Li Zhang v. Mississippi State University and Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi denies Plaintiff Li Zhang’s motion to stay the case. The court holds that Defendants waived the discovery stay available under the local rule for an immunity defense, without waiving the Eleventh Amendment immunity defense itself, and notes that discovery was nearly complete.

Holdings

1. The stay protecting a defendant from the burdens of litigation and discovery while an immunity motion is pending belongs to the defendant and may be waived by that defendant.
2. Defendants' waiver of the stay did not waive their underlying Eleventh Amendment immunity defense.
3. Plaintiff was not entitled to a stay because Defendants affirmatively waived the stay and a stay at that stage would not spare the parties the burdens of discovery, which had already been borne.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the case should be stayed because Defendants filed a motion for partial dismissal asserting Eleventh Amendment immunity.
2. Whether Defendants could waive the local-rule stay protecting an immune defendant from the burdens of discovery without waiving the underlying immunity defense.

Disposition

other