Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-4_06-cv-00398/USCOURTS-cand-4_06-cv-00398-6/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 442
Nature of Suit: Civil Rights Employment
Cause of Action: 42:2003 Job Discrimination

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

OAKLAND DIVISION

SHARON L. LEUZINGER,

Plaintiff,

 v.

COUNTY OF LAKE,

Defendant. 

No. C 06-0398 SBA

ORDER STAYING ENTRY OF

JUDGMENT

Before the Court is defendant County of Lake’s motion for an order staying the entry of

judgment on the jury verdict [Docket No. 104]. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff on

September 24, 2007. The defendant wishes to renew its motion for judgment as a matter of law and to

file a motion for a new trial. Due to a medical emergency, the court reporter that transcribed the trial

is currently unavailable to prepare the transcript. The defendant maintains that it cannot adequately

prepare these motions without the transcript and therefore requests that entry of judgment be stayed until

October 26, 2007.

The plaintiff opposes the motion for three reasons: (1) the trial transcripts are not necessary for

preparing the renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law or motion for a new trial; (2) Federal Rule

of Civil Procedure 58(a)(2)(A)(i) directs that a judgment be entered “promptly” following a jury’s

verdict; and (3) the plaintiff will lose interest on the award.

While the plaintiff’s citation to Rule 58 is correct, Rule 58’s directive is qualified by the

provision, “unless the court orders otherwise.” Moreover, while the plaintiff is correct that trial

transcripts generally take some time to prepare, parties often rely on unofficial transcripts during the

interim. Finally, the Court does note that the plaintiff may lose a small amount of interest on the award.

However, the Court finds that the balance of equities favors allowing a short stay of entry of judgment.

Due to circumstances beyond the control of either party, a transcript, even in unofficial form, will not

be prepared as expeditiously as it normally would. Therefore, good cause exists to stay the entry of

judgment for a brief amount of time. Accordingly, the defendant’s motion [Docket No. 104] is

Case 4:06-cv-00398-SBA Document 116 Filed 10/03/07 Page 1 of 2
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GRANTED. It is ORDERED that judgment will not be entered on the jury verdict until October 26,

2007. 

IT IS SO ORDERED.

October 2, 2007 _________________________________

Saundra Brown Armstrong 

United States District Judge

Case 4:06-cv-00398-SBA Document 116 Filed 10/03/07 Page 2 of 2