ORDER DENYING EX PARTRE APPLICATION TO CONTINUE DEADLINE TO RESPOND TO COMPLAINT

(ECF No. 11)

ERICA P. GROSJEAN, Magistrate Judge.

Before the Court is Defendants' ex parte application to continue the deadline to respond to the complaint. (ECF No. 11.) Defendants request that the deadline for their responsive pleading be continued until after adjudication of Defendants' motion to consolidate this case with Case No. 19-cv-00858. (ECF No. 6.) The motion to consolidate is set for hearing on September 17, 2019, before Chief Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill.

The Court will deny Defendant's application to continue the deadline.

Defendants contend that there is good cause for the request for additional time because the present case and the 19-cv-00858 case are interrelated; any answer and response to the complaint in this case will directly impact the answer and response to the complaint in the 19-cv-00858 case; and the motion to consolidate requests consolidation of the cases into a single action and the filing of a single complaint, which would require only a single response by Defendants, rather than two.

The Court is not persuaded that the reasons provided by Defendants justify an additional continuance of the responsive pleading deadline. Defendants have adequate information to respond to the complaints, whether separately or together. The burden of potentially filing duplicate responses is not great. Whether the cases are consolidated will not change the substance response to the underlying allegations. Moreover, a failure to respond to the complaint will prejudice the parties by preventing the cases from moving forward in an efficient manner.

Accordingly, Defendants' Application for Continuance of the Responsive Pleading Deadline (ECF No. 11) is DENIED.

IT IS SO ORDERED.