Western Watersheds Project v. Burgum

• Court: District Court, D. Nevada
• Decided: April 9, 2025
• Docket: 2:23-cv-02009
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 STEVEN B. WOLFSON District Attorney 2 CIVIL DIVISION Nevada Bar No. 1565 3 By: JOEL K. BROWNING Deputy District Attorney 4 Nevada Bar No. 14489 By: TIMOTHY ALLEN 5 Deputy District Attorney Nevada Bar No. 14818 6 500 South Grand Central Pkwy., Suite 5075 Las Vegas, Nevada 89155-2215 7 Telephone (702) 455-4761 Fax (702) 382-5178 8 E-Mail: Joel.Browning@ClarkCountyDA.com Timothy.Allen@clarkcountyda.com 9 Attorneys for Clark County 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 12 WESTERN WATERSHEDS PROJECT, ) Plaintiff, ) 13 v. ) Case No: 2:23-cv-02009-GMN-EJY ) 14 ) [PROPOSED] STIPULATION AND DOUG BURGUM, in his capacity as ) ORDER TO PERMIT CLARK 15 Secretary of the Interior,1; U.S. FISH AND ) WILDLIFE SERVICE; and CLARK COUNTY, ) COUNTY TO FILE AN AMICUS 16 NEVADA, ) BRIEF ) 17 Defendants. ) 18 19 Pursuant to discussions in a meet-and-confer conference held between the parties on or 20 around April 3, 2025, on a scheduling order and discovery plan in this matter, Federal 21 Defendants U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE and Doug Burgum, in his official capacity 22 as Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter collectively “Federal Defendants”), by and through 23 their counsel of record Devon Lea Flanagan, Esq. of the U.S. Department of Justice, former 24 Defendant CLARK COUNTY, by and through its counsel of record, Joel K. Browning, Esq. 25 of the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, and Plaintiff WESTERN WATERSHEDS 26 27 1 PROJECT, by and through its counsel of record, Jaimie Park, Esq. of Western Watersheds 2 Project, do hereby stipulate and agree as follows: 3 Whereas the only cause of action alleged against former Defendant CLARK COUNTY 4 was dismissed by Order [ECF No. 62] of the Court on or around March 25, 2025; 5 Whereas the Court’s Order [ECF No. 62] did not identify what role, if any, CLARK 6 COUNTY would play in the remaining litigation; 7 Whereas Plaintiff’s remaining cause of action in this matter involves a matter of public 8 interest which will impact the interests and rights of CLARK COUNTY; 9 Whereas the continued participation of CLARK COUNTY will supplement the efforts 10 of the parties and draw the court’s attention to matters of local concern. Miller-Wohl Co. v. 11 Comm'r of Lab. & Indus. State of Mont., 694 F.2d 203, 204 (9th Cir. 1982); 12 Whereas neither the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure nor the Local Rules of the United 13 States District Court for the District of Nevada cover amicus curiae procedures for district 14 court actions. Elias v. Wynn Las Vegas, LLC, No. 2:23-CV-02111-ART-BNW, 2025 WL 15 489982, at *1 (D. Nev. Feb. 13, 2025). 16 Whereas the district courts have looked to FRAP 29 for guidance when considering 17 amici requests. See, e.g., Earth Island Inst. v. Nash, No. 1:19-cv-01420-DAD-SAB, 2019 WL 18 6790682, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Dec. 12, 2019); 19 Whereas FRAP 29 provides that an amicus curiae brief may be filed with leave of the 20 court or if all parties consent. FRAP 29(a)(2); 21 Whereas Federal Defendants do not oppose CLARK COUNTY filing an amicus brief 22 in this matter; and 23 Whereas Plaintiff WESTERN WATERSHEDS PROJECT has consented to CLARK 24 COUNTY filing an amicus brief in this matter on the same briefing schedule as the Federal 25 Defendants. 26 Based on the foregoing, and in the interests of judicial economy, the Parties do hereby 27 consent to the Court permitting CLARK COUNTY to file an amicus brief in this matter 1 It is hereby STIPULATED. 2 DATED this 8th day of April, 2025. 3 STEVEN B. WOLFSON DISTRICT ATTORNEY 4 5 By: /s/ Joel K. Browning JOEL K. BROWNING 6 Deputy District Attorney Nevada Bar No. 14489 7 500 South Grand Central Pkwy., Suite 5075 Las Vegas, Nevada 89155-2215 8 Attorneys for Clark County 9 ADAM R.F. GUSTFAFSON WESTERN WATERSHEDS PROJECT 10 Acting Assistant Attorney General Environment and Natural Resources Division /s/ Jaimie L. Park 11 United States Department of Justice Jaimie L. Park Western Watersheds Project 12 /s/ Devon Lea Flanagan P.O. Box 37198 DEVON LEA FLANAGAN Albuquerque, NM 87110 13 D.C. Bar No. 1022195 jaimie@westernwatersheds.org U.S. Department of Justice 14 Environment and Natural Resources Paul D. Ruprecht Division Western Watersheds Project 15 Wildlife & Marine Resources Section P.O. Box 941 P.O. Box 7611 Lebanon, OR 97355 16 Washington, D.C. 20044-7611 paul@westernwatersheds.org Telephone: (202) 305-0201 17 devon.flanagan@usdoj.gov Christopher Mixson (NV Bar#10685) KEMP JONES, LLP 18 Attorneys for Defendants Doug Burgum 3800 Howard Hughes Parkway, Suite and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1700 19 Las Vegas, Nevada 89169 c.mixson@kempjones.com 20 Attorney for service only under LR IA 11-1(b)(2) 21 Attorneys for Plaintiff 22 23 IT IS SO ORDERED this 9th day of April, 2025. 24 25 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 26 27