Collins v. AutoZone, Inc., No. 2:2022cv00316 - Document 73 (D. Nev. 2023)

Court Description: ORDER Granting 69 Motion to Continue. Evidentiary Hearing set for 11/7/2023 at 10:00 AM in LV Courtroom 3B before Magistrate Judge Brenda Weksler. Signed by Magistrate Judge Brenda Weksler on 9/25/2023. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - JQC)

Download PDF

Collins v. AutoZone, Inc. Doc. 73 Case 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Document 73 Filed 09/25/23 Page 1 of 6 TRACY E. KERN 1 PETER J. LEE JONES WALKER LLP 2 201 St. Charles Ave., Ste. 5100 New Orleans, LA 70170 3 Tel: (504) 582-8000/ Fax: (504) 589-8603 tkern@joneswalker.com 4 mgussman@joneswalker.com 5 JONATHAN B. OWENS, ESQ. 6 Nevada Bar No. 7118 MESSNER REEVES LLP 7 8945 West Russell Road, Suite 300 8 Las Vegas, Nevada 89148 Telephone: (702) 363-5100 9 Facsimile: (702) 363-5101 E-mail: jowens@messner.com 10 Attorneys for Defendant, 11 Autozoners, LLC 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 13 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 14 15 16 17 18 19 ERIC COLLINS, vs. Civil Action No: 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Plaintiffs, AUTOZONE, INC., a Nevada corporation; DOES I through X, inclusive; and ROE BUSINESS ENTITIES, I through X, inclusive, 20 21 Defendants. DEFENDANT, AUTOZONERS, LLC’S MOTION TO CONTINUE THE DATE OF THE EVIDENTIARY HEARING ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SANCTIONS DATE OF HEARING: 10/5/2023 TIME OF HEARING: 10:00 AM Defendant, Autozoners, LLC, hereby moves this Court for a continuance of the October 5, 22 2023, Evidentiary Hearing on Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions based upon the unavailability of 23 counsel and witnesses on the date currently set for the hearing. This motion is made and based upon 24 / / / / 25 / / / / 26 / / / / 27 / / / / 28 Page 1 of 6 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Dockets.Justia.com Case 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Document 73 Filed 09/25/23 Page 2 of 6 1 the memorandum of points and authorities below, as well as the declaration of Jonathan B. Owens, 2 Esq., and any argument permitted by the Court on the hearing of this motion. 3 DATED this 19th day of September, 2023. 4 JONES WALKER LLP By: /s/ Peter J. Kee , Esq. TRACY E. KERN PETER J. KEE JONES WALKER LLP 201 St. Charles Ave., Suite 5100 New Orleans, LA 70170 Tel: (504) 582-8000 Fax: (504) 589-8603 tkern@joneswalker.com mgussman@joneswalker.com 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 MESSNER REEVES LLP 13 By: /s/ Jonathan B. Owens, Esq. JONATHAN B. OWENS Nevada Bar No. 7118 8945 West Russell Road, Suite 300 Las Vegas, Nevada 89148 Email: jowens@messner.com Attorneys for Defendant, Autozoners, LLC 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES DECLARATION OF JONATHAN B. OWENS, ESQ., IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO CONTINUE JONATHAN B. OWENS, ESQ., declares and states as follows: 1. I am a partner at the law firm of Messner Reeves LLP licensed to practice law before all courts in the State of Nevada and am local counsel of record for Defendant AUTOZONERS, LLC. 26 27 28 Page 2 of 6 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Case 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Document 73 Filed 09/25/23 Page 3 of 6 2. 1 Attorneys Tracey E. Kern, Esq., and Peter J. Kee, Esq., of the firm JONES WALKER 2 LLP, have been admitted to practice in this matter and are acting as lead counsel for Defendant 3 AUTOZONERS, LLC. 4 5 6 3. I have personal knowledge of the facts referred to in this declaration and could competently testify to these facts if called upon to do so in a court of law. 4. 7 The evidentiary hearing on Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions is currently set for October 8 5, 2023, at 10:00 a.m., and the Court requires in person appearances of both counsel and witnesses. 5. 9 Attorneys Tracey E. Kern, Esq., and Peter J. Kee, Esq., are currently scheduled for a 10 multi-week trial in Chicago starting October 9, 2023, and will be in Chicago on October 5, 2023, for 11 12 trial preparation. 6. 