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Date: 05-09-2022
Case Style:
Case Number: 2:20-cv-316-KJD-NJK
Judge: Kent J. Dawson
Court: United States District Court for the District of Nevada (Clark County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: Jon Garde and Scott Emerick
Defendant's Attorney: Elizabeth O. White and Christopher Chiou
Description: Las Vegas, Nevada immigration lawyers represented Plaintiff, who sued Defendants seeking a writ on mandamus to compel the Executive Office for Immigration Review, an agency within the Department of Justice that maintains an Attorney Discipline Program, tocomplete its investigation of plaintiff’s complaint against his former attorney and to report its investigation to plaintiff.
The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR),
an agency within the Department of Justice, maintains an
Attorney Discipline Program. Under the Program, Prymas
Nazreth Vaz filed a complaint against his former attorney.
In this suit, Vaz seeks to compel the EOIR to complete its
investigation of Vaz’s complaint against his former attorney
and to report its investigation results to Vaz.1 He relies on
the Mandamus Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1361, and the
Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 706(1).
Vaz filed his complaint with the EOIR in May 2018. He
alleged that his prior attorney, Sonjay Sobti, had engaged in
professional misconduct. Vaz hired Sobti after the Ninth
Circuit had upheld the denial of his asylum application.
According to Vaz, from about 2006 to 2016, Vaz paid Sobti
about $10,000 each year to handle his immigration case,
though Sobti failed to update Vaz on the status of his case.
Sobti allegedly also started immigration proceedings on
Vaz’s behalf without consulting Vaz and forged Vaz’s
signature on various documents.
About two years after Vaz filed his complaint with the
EOIR, he sued the EOIR because it had failed to provide him
with any updates or inform him of the results of its
investigation. Vaz’s complaint alleges that the EOIR has
duties to investigate his complaint and notify him of the
investigation results. He seeks to enforce those alleged
duties under the Mandamus Act and the APA. Vaz claims
that the results of the EOIR’s investigation “could be
beneficial” to his immigration proceedings, but he has never
claimed that the EOIR’s delay is preventing him from
pursuing relief in his immigration proceedings.
Outcome: Dismissal affirmed on appeal by the 9th Circuit
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: