By Kelly Zegers

Law360 (March 24, 2020, 4:45 PM EDT) -- Rosette LLP is opposing a bid in California federal court for a 60-day stay of discovery that was filed by Williams & Cochrane LLP after California residents were ordered to stay at home to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

Williams & Cochrane filed the motion for stay of discovery Friday, saying that California Gov. Gavin Newsom's "shelter in place" executive order will prevent all the parties from conducting any meaningful discovery in Williams & Cochrane's contract dispute with the Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation.

Rosette on Monday acknowledged the new realities and challenges presented by the virus but opposed the 60-day stay of discovery. Two months remain to complete fact discovery, and the parties should evaluate the situation as it develops, Rosette said.

"A worldwide public health crisis affects everyone, including the judiciary and litigants," Rosette said. "Reasonable accommodations and cooperation are important, but unless the federal court system shuts down, litigants and lawyers have an obligation to carry on — especially the plaintiffs who initiated civil lawsuits."

The Rosette defendants, which include the firm's founder Robert Rosette, said that Williams & Cochrane hadn't made a formal proposal for a stay based on public health concerns and instead asked whether the parties would be open to extending the fact discovery deadline.

Rosette suggested the lawsuit should be dismissed if Williams & Cochrane does not want to proceed.

"The court should see this motion for what it is: W&C is trying to delay the close of discovery by exploiting a worldwide crisis," Rosette said.

The underlying suit filed in July 2017 stems from an incident in which the Quechan tribe fired Williams & Cochrane just three days before the end of gambling contract negotiations with California, according to the suit. The tribe refused to pay a contingency fee, demanded that Williams & Cochrane turn over the latest draft compact and asked Rosette to step in as the attorney of record for the signed compact.

Gov. Newsom's executive order went into effect Thursday night and doesn't have an end date, Williams & Cochrane noted in its Friday ex parte motion.

"With precious little time left in discovery and still much to do," there's reason enough for the court to grant the stay, Williams & Cochrane said in its motion Friday.

Williams & Cochrane said it still lacks meaningful discovery from the tribe and Rosette, saying the other firm has produced "next to nothing," according to the motion.

The firm also said that its partner Cheryl A. Williams — who is of Native American descent — is ill with respiratory symptoms, is unable to get tested for COVID-19 and is self-quarantined per doctor's orders.

"Defense counsels' insistence on rushing through the remainder of discovery in the midst of a public health crisis in violation of the state shut-down order is heartless and tone-deaf to cash-strapped tribes that just closed their casinos and reckless to all who will be forced to partake in wanton discovery measures," Williams & Cochrane said in a statement to Law360 Monday. "There's no trial date and no urgency whatsoever."

In a separate response, the tribe, also a defendant, on Monday suggested the parties take a different approach to a 60-day stay, in partial opposition to Williams & Cochrane's motion. It proposed a 30-day extension for requests served in March and said it would agree to pause depositions until a time when in-person depositions are safer and more feasible.

"The Quechan Tribe and its counsel appreciate, and have been affected by, the profound consequences of the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic," the tribe said. By filing its partial opposition, the tribe "in no way intends to minimize the impact of the pandemic on the parties, the court, and the communities in which we all live."

But a 60-day stay of discovery across the board — about which the tribe said Williams & Cochrane did not confer with its counsel — and without dates for depositions "is problematic given the course of discovery to date," the tribe said.

The tribe asserted that Williams & Cochrane's ex parte motion was filled with misrepresentations about discovery and is "procedurally improper" in suggesting the parties had met and conferred on March 11 about issues in the motion, saying that was "disingenuous, and defeats the purpose of the meet and confer requirement."

Williams & Cochrane first informed the tribe of its intention to file the motion less than 12 hours before the motion was filed, the tribe said. The tribe sought to meet and confer, but did not hear back, it said.

"Apparently defense counsel has no interest in 'flattening the curve,'" Williams & Cochrane said in a statement Tuesday. "Case in point: yesterday they caused a deposition subpoena to be served on a 76-year-old Native man with hypertension, demanding he travel to Yuma, AZ, meanwhile telling the court that no depositions were pending. The court must stop this grossly irresponsible behavior."

Rosette did not comment beyond its court filings. Counsel for the tribe did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Williams & Cochrane is represented by Cheryl A. Williams and Kevin M. Cochrane of Williams & Cochrane LLP.

The Quechan Tribe is represented by Christopher T. Casamassima, Joshua A. Vittor, Julia V. Fauzia-Whatley and Kathleen B. Moran of WilmerHale.

Robert Rosette, Rosette & Associates PC and Rosette LLP are represented by Brittany A. Rogers and Kate M. Ikehara of O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

The case is Williams & Cochrane LLP v. Robert Rosette et al., case number 3:17-cv-01436, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

--Additional reporting by Joyce Hanson. Editing by Jack Karp.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed Christopher T. Casamassima as counsel for Rosette. The error has been corrected. 

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