13 Defendant’s primary witness for the evidentiary hearing, Lori Casson, has relocated 14 to Memphis, TN and is also not available on October 5th. Specifically, Ms. Casson has another trial 15 scheduled in California commencing on October 9, 2023, and will be in trial preparation from October 16 2nd through 6th. In that trial, Ms. Casson is the central corporate witness and will be the corporate 17 18 representative. 7. 19 20 Based on the foregoing, it is Defendant’s position that good cause exists to continue the October 5, 2023, evidentiary hearing. Further, based upon conversations between Mr. Kee and 21 Plaintiff’s counsel, Plaintiff does not object to the hearing being rescheduled and has represented to 22 Mr. Kee that Plaintiff will file a Notice of No Opposition to the instant motion. 23 24 25 26 //// //// //// 27 / / / / 28 Page 3 of 6 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Case 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Document 73 Filed 09/25/23 Page 4 of 6 8. 1 Pursuant to NRS § 53.045, I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true 2 and correct to the best of my knowledge. 3 Dated this 19th day of September 2023. 4 /s/ Jonathan B. Owens, Esq. Jonathan B. Owens, Esq. 5 6 ARGUMENT 7 As noted above, both lead counsel and the primary witness for Defendant are not available on 8 9 the date currently set for the evidentiary hearing on Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions. Further, based 10 upon discussions with counsel for Plaintiff, Plaintiff does not have an objection to a continuance of 11 12 13 the evidentiary hearing. Accordingly, Defendant requests that the Court continue the October 5, 2023, evidentiary hearing on Plaintiff’s Motion for Sanctions to a date in November 2023. Undersigned 14 / / / / 15 / / / / 16 / / / / 17 18 19 20 //// //// //// 21 / / / / 22 / / / / 23 24 25 26 //// //// //// 27 / / / / 28 Page 4 of 6 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Case 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Document 73 Filed 09/25/23 Page 5 of 6 1 counsel has confirmed that Ms. Casson is available from November 6-17, 2023, as are Defendant’s 2 counsel. 3 DATED this 19th day of September, 2023. 4 JONES WALKER LLP 5 6 By: /s/ Peter J. Kee, Esq. TRACY E. KERN PETER J. KEE JONES WALKER LLP 201 St. Charles Ave., Suite 5100 New Orleans, LA 70170 Tel: (504) 582-8000 Fax: (504) 589-8603 tkern@joneswalker.com mgussman@joneswalker.com 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 MESSNER REEVES LLP 14 15 23 By: /s/ Jonathan B. Owens, Esq. JONATHAN B. OWENS Nevada Bar No. 7118 8945 West Russell Road, Suite 300 Las Vegas, Nevada 89148 Email: jowens@messner.com Attorneys for Defendant, Autozoners, LLC Having read and considered the Defendant's Motion to Continue the Evidentiary Hearing ECF No. 69 on Plaintiff's Motion for Sanctions due to Spoliation ECF No. 50 and Plaintiff's notice of non-opposition, the motion (ECF No. 69) is GRANTED. The hearing currently schedule for 10/5/2023 is VACATED and continued to November 7, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. IT IS SO ORDERED 24 DATED: 10:48 am, September 25, 2023 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 25 26 27 28 BRENDA WEKSLER UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE Page 5 of 6 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Case 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW Document 73 Filed 09/25/23 Page 6 of 6 1 2 CERTIFICATE VIA CM/ECF Pursuant to FRCP 5, I hereby certify that I am an employee of MESSNER REEVES LLP and 3 that on the 19th day of September, 2023, I caused to be served via CM/ECF a true and correct copy 4 of the document described herein. 5 Document Served: DEFENDANT, AUTOZONERS, LLC’S MOTION TO 6 CONTINUE THE DATE OF THE EVIDENTIARY HEARING ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SANCTIONS 7 8 Jill Garcia, Esq. NV Bar No. 7805 Amy L. Howard, NV Bar No. 13946 9 HONE LAW 701 N. Green Valley Parkway, Suite 200 10 Las Vegas, NV 89074 11 Phone: 702-608-3720 Fax: 702-608-3726 12 jgarcia@hone.law ahoward@hone.law 13 14 15 /s/ Erin Donaldson An employee of MESSNER REEVES LLP 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Page 6 of 6 2:22-cv-00316-CDS-BNW

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.