Libutan v. MGM Grand Hotels LLC.

• Court: District Court, D. Nevada
• Decided: March 24, 2020
• Docket: 2:20-cv-00304
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 Nevada State Bar No. 10642 MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL 2 6385 S. Rainbow Blvd., Suite 500 Las Vegas, Nevada 89118 3 Tel: (702) 692-5651 Email: kkichline@mgmresorts.com 4 Attorney for Defendant 5 MGM Grand Hotel, LLC

6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 8 SALVADOR A. LIBUTAN, an Individual 9 Case No.: 2:20-cv-00304-RFB-NJK Plaintiff, 10 JOINT MOTION TO TEMPORARILY vs. 11 STAY PROCEEDINGS MGM GRAND HOTEL LLC, a Domestic 12 Limited-Liability Company. 13 Defendants. 14 Plaintiff Salvador A. Libutan (“Plaintiff”) and Defendant MGM Grand Hotel, LLC 15 (“Defendant” or “MGM Grand”), by and through their counsel of record, jointly request this Court to 16 temporarily stay discovery and all proceedings in this case until June 1, 2020, which is a period of 17 sixty-nine (69) days from the date this joint motion is being filed. 18 I. STATEMENT OF FACTS 19 1. Procedural History of This Case. 20 Plaintiff’s Complaint was filed on February 12, 2020 (ECF No. 1) and served on Defendant on 21 February 18, 2020. See ECF No. 6. 22 On March 10, 2020, Defendant filed a Partial Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Complaint 23 (“Motion to Dismiss”), ECF. No. 8. Plaintiff’s Response to the Motion to Dismiss is presently due to 24 be filed by March 24, 2020. 25 The parties’ Discovery Plan and Proposed Scheduling Order is presently due to be filed by 26 April 24, 2020 (see Docket 8); thus, no scheduling order has yet been entered, nor have any other dates 27 yet been scheduled by the Court in this case. 28 1 2. Events Since Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Was Filed. 2 On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) publicly characterized the 3 Coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic. See https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director- 4 general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020 (accessed March 21, 5 2020). 6 On March 12, 2020, Governor Steve Sisolak issued a Declaration of Emergency for the State 7 of Nevada. See http://gov.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/govnewnvgov/Content/News/Press/2020/Declaration 8 %20of%20_Emergency%20re%20COVID.pdf (accessed March 21, 2020). 9 On March 13, 2020, President of the United States Donald Trump declared a nationwide 10 emergency. See COVID-19 Declaration of Emergency Directive 002, 11 http://gov.nv.gov/News/Emergency_Orders/2020/2020-03-15_-_COVID-19_Declaration_of_ 12 Emergency_Directive_001/ (accessed March 21, 2020). 13 Effective March 17, 2020, MGM Grand closed for an undetermined period of time and 14 currently remains closed. See https://investors.mgmresorts.com/investors/news-releases/press-release- 15 details/2020/MGM-Resorts-International-Statement-On-Temporary-Closure-Of-Las-Vegas- 16 Properties/default.aspx (accessed March 21, 2020). 17 On March 18, Governor Sisolak ordered all gaming establishments, including MGM Grand, to 18 close until at least April 16, 2020. See COVID-19 Declaration of Emergency Directive 002, 19 http://gov.nv.gov/News/Emergency_Orders/2020/2020-03-18_-_COVID-19_Declaration_of_ 20 Emergency_Directive_002/ (accessed March 21, 2020). 21 On March 20, 2020, Governor Sisolak directed non-essential businesses to close until at least 22 April 16, 2020. See COVID-19 Declaration of Emergency Directive 003, http://gov.nv.gov/News/ 23 Emergency_Orders/Emergency_Orders/ (accessed March 21, 2020). 24 II. LEGAL STANDARD 25 “District courts have discretion to stay the proceedings before them in light of their inherent 26 po w er to control their own dockets and promote jud icial econ omy.” Robben v. Carson City, No. 3:13-

27 cv -0438-RFB-VPC, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52197 , at *2-3 (D. Nev. Apr. 19, 2016) citing Lockyer v.

28 1 Mirant Corp., 398 F.3d 1098, 1110 (9th Cir. 2005); Landis v. North Am. Co., 299 U.S. 248, 255 (1936). 2 Although stays are disfavored, a stay may be granted when the request is for a limited duration, with a 3 defined end point, and the risk of harm to another party is absent. Dependable Highway Express, Inc. 4 v. Navigators Ins. Co., 498 F.3d 1059, 1066 (9th Cir. 2007). This is a joint motion by the parties and, 5 therefore, no prejudice to either party will result from the granting of the stay requested. 6 Navigating the COVID-19 local, national, and global public health emergency has imposed an 7 enormous drain upon MGM Grand’s resources. This unprecedented disruption in MGM Grand’s 8 business would cause extreme difficulty in its participation in an Early Neutral Evaluation, which will 9 be required pursuant to LR 16-6. Moreover, the unavailability of witnesses and documents due to the 10 closure of MGM Grand will significantly infringe on both parties’ ability to “meaningfully participate 11 in the discovery process,” which is an appropriate basis for staying proceedings. Sears v. Russell Rd. 12 Food & Bev., No. 2:19-cv-01091-APG-NJK, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44385, at *4 (D. Nev. Mar. 13, 13 2020). 14 Until present, Governor Sisolak has stopped short of ordering Nevadans to “shelter in place,” 15 which would prohibit persons from leaving their homes except in certain extremely narrow and specific 16 circumstances; however, this public health emergency and the attendant limitations have been fluid, 17 sometimes changing dramatically from one day to the next.1 The situation is expected to continue to 18 worsen in the immediate future. For these reasons, the parties submit that these extenuating 19 circumstances make a stay of proceedings appropriate in this case. Cf. Parkway Gallery Furniture, 20 Inc. v. Kittinger/Pennsylvania House Group, Inc., 116 F.R.D. 363, 365-66 (M.D.N.C. 1987) (“Good 21 cause” shown when there are “extenuating circumstances.”); Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, 975 22 F.2d 604, 610 (9th Cir. 1992). 23 The parties further request that the due date for Plaintiff’s response to Defendant’s Motion to 24 Dismiss be set for 14 days from the latter of: June 1, 2020; or, until the date that any stay this Court 25 may grant has been lifted. 26 1 Further, local, state and federal authorities have emp hasized the need for social distancing and urged persons 27 to avoid human contact. See, e.g., https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3990.pdf; http://www.clarkcountynv.gov/public-communications /news/Pages/Clark-County-Closing-Most-Buildings- 28 Wednesday-Due-to-Coronavirus-Concerns.aspx. 1 | I. CONCLUSION 2 The undersigned counsel certify and represent that this request for a stay is submitted in good 3 | faith and is not intended to cause unnecessary burden or delay. For good cause shown, the parties 4 | jointly request this Court to stay discovery and all proceedings in this case until June 1, 2020. 5 6 Dated: March 22, 2020

7 | HKM EMPLOYMENT ATTORNEYS LLP MGM GRAND HOTEL LLC 8 9 By: /sJJenny L. Foley By: /s/ Kelly R. Kichline Jenny L. Foley, Bar #9017) Kelly R. Kichline, Bar #10642 10 | Marta D. Kurshumova, Bar #14728) 6385 S. Rainbow Blvd., Suite 500 11 | 1785 East Sahara, Suite 300 Las Vegas, NV 89118 Las Vegas, Nevada 89104 Telephone: (702) 692-5651 12 | Telephone: (702) 625-3893 Email: kkichline@mgmresorts.com Email: jfoley@hkm.com 13 | Email: mkurshumova@hkm.com 4 Attorney for Defendant Attorneys For Plaintiff MGM Grand Hotel, LLC 15 || Salvador Libutan 16 IT IS SO ORDERED: 17 18 A <- 19 RICHARD F. WARE, II 20 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE DATED this 24th day of March, 2020. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 I HEREBY CERTIFY that on March 22, 2020, I electronically filed a copy of the foregoing 3 with the Clerk of Court using the CM/ECF system, which sent a notification of such filing (NEF) to 4 the registered participants as identified on the NEF to receive electronic service, including: 5 Jenny L. Foley 6 Marta D. Kurshumova 7 1785 East Sahara, Suite 300 Las Vegas, Nevada 89104 8 Telephone: (702) 625-3893 Email: jfoley@hkm.com 9 Email: mkurshumova@hkm.com

10 Attorneys For Plaintiff 11 Salvador Libutan 12 13 /s/ Kelly R. Kichline 14 15 16

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