach settlement during the June 2024 Inmate Early Mediation (IEM). See ECF No. 32 at 2. The 13 Court finds that this motion is premature as there are no mediations scheduled.

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Joshua v. Oliver, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joshua-v-oliver-nvd-2024.