Munoz v. Underwood

          SCHEDULING ORDER AND ORDER DIRECTING CLERK TO SEND PLAINTIFF A COPY OF LOCAL RULE 281(B)

         This Court conducted a scheduling conference on December 2, 2019. Plaintiff Moizez Munoz telephonically appeared on his own behalf. Counsel Van Kamberian and Phillip Arthur telephonically appeared on behalf of Defendant(s). Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b), this Court now sets a schedule for this action.

         I. DISCOVERY PROCEDURES

         The parties are now granted leave to serve discovery in addition to that provided as part of initial disclosures. Pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 1, 16, and 26-36, discovery shall proceed as follows:

1. Discovery requests shall be served by the parties pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5 and Local Rule 135. Discovery requests and responses shall not be filed with the Court unless required by Local Rules 250.2, 250.3, or 250.4 (providing that discovery requests shall not be filed unless or until there is a proceeding in which the document or proof of service is at issue). A party may serve on any other party no more than 15 interrogatories, 15 requests for production of documents, and 15 requests for admission. On motion, these limits may be increased for good cause.

2. Responses to written discovery requests shall be due forty-five (45) days after the request is first served. Boilerplate objections are disfavored and may be summarily overruled by the Court. Responses to document requests shall include all documents within a party's possession, custody or control. Fed.R.Civ.P. 34(a)(1). Documents are deemed within a party's possession, custody, or control if the party has actual possession, custody, or control thereof, or the legal right to obtain the property on demand.

3. If any party or third party withholds a document on the basis of privilege, that party or third party shall provide a privilege log to the requesting party identifying the date, author, recipients, general subject matter, and basis of the privilege within thirty (30) days after the date that responses are due. The privilege log shall simultaneously be filed with the Court. Failure to provide and file a privilege log within this time shall result in a waiver of the privilege. Additionally, if a party is claiming a right to withhold witness statements and/or evidence gathered from investigation(s) into the incident(s) at issue in the complaint based on the official information privilege, the withholding party shall submit the withheld witness statements and/or evidence to the Court for in camera review, along with an explanation of why the witness statements and/or evidence is privileged.^[1] The witness statements and/or evidence shall be Bates stamped, and mailed to Judge Grosjean at 2500 Tulare Street, Sixth Floor, Fresno, CA 93721. The withholding party shall also file and serve a notice that they have complied with this order. All other claims of privilege, including claims of the official information privilege over information other than witness statements and/or evidence gathered from investigation(s) into the incident(s) at issue in the complaint, may be challenged via a motion to compel. 4. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(a)(2)(B), Defendant(s) may depose Plaintiff and any other witness confined in a prison on the condition that, at least fourteen (14) days before such a deposition, Defendant(s) serve all parties with the notice required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(1). Plaintiff's failure to participate in a properly noticed deposition could result in sanctions against Plaintiff, including monetary sanctions and/or dismissal of this case. Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(4), the parties may take any deposition under this section by video conference without a further motion or order of the Court. Due to security concerns and institutional considerations not applicable to Defendant(s), Plaintiff must seek leave from the Court to depose incarcerated witnesses pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(a)(2). Nothing herein forecloses a party from bringing a motion for protective order pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(c)(1) if necessary.

5. With the Court's permission, Plaintiff may serve third party subpoenas, including on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and/or the Office of the Inspector General, if Plaintiff seeks documents from entities that are not presently defendants in this case. To issue a subpoena on these entities, or any other third parties, Plaintiff must file a request for the issuance of a subpoena duces tecum with the Court. If the Court approves the request, it may issue Plaintiff a subpoena duces tecum, commanding the production of documents from a non-party, and may command service of the subpoena by the United States Marshals Service. Fed.R.Civ.P. 45; 28 U.S.C. 1915(d). However, the Court will consider granting such a request only if the documents sought from the non-party are not equally available to Plaintiff and are not obtainable from Defendant(s) through a Rule 34 request for production of documents. In any request for a subpoena, Plaintiff must: (1) identify with specificity the documents sought and from whom; and (2) make a showing in the request that the records are only obtainable through a third party. The documents requested must also fall within the scope of discovery allowed in this action. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1).

6. The parties are required to act in good faith during the course of discovery and the failure to do so may result in the payment of expenses pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(5) or other appropriate sanctions authorized by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or the Local Rules.

7. A discovery and status conference is set for May 11, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. Parties have leave to appear by phone. To join the conference, each party is directed to call the toll-free number (888) 251-2909 and use Access Code 1024453. Up until twenty-eight days before the conference, the parties may file motions to compel further discovery responses. No later than fourteen days before the conference, the responding party may file response(s) to motion(s) to compel. The motion should include a copy of the request(s) and any response to the request(s) at issue. Unless there is a need for discovery prior to the conference, motions to compel will not be considered until the conference. Motions to compel will not be permitted after the conference absent good cause. The parties should be prepared to address all discovery disputes and all pending motions at the conference.

8. Plaintiff shall make arrangements with staff at his or her institution of confinement for his or her attendance at the discovery and status conference. Plaintiff's institution of confinement shall make Plaintiff available for the conference at the date and time indicated above. To the extent possible, prior to the conference defense counsel shall confirm with Plaintiff's institution of confinement that arrangements have been made for Plaintiff's attendance.

         II. PAGE LIMITS AND COURTESY COPIES

         The parties are advised that unless prior leave of the Court is obtained before the filing deadline, ^[2] all moving and opposition briefs or legal memoranda shall not exceed twenty-five (25) pages. Reply briefs by the moving party shall not exceed ten (10) pages. These page limits do not include exhibits.

         Defendant(s) shall mail or deliver courtesy hard-copies of all motions over 10 pages in length to the court at 2500 Tulare St., Room 1501, Fresno, CA 93721. Courtesy hard-copies shall reflect the CM/ECF document numbers and pagination.

         III. NON-EXPERT DISCOVERY DