Friends of the River v. National Marine Fisheries Service

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 FRIENDS OF THE RIVER, No. 2:16-cv-00818-DJC-JDP Plaintiff, v. ORDER NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 Plaintiff and Federal Defendants dispute whether extra-record evidence can properly be included and considered in the forthcoming Motions for Summary Judgment. Plaintiff seeks to include evidence outside of the administrative record in connection with summary judgment. (See Mot. (ECF No. 159).) Federal Defendants contend that this is improper and that only the administrative record should be considered when ruling on Motions for Summary Judgement. (See Opp’n (ECF No. 164).) For the reasons stated below, the Court will grant Plaintiff’s Motion (ECF No. 159). This issue has been the subject of repeated litigation in this and other district courts. The source of much of this litigation is the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Western Watersheds Project v. Kraayenbrink, 632 F.3d 472 (2011). In Kraayenbrink,…