The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe v. Haaland

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 17 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 18 PYRAMID LAKE PAIUTE TRIBE, Case No. 3:23-cv-00348-ART-CSD 19 Plaintiff, ORER GRANTING 20 v. JOINT STIPULATED MOTION 21 TO STAY CASE AND DEBRA HAALAND, in her official SUPPORTING MEMORANDUM 22 capacity as Secretary of the United States OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES Department of the Interior, and the AND [PROPOSED] ORDER 23 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 24 Defendants. 25 26 Defendants Debra Haaland, in her official capacity as Secretary of the United States 27 Department of the Interior and the United States Department of the Interior (collectively 28 “Defendants”) and Plaintiff Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe (“Plaintiff” or “Tribe”) hereby stipulate 1 and jointly move the Court to stay this case and all case deadlines for a period of six months. As 2 grounds for this motion, the parties state as follows: 3 1. Plaintiff asserts Administrative Procedure Act, breach of trust, and mandamus 4 claims against Defendants for their alleged failure to manage certain water no longer used for 5 irrigation of lands at the Naval Air Station in Fallon, Nevada (“Navy Water”) primarily for the 6 purposes of conservation and recovery of endangered cui-ui and threatened Lahontan cutthroat 7 trout in Pyramid Lake within the Tribe's reservation, as purportedly required by the 1990 8 Truckee-Carson-Pyramid Lake Water Settlement Act, Title II of Pub. Law 101-618 (1990). 9 2. Defendants’ answer deadline is currently September 15, 2023. 10 3. Defendants and Plaintiff stipulate to a six-month stay of the litigation to facilitate 11 government-to-government consultation between Defendants and the Tribe concerning the Navy 12 Water and related matters at issue, with the hope of exploring a path to resolving the litigation 13 through this consultation and other discussions. 14 4. Given the complexity of the issues and extensive background underlying this 15 case, Defendants will need time to prepare for and engage in that consultation to make the 16 discussions most effective. 17 5. “The District Court has broad discretion to stay proceedings as an incident to its 18 power to control its own docket.” Flores v. Merck & Co., No. 321CV00166ARTCLB, 2022 WL 19 4281427, at *1 (D. Nev. June 13, 2022) (quoting Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681, 706–07 (1997)). 20 6. It would be in the interests of judicial economy to grant the requested stay to 21 allow the parties to attempt to resolve this litigation without judicial involvement. 22 7. If the requested stay is granted, the parties will file a joint status report six 23 months from the date of the order granting the stay advising the Court of the status of their 24 negotiations and future proceedings, including the deadline for answering the complaint. 25 WHEREFORE, the parties jointly stipulate and move the Court to order the stay of this 26 case for a period of six months, at the conclusion of which the parties shall file a joint status report 27 advising the Court of the status of their negotiations and future proceedings. 28 1 Dated: September 12, 2023. 2 3 || TODD KIM KEMP JONES, LLP Assistant Attorney General 41] Us. Department of Justice 5 Environment & Natural Resources Division 6 || /s_ Thomas K. Snodgrass /s/ Christopher W. Mixson (with permission) THOMAS K. SNODGRASS, Senior Attorney Don Springmeyer, Esq. (Nev. Bar#1021) 7 || DEVON LEHMAN MCCUNE, Senior Christopher W. Mixson, Esq. (Nev. Bar. Attorney #10685) 8 || Natural Resources Section Chad R. Aronson, Esq. (Nev. Bar #14471) 9 999 18th Street, South Terrace, Suite 370 3800 Howard Hughes Parkway, 17th Floor Denver, CO 80202 Las Vegas, Nevada 89169 10 || Telephone: 303-844-7233 (Snodgrass); 303-844-1487 (McCune) Attomeys for Plaintiff Pyramid Lake Paiute Il |] Email:thomas.snodgrass@usdoj.gov; Tribe D devon.mccune@usdo].gov 13 || AMANDA K. RUDAT Trial Attorney 14 || Natural Resources Section United States Department of Justice I5 || P.O. Box 7611 16 Washington, D.C. 20044 Tel: 202-532-3201 17 || Fax: 202-305-0275 amanda.rudat@usdoj.gov 18 Attorneys for Defendants 19 20 71 IT IS SO ORDERED: 22 As flosead Jer 23 Anne R. Traum United States District Court Judge 25 DATED: September 13, 2023. 26 27 28 Joint Stip. Motion to Stay Case (Case No. 3:23-cv-00348-ART-CSD) Page -3-