Olson v. World Financial Group Insurance Agency, LLC

Opinion

1 2 3 7 8 SANDRA OLSON, et al., Case No. 5:24-cv-00477-EJD

9 Plaintiffs, ORDER STAYING DISCOVERY

v. 10 Re: ECF No. 232 INSURANCE AGENCY, LLC, 12 Defendant.

13 14 Before the Court is Plaintiff Global Financial Impact, LLC’s (“GFI”) motion to stay 15 discovery. ECF No. 232. GFI seeks to stay discovery related to Defendant World Financial 16 Group Insurance Agency, LLC’s (“WFG”) counterclaims during the pendency of GFI’s motion to 17 dismiss, stay, or compel arbitration, ECF No. 190. 18 Courts have broad discretion in controlling discovery. Little v. City of Seattle, 863 F.2d 19 681, 685 (9th Cir. 1988). Courts routinely exercise that discretion to grant stays pending 20 resolution of a motion to compel arbitration, because if that motion is granted, the arbitrator will 21 have the authority to determine the nature and scope of discovery. See Mahamedi IP L., LLP v. 22 Paradice & Li, LLP, No. 5:16-CV-02805, 2017 WL 2727874, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 14, 2017) 23 (collecting cases); Stiener v. Apple Computer, Inc., No. C 07-4486 SBA, 2007 WL 4219388, at *1 24 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 29, 2007). A short stay often will serve the parties’ interests in conserving 25 resources and the court’s interest in securing just, speedy, and inexpensive resolutions of cases 26 before it. Stiener, 2007 WL 4219388, at *1; see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 1. 27 The same holds true here. Engaging in fulsome discovery while GFI’s motion to compel 1 arbitration is pending could undermine the potential efficiencies of arbitration and lead to 2 || inconsistent results. Further, the Court is not persuaded that a stay would significantly prejudice 3 WEG. WFG asserts several arguments in opposition to GFI’s motion to stay discovery, but none 4 are availing. ECF No. 234. Notably, WFG cites concealment and spoliation of evidence by GFI. 5 Though the Court does not condone such discovery misconduct if it is occurring, WFG has not 6 || proffered enough evidence at this time to show that the risk of concealment or spoliation of 7 evidence outweighs the benefits of a temporary discovery stay. 8 For the foregoing reasons, the Court GRANTS GFI’s motion to stay discovery. All 9 discovery related to WFG’s counterclaims shall be stayed until the Court issues a ruling on GFI’s 10 motion to dismiss, stay, or compel arbitration, ECF No. 190. a 12 Dated: July 6, 2025 EDWARD J. DAVILA 15 United States District Judge 16

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Z 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 || Case No.: 5:24-cv-00477-EJD ORDER STAYING DISCOVERY