Zhu v. Department of Homeland Security

Opinion

5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 7 AT SEATTLE 8 XILONG ZHU, Case No. C20-5818RSL 9

10 Plaintiff, ORDER STAYING 11 v. LITIGATION AND DENYING DEFENDANTS’ 12 DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND MOTION TO DISMISS SECURITY, et. al., 13 Defendants. 14 15 This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ “Stipulated Motion to Stay 16 Proceedings.” Dkt. # 15. Defendants had previously filed a “Motion to Dismiss or in the 17 Alternative, to Stay,” Dkt. # 10, which the parties have stipulated can be denied as moot, 18 without prejudice to defendants’ right to refile the motion if and when the stay is lifted. 19 Based upon the parties’ positions expressed in defendants’ underlying motion to dismiss 20 and plaintiff’s response, respectively, the parties agree that a stay in proceedings is appropriate 21 because plaintiff’s claim in the above-captioned matter raises similar factual and legal issues to 22 the claim in Dong v. Albence et al., Case No. 2:17-cv-2092-ES-JAD pending in the District 23 Court for the District of New Jersey. See Dkts. # 10, # 14. Under the “first to file” rule, “when 24 cases involving the same parties and issues have been filed in two different districts, the second 25 district court has discretion to transfer, stay, or dismiss the second case in the interest of 26 efficiency and judicial economy.” Cedars-Sinai Med. Ctr. v. Shalala, 125 F.3d 765, 769 (9th Cir. 27 1997). 28 1 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the parties’ stipulated motion to stay (Dkt. # 15) is 2 GRANTED. 3 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that within twenty (20) days of the resolution of the 4 overlapping issues in Dong, the parties shall file a joint status report with the Court. 5 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that defendants’ motion to dismiss (Dkt. # 10) is DENIED 6 as moot. 7 DATED this 21st day of December, 2020. 8 9 A

10 Robert S. Lasnik 11 United States District Judge 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28