Montoya v. Dudek
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Allison H. Goddard (author)
Analysis
The court considered the parties' joint motion for an extension of time to file the administrative record in a Social Security appeal. The court granted the motion, extending the deadline to file the record from June 23, 2025, to July 23, 2025.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Granting the Joint Motion for Extension of Time to File Administrative Record“Upon due consideration, the Court finds good cause to GRANT the parties’ joint motion. ECF No. 6. The deadline for Defendant to serve the Certified Administrative Record is continued to July 23, 2025.” | agree with court The court correctly applied the 'good cause' standard required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b) and Local Civil Rule 7.1. The parties provided a specific reason for the delay (the agency is still preparing the record and counsel needs time to review it), which constitutes a valid showing of good cause for a procedural extension. The extension is reasonable in duration (30 days) and does not prejudice the plaintiff. |
The order itself: sound — The order is procedurally sound. It correctly identifies the applicable local and federal rules, cites appropriate Ninth Circuit authority for the 'good cause' standard, and applies that standard to the facts presented (agency preparation time and counsel review time). The reasoning is sufficient to support the grant of the extension.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 JOSE EDUARDO M., Case No.: 3:25-cv-01039-AHG 13 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF 14 v. TIME TO FILE ADMINISTRATIVE 15 FRANK BISIGNANO, Commissioner of RECORD Social Security,1 16 [ECF No. 6] 17 Defendant. 18 19 Before the Court is the parties’ Joint Motion for Extension of Time to File the 20 Administrative Record (“AR”). ECF No. 6. 21 Parties seeking to continue a deadline must demonstrate good cause. Chmb.R. at 2 22 (stating that any request for continuance requires “[a] showing of good cause for the 23 request”); see FED. R. CIV. P. 6(b) (“When an act may or must be done within a specified 24 time, the court may, for good cause, extend the time”). “Good cause” is a non-rigorous 25 26 1 Frank Bisignano became the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration on 27 May 7, 2025. Although Plaintiff originally brought this action against Former Acting Commissioner Lee Dudek, this case may properly proceed against Frank Bisignano 28 1 |/standard that has been construed broadly across procedural and statutory contexts. 2 || Ahanchian v. Xenon Pictures, Inc., 624 F.3d 1253, 1259 (9th Cir. 2010). The good cause 3 || standard focuses on the diligence of the party seeking to amend the scheduling order and 4 ||the reasons for seeking modification. Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 5 609 (9th Cir. 1992) (“[T]he focus of the inquiry is upon the moving party’s reasons 6 ||for seeking modification. . . . If that party was not diligent, the inquiry should end.”) 7 || Gnternal citation omitted). 8 Here, the deadline for Defendant to file the AR in this case is June 23, 2025. See 9 ||CivLR 7.1(e)(6)(d) (“The certified administrative record filed by the Social Security 10 || Administration will suffice as the agency’s answer to the complaint, and will be due sixty 11 after transmission of the Notice of Electronic Filing of the complaint”); see also ECF 12 ||No. 2 (the Notice of Electronic Filing, filed on April 24, 2025). Defendant’s counsel 13 represents to the Court that the Office of Appellate Operations “is currently preparing” the 14 || AR and that work on the AR “has progressed.” ECF No. 6-1 at 2. However, the agency 15 ||needs additional time to prepare the AR and, after it is prepared, counsel then needs to 16 || review it for accuracy and completion. /d. As such, the parties request a 30-day extension. 17 || ECF No. 6 at 2. 18 Upon due consideration, the Court finds good cause to GRANT the parties’ joint 19 ||motion. ECF No. 6. The deadline for Defendant to serve the Certified Administrative 20 || Record is continued to July 23, 2025. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. 22 || Dated: June 17, 2025 23 24 _Abiomt. Xl Honorable Allison H. Goddard 25 United States Magistrate Judge 26 27 28