FILED

Electronically
CV20-00755
AARON D. FORD 2020-09-04 12:31:17 PM
1 Jacqueline Bryant
Attorney General Clerk of the Court
2 Greg D. Ott Transaction # 8054215 : yviloria
Senior Deputy Attorney General (Bar No 10950)
3 Gott@ag.nv.gov
Robert A. Whitney (Bar No. 8726)
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Deputy Attorney General
5 rwhitney@ag.nv.gov
Attorneys for Respondent State of Nevada,
6 Department of Employment, Training and
Rehabilitation, et al.
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8 IN THE SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT

WASHOE COUNTY, NEVADA
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AMETHYST PAYNE, IRIS PODESTA- Case No. CV20-00755
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MIRELES, ANTHONY NAPOLITANO,
11 ISAIAH PAVIA-CRUZ, VICTORIA Dept. No. 8
WAKED,CHARLES PLOSKI, DARIUSH
12 NAIMI, TABITA ASARE, SCOTT DEFENDANTS’ AND PLAINTIFFS’
HOWARD, RALPH WYNCOOPON, JOINT MOTION FOR STAY OF
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ELAINA ABING, and WILLIAM PROCEEDINGS
14 TURNLEY, on behalf of themselves and
others similarly situated,
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Plaintiff-Petitioners,
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17 vs.

18 STATE OF NEVADA ex rel NEVADA

19 DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT,
TRAINING AND REHABILITATION
20 (DETR), HEATHER KORBULIC, in her
official capacity only as Nevada Director
21 of Employment, Training and
22 Rehabilitation, DENNIS PEREA, in his
official capacity only as Deputy Director
23 of DETR, and KIMBERLY GAA, in her
official capacity only as the
24 Administrator for the Employment
25 Security Division (ESD) and DOES 1-
100, inclusive,
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Defendants-Respondents.
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1 COME NOW, Defendants State of Nevada, Department of Employment, Training and
2 Rehabilitation (hereinafter “Defendants” or DETR”), its [former] Director, Heather
3 Korbulic, in her official capacity as Director only, Dennis Perea, in his [former] official
4 capacity as DETR Deputy Director only, and Kimberly Gaa, in her official capacity as the
5 Administrator for ESD only, through their attorneys, State of Nevada Attorney General
6 Aaron D. Ford, through his Deputies, Chief Deputy Attorney General Greg Ott and Deputy
7 Attorney General Robert A. Whitney, and Plaintiffs, through the attorneys, Mark R.
8 Thierman, Esq. and Leah L. Jones, Esq., of Thierman Buck, LLP, and hereby file hereby
9 file their Joint Motion for Stay of Proceedings pursuant to Local Rule of Practice for the
10 Second Judicial District Court 12, in order to allow the parties to attempt to settle the
11 instant case through mediation.
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POINTS AND AUTHORITIES
13 I.
FACTS
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1. Plaintiffs filed their First Amended Petition for Writ of Mandamus and/or Class
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Action Complaint for Damages (“Plaintiffs’ Petition for Writ”) on June 22, 2020.
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2. Defendants filed their Opposition to Plaintiffs’ Petition for Writ on July 1, 2020.
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3. The Second Judicial District Court, the Honorable Barry Breslow presiding,
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held a hearing on Plaintiffs’ Writ on July 7, 2020, which was continued to July 20, 2020.
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4. On July 20, 2020 the Court issued an order denying in part and granting part
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Plaintiffs’ Writ, which covered two groups of individuals:
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That once payments have started, payments cannot be withheld and must be
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restarted UNLESS: (a) the applicant did not file a weekly claim; or (b) the applicant has
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earnings in excess of that which would otherwise qualify the applicant for benefits; or (c)
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there is clear and convincing evidence of fraud by the applicant; or (d) until such time as
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the applicant is afforded an opportunity to be heard.
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1 That a covered individual for the purposes of the Pandemic Unemployment
2 Assistance includes an individual with reportable income, and is either unemployed,
3 partially employed, or unable or unavailable to work because the COVID-19 public health
4 emergency has severely limited his or her ability to continue performing work activities
5 and has therefore caused substantial interference with his or her work activities, payments
6 are required.
7 5. Plaintiffs filed motions for contempt on July 29 and August 19 containing
8 overlapping allegations of contempt.
9 6. All other forms of relief sought by Plaintiffs were denied with right to renew.1

10 7. This Court on August 20, 2020, set a hearing for September 10, 2020 to consider

11 multiple issues, including Plaintiffs’ Motion for Contempt and directed a response to be

12 filed as to the Second Motion for Contempt. The Court also set the September 10, 2020

13 hearing to consider the fees of the Special Master appointed by the Court on .July 10, 2020.

14 8. Defendants filed their Opposition to Plaintiff’s Second Motion for Contempt and

15 also its Brief Regarding Special Master’s Fees on September 1, 2020.

16 9. Plaintiffs on September 2, 2020 filed their Reply to Defendants’ Brief: Re: Special

17 Master’s Fees.

18 10. Plaintiffs filed their Motion to Proceed Informa Pauperis on September 2, 2020.

19 11. The attorneys representing Plaintiffs and Defendants conferred and decided to

20 try and settle the instant case through mediation.

21 12. There have been no prior stays of proceedings in this case.

22 II.
ARGUMENT
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Plaintiffs and Defendants in this case have decided to attempt to settle this case
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through mediation. All parties agree the purpose of this litigation is to obtain payment of
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unemployment compensation to as many people who are entitled to such compensation as
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possible and to make those determinations as quickly as possible. At this juncture, it
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1 The Court reserved several issues for further consideration in its July 22 Order of Mandate, but all
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remaining issues were denied by the Court on August 28, 2020.

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1 makes more sense to explore the possibility of obtaining a voluntarily agreed to solution

2 to obtain the common goals of all parties.

3 Therefore, Plaintiffs and Defendants jointly move this Court to continue, for a

4 reasonable time, all proceedings in the district court, including the hearing scheduled for

5 September 10, 2020 so that the parties may arrange and then participate in mediation,

6 with the goal of settling this controversy in good faith. Proceeding in District Court would

7 also conserve the court’s and the parties’ resources and a voluntarily agreed upon

8 settlement will be more efficacious.

9 Therefore, the parties respectfully motion the Court to stay all matters before it in

10 the instant case for thirty (30) days in order for the parties to engage a mutually

11 acceptable mediator and to conduct mediation to settle the issues in this case.

12 III.

13 CONCLUSION

14 Plaintiffs and Defendants respectfully request that the Court grant their Joint

15 Motion for Stay of Proceedings for a thirty day time period in order to allow the parties to

16 attempt to settle this case through mediation.

Respectfully submitted by:
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18 AARON D. FORD
19 Nevada Attorney General THIERMAN BUCK, LLP

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By: /s/_Robert A. Whitney_________ __/s/ Mark Thierman_______________
21 ROBERT A. WHITNEY (Bar No 8726) MARK THIERMAN, ESQ (Bar No. 8285)
22 Deputy Attorney General Attorney for Plaintiffs
Attorney For DETR
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1 AFFIRMATION

2 The undersigned hereby affirms that the foregoing document does not contain the social

3 security number of any person.

4 DATED: September4, 2020.

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6 AARON D. FORD

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By: /s/_Robert A. Whitney_________
8 ROBERT A. WHITNEY
Deputy Attorney General
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
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I hereby certify that I am an employee of the State of Nevada, Office of the Attorney
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General and that on the 4th day of September, 2020 I served the foregoing via this Court’s
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Electronic Filing System to the following:
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THIERMAN BUCK LLP
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info@thiermanbuck.com
18 /s/ Marilyn Millam
An employee of the Office of the Attorney General
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