McPeak v. Butcher

Opinion

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5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 9 AT TACOMA 10 11 ERIN McPEAK, CASE NO. 3:21-cv-05821-TL 12 Plaintiff, MINUTE ORDER 13 v. 14 COREY BUTCHER, in his individual capacity and in his official capacity, et al., 15 Defendants. 16

17 The following Minute Order is made at the direction of the Court, the Honorable Tana 18 Lin, United States District Judge: 19 (1) On August 26, 2022, counsel for Plaintiff Erin McPeak filed a motion to withdraw as 20 attorney of record. Dkt. No. 33. 21 (2) On August 29, 2022, Plaintiff McPeak filed a response opposing the motion to 22 withdraw (Response) and pointed out the motion had not been properly noted. Dkt. 23 24 1 No. 34 at 2. The Court re-noted the motion to withdraw to September 16, 2022, as 2 provided in Local Civil Rule 7. See LCR 7(d)(3). 3 (3) In the Response, Plaintiff McPeak requested that her deposition in this case (currently 4 scheduled for September 9, 2022) be postponed if the motion to withdraw is granted.

5 Dkt. No. 34 at 3–4. The Court construes Plaintiff McPeak’s request as a motion for a 6 protective order to avert the prejudice and undue burden of having to defend a 7 deposition without aid from counsel. See Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 8 (holding filings by unrepresented parties to “less stringent standards” than those 9 drafted by lawyers). 10 (4) Given the timing and circumstances surrounding the motion to withdraw, the Court 11 ORDERS that the currently-scheduled deposition shall be POSTPONED, pending the 12 resolution of the motion. The parties are DIRECTED to meet and confer to choose a 13 new date for Plaintiff McPeak’s deposition within two weeks of the Court’s ruling on 14 the motion to withdraw.

15 Dated this 29th day of August 2022. 16 17 Ravi Subramanian Clerk of the Court 18 s/ Kadya Peter 19 Deputy Clerk 20 21 22 23 24