Dobbs v. NYU Langone Medical Center
- Katharine Parker
- 1:18-cv-01285
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Dobbs v. NYU Langone Medical Center, Judge Parker granted NYU’s consented motion to stay pretrial deadlines and trial pending summary judgment.
Debra Dobbs and NYU Langone Medical Center; the order paused specified pretrial deadlines and the trial. The court found that no third parties would be affected.
What happened
In Dobbs v. NYU Langone Medical Center, the court temporarily paused the remaining pretrial deadlines and trial because NYU Langone Medical Center planned to seek summary judgment on all of Debra Dobbs’s claims.
Dobbs consented to the pause. The court found that neither side would be harmed, no third parties would be affected, and the pause would promote efficient case management while the court considered the anticipated motion.
Judge Katharine H. Parker granted the motion to stay items two through eight of the court’s pretrial scheduling order and the trial, pending resolution of NYU Langone Medical Center’s summary judgment motion.
The detailed version
- Dobbs v. NYU Langone Medical Center · No. 1:18-cv-01285
- Katharine Parker
- Mar. 6, 2020
Background
The action had been pending since February 2018 and had reached the final stages of litigation. Discovery had ended. NYU Langone Medical Center told the court that it intended to file a motion for summary judgment on all of Debra Dobbs’s claims. Summary judgment is a procedure for resolving claims without a trial when the governing legal standard is met. NYU moved, with Dobbs’s consent, to pause the upcoming pretrial deadlines and trial until the court resolved that anticipated motion.
Analysis
The court explained that federal courts have inherent authority to issue a stay as a case-management tool. A stay is a temporary pause in the case. Courts consider the interests and possible burdens affecting the plaintiff, defendant, court, nonparties, and public.
The court found that Dobbs would not be prejudiced or burdened because she consented to the stay, NYU timely stated its intent to seek summary judgment, and the case could not proceed to trial while that motion sought dismissal of all her claims. For the same reasons, the court found that NYU would not be prejudiced. The court also found that a stay served the interests of the court and public by promoting efficient case management and clarifying which claims, if any, would proceed to trial. No third parties would be affected.
Ruling
Judge Katharine H. Parker granted NYU Langone Medical Center’s motion to stay the deadlines listed in items two through eight of the pretrial scheduling order and the trial, pending resolution of NYU’s motion for summary judgment. The opinion did not decide the anticipated summary judgment motion or the merits of Dobbs’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.