Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-4_13-cv-04622/USCOURTS-cand-4_13-cv-04622-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Animal Legal Defense Fund
Plaintiff
Center for Food Safety
Plaintiff
United States Food and Drug Administration
Defendant

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

ANIMAL LEGAL DEFENSE FUND, et al.,

Plaintiffs,

v.

UNITED STATES FOOD AND DRUG 

ADMINISTRATION,

Defendant.

Case No. 13-cv-04622-HSG 

ORDER STAYING CASE

Plaintiffs Animal Legal Defense Fund and Center for Food Safety seek the production of 

records related to the animal drug ractopamine by Defendant FDA pursuant to the Freedom of 

Information Act. Dkt. No. 1. After meeting and conferring, the parties have agreed on the search 

methodology and schedule for the production. Dkt. No. 33 at 3. Defendant estimates that it will 

produce approximately 280,000 pages of records, and that the production will be complete by 

December 2019. Id. at 5. Plaintiffs do not object to this timeline. Id. At the moment, “[t]here are 

no disputes that the parties wish to tender to the court.” Id.

Based on the agreement of the parties, the large number of documents at issue, and the 

diligence shown by Defendant, the Court hereby STAYS this case until December 31, 2019, or the 

completion of Defendant’s document production, whichever comes first. See Open Am. v. 

Watergate Special Prosecution Force, 547 F.2d 605, 616 (D.C. Cir. 1976). To ensure that the 

records production proceeds as Defendant anticipates, the parties shall submit a joint status report 

every six months until the stay is lifted, with the first status report due April 1, 2016. The status 

reports shall identify the number of documents produced to Plaintiffs, as well as a brief synopsis 

of Defendant’s overall progress in processing the request.

Case 4:13-cv-04622-HSG Document 36 Filed 09/29/15 Page 1 of 2
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United States District Court

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Additionally, the parties shall file a joint notice within five days of the completion of the

entirety of the document production.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: September 29, 2015

______________________________________

HAYWOOD S. GILLIAM, JR.

United States District Judge

Case 4:13-cv-04622-HSG Document 36 Filed 09/29/15 Page 2 of 2