In his declaration, attorney Stephen Woodruff said he was finalizing the plaintiffs’ legal brief and organization of the exhibits when he “encountered computer problems.”
Woodruff eventually submitted a motion for leave to file his clients’ brief and exhibit on Nov. 15, 2011, a day after the deadline.
Woodruff said his “priority was getting it done” and that’s why he didn’t contact the defendant’s attorney.
U.S. Department of Justice senior litigation counsel Theodore W. Atkinson filed in federal court a notice of Woodruff’s failure to submit as scheduled.
“The amount of time defendants have to prepare an opposition is now four business days, and growing shorter,” Atkinson stated.
Gerardo De Guzman, Hector Sevilla, Carlito Marquez, Bonifacio Sagana, Eduardo Elenzano, Jong Ho Lee, and Manuel Vilaga filed the lawsuit “on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated,” have asked the federal court to declare the CW final rule as “unconstitutional.”
The plaintiffs are long-time guest workers and include small-scale business entrepreneurs and a U.S. citizen.
Named as defendants were U.S. Department of Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director David Gulick, U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and U.S. Department of Labor District Director Terrence Trotter.
