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DOJ counsel says Woodruff failed to meet deadline
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Posted on Nov 15 2011
The lawyer for a group of individuals that is suing to stop federal officials from enforcing the CNMI-only Transitional Worker final rule on Nov. 28, 2011, failed to meet the deadline that he himself chose to submit a legal brief or supporting materials, according to the Department of Justice.
This puts the defendants in the case “at a significant disadvantage,” according to the notice filed yesterday by Theodore W. Atkinson, senior litigation counsel of the Department of Justice Office of Immigration Litigation–District Court Section, with the U.S. District Court for the NMI.
In the notice, Atkinson said the defendants cannot oppose a motion based on briefing it has not yet received, and cannot respond to evidence and exhibits that the plaintiffs have not yet offered.
Atkinson said the plaintiffs failed to file a brief or exhibits in support of their motion for a preliminary injunction by the Nov. 14, 2011, deadline agreed to by the parties and ordered by the court.
He said that, on Nov. 10, 2011, Stephen Woodruff e-mailed him that he “would start uploading exhibits in the morning.”
“To date, defendants have received none of the briefing or exhibits promised by Mr. Woodruff. Nor has Mr. Woodruff made any effort to contact counsel for defendants to seek further extension of time, or to explain why he did not meet the agreed-to Nov. 14, 2011, deadline for filing a supporting brief,” Atkinson said.
He said it was Woodruff who had proposed the Nov. 14 deadline.
The hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction is scheduled on Nov. 29, 2011.
The plaintiffs in the case are Bonifacio V. Sagana, Manuel T. Vilaga, Gerardo G. De Guzman, Hector T. Sevilla, Carlito J. Marquez, Eduardo M. Elenzano, and Jong Ho Lee.
Respondents are Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services District Director David Gulick, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis, and U.S. Department of Labor District Director Terrence Trotter.
