Motion to Stay Discovery in Oregon

Background

“The court shall have authority to stay execution of a judgment temporarily until the filing of a notice of appeal and to stay execution of a judgment pending disposition of an appeal[.]” (See Thompson v. Tlat, Inc. (2006) 205 Or. App. 518, 522 n.4.)

General Information for Complaints and Motions

“There is no time limit for filing an undertaking that results in a stay under ORS 19.335, ORS 19.300(2) (so providing), or a motion for discretionary stay under ORS 19.350. Therefore, matters relating to stays could arise while a case is pending in the Supreme Court.” (See Bova v. City of Medford, (2010) 236 P.3d 760, 765 n.9.)

Standard of Review and Burdens of Proof

“As a general rule, the granting or denial of a motion to stay a judicial proceeding lies within the sound discretion of the trial court.” (See North Pacific Ins. Co. v. Wilson's Distributing (1996) 138 Or. App. 166, 174.)

“An Oregon court has discretion to stay execution of a judgment. We review only for abuse of discretion.” (See River City Bank v. DeBenedetti (1988) 90 Or. App. 624, 628.)

“Although our review of the court's decision is for abuse of discretion, the court's discretion must be exercised in accordance with, and our review must necessarily take into account, the applicable legal principles governing the right to discovery.” (See Baker v. English (1995) 134 Or. App. 43, 46.)

The Court’s Decisions

It is well settled that in cases “where litigation of the action would be extraordinarily inconvenient and inappropriate, a court may, and in fact should, exercise its power to dismiss or stay the case and allow the dispute to be resolved elsewhere.” (See Espinoza v. Evergreen Helicopters, Inc. (2016) 359 Or. 63, 92.)

It is also well settled that “as to whether the actions remaining in the trial court should be stayed, the United States Supreme Court has noted that there are times when it is advisable to stay the litigation of the nonarbitrating parties pending the outcome of the arbitration, but that decision is left to the trial court as a matter of its discretion to control its docket." (See Harnisch v. College of Legal Arts, Inc. (2011) 243 Or. App. 16, 26.)