FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION; ORDER

GREGORY G. HOLLOWS, Magistrate Judge.

Defendant, hereafter AT&T, has moved to dismiss plaintiff's Second Amended Complaint (SAC), erroneously referenced by plaintiff as the Third Amended Complaint. The Motion to Dismiss is multi-faceted, but one of the primary grounds focused on an alleged failure to exhaust the "administrative" remedies of defendant's disability plan.

After discussion of this issue at hearing on December 21, 2017, and understanding that a partial exhaustion of such remedies is currently underway,2 the undersigned, without objection by the parties, indicated that he would recommend a stay of this action for 60 days, pending the Plan's administrative decision on plaintiff's pending appeal.

Granting this stay may moot the ground in the Motion to Dismiss regarding exhaustion of remedies, or at the very least, substantially modify the nature of this ground in the Motion to Dismiss. Therefore, the undersigned recommends that the action be stayed for sixty (60) days from the date of this Findings and Recommendation. Any district judge adoption of this recommendation will be nunc pro tunc to the date of this Findings and Recommendation.

Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY RECOMMENDED that a stay of this action be entered for sixty days commencing with the filed date of this Findings and Recommendation.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:

1. Regardless of whether this Finding and Recommendation is adopted, AT&T shall notify the court forthwith, but in no event later than 60 days from the filed date of this Order, of the completion of the administrative appeal, and shall file the final decision regarding the appeal;

2. In the event that administrative appeal has not been completed within the 60 day time frame, AT&T shall inform the court in a filing why the appeal has not been completed and its estimated completion date.

3. The Clerk shall change the name of the defendant in this case to: AT&T Umbrella Benefit Plan No. 3; all parties shall henceforth use this caption in all pleadings.

The Findings and Recommendations, set forth above, are submitted to the United States District Judge assigned to the case, pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1). Within ten days after being served with these Findings and Recommendations, any party may file written objections with the court and serve a copy on all parties. Such a document should be captioned "Objections to Magistrate Judge's Findings and Recommendations." Any reply to the objections shall be served and filed within five days after service of the objections. The parties are advised that failure to file objections within the specified time may waive the right to appeal the District Court's order. Martinez v. Ylst, 951 F.2d 1153 (9th Cir. 1991).