Malika Kadyrov fka Kurbanova v. Kristi Noem, et al.

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: October 28, 2025
• Docket: 2:25-cv-00994
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead 2 3 4

5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 MALIKA KADYROV fka KURBANOVA, Case No. 2:25-cv-00994-JNW 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATED MOTION TO STAY 11 v. AND ORDER 12 KRISTI NOEM, et al., Noted for Consideration: October 23, 2025 13 Defendants. 14 15 Defendants respectfully request a stay of the proceedings in this case due to the lapse of 16 appropriations to the Department of Justice (the Department). Plaintiff brought this litigation 17 pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act and Mandamus Act seeking, inter alia, to compel 18 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) to adjudicate her asylum application. This 19 case is currently stayed through October 30, 2025, as the parties were working on resolving the 20 litigation prior to the government shutdown. Good cause exists for staying the proceedings, and 21 the interests of justice and judicial economy will be served by granting this motion. Defendants’ 22 counsel has conferred with Plaintiff’s counsel who has agreed to stipulate to the requested relief 23 of a stay followed by a joint status report once appropriations are restored. The Department 24 provides the following background for the Court’s consideration. 1 At the end of the day on September 30, 2025, funding to the Department expired and its 2 appropriations lapsed. The same is true for many Executive agency clients with whom Department 3 attorneys must coordinate their litigation activities. The Department does not know when funding 4 will be restored by Congress.

5 Absent an appropriation, certain Department attorneys and employees of the federal 6 government are prohibited from working, even on a voluntary basis, except in very limited 7 circumstances, including “emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of 8 property.” 31 U.S.C. § 1342. The term “‘emergencies involving the safety of human life or the 9 protection of property’ does not include ongoing, regular functions of government the suspension 10 of which would not imminently threaten the safety of human life or the protection of property.” 11 Id. Therefore, the lapse in appropriations requires a reduction in the workforce of the United States 12 Attorney’s Office, particularly with respect to prosecution and defense of civil cases. 13 District courts have inherent power to stay proceedings in cases. Oregon Mut. Ins. Co. v.

14 Ham & Rye, LLC, No. C10-579RJB, 2010 WL 2787852, at *3 (W.D. Wash. July 14, 2010). The 15 “power to stay is ‘incidental to the power inherent in every court to control the disposition of the 16 causes on its docket with economy of time and effort for itself, for counsel, and for litigants.’” Id. 17 (citing Landis v. North American Co., 299 U.S. 248, 254 (1936)). When determining whether to 18 stay proceedings, a court should weigh the “competing interests which will be effected by the 19 granting or refusal to grant a stay,” including “the possible damage which may result from the 20 granting of a stay, the hardship or inequity which a party may suffer in being required to go 21 forward, and the orderly course of justice measured in terms of the simplifying or complicating of 22 issues, proof, and questions of law which could be expected to result from a stay.” Lockyer v. 23 Mirant Corp., 398 F.3d 1098, 1109 (9th Cir. 2005) (citing Landis, 299 U.S. at 254).

24 1 The above factors weigh in favor of granting a stay of proceedings in cases handled by the 2 United States Attorney’s Office, including this case. Most Assistant United States Attorneys and 3 support staff in the Civil Division will be furloughed for the duration of the lapse in appropriations 4 and will be unable to perform critical case work. For example, attorneys will not be able to engage

5 in discovery, review case materials, prepare motions, engage in settlement discussions, or prepare 6 for trial. 7 Specific to this case, Defendants will not be able to meet the next deadline to submit a joint 8 status report, which is currently set for October 30, 2025. A stay of this litigation should not 9 prejudice Plaintiff. USCIS’s operations, as relevant to this litigation, have not been impacted by 10 the lapse in appropriations. Furthermore, USCIS reports that it has adjudicated Plaintiff’s 11 application at issue here. Thus, the parties will confer about dismissing this matter once the lapse 12 of appropriations has ended and Defendants’ counsel may work on this case. 13 Accordingly, Defendants request the Court stay this case for the duration of the current

14 lapse of appropriations. As set forth in the proposed order, Defendants further request that the stay 15 be lifted automatically and immediately as soon as the lapse of appropriations has ended. 16 Defendants ask the Court to order the parties to confer and file a joint status report within ten court 17 days after the restoration of funding. 18 Based on the foregoing, Defendants respectfully request this case be stayed for the duration 19 of the current lapse in appropriations. 20 // 21 // 22 // 23 //

24 // 1 DATED this 23rd day of October, 2025. 2 Respectfully submitted, 3 CHARLES NEIL FLOYD LAW OFFICE OF LIYA DJAMILOVA United States Attorney 4 s/ Michelle R. Lambert s/ Liya Djamilova 5 MICHELLE R. LAMBERT, NYS #4666657 LIYA DJAMILOVA, WSBA# 57783 Assistant United States Attorney Law Office of Liya Djamilova 6 United States Attorney’s Office 421 23 Avenue S Western District of Washington Seattle, Washington 98144 7 1201 Pacific Ave., Ste. 700 Phone: 206-623-0118 Tacoma, WA 98402 Email: liya@djamilova.com 8 Phone: (253) 428-3824 Fax: (253) 428-3826 Attorneys for Plaintiff 9 Email: michelle.lambert@usdoj.gov 10 Attorneys for Defendants 11 I certify that this memorandum contains 735 words, in compliance with the Local Civil 12 Rules. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 1 ORDER 2 Pursuant to the parties’ Stipulated Motion, it is hereby ORDERED that the above captioned 3 ||proceeding is stayed for the duration of the current lapse of appropriations. It is ORDERED that 4 ||this stay be lifted automatically and immediately as soon as the lapse of appropriations has ended. 5 ||It is further ORDERED that the parties to confer and file a joint status report within ten court days 6 ||after the restoration of funding. 4 8 DATED this 28th day of October, 2025. 9

AL N. WHITEHEAD 11 United States District Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 STIPULATED MOTION FOR A STAY UNITED STATES ATTORNEY [Case No. 2:25-cv-00994-JNW] - 5 1201 PACIFIC AVE., STE. 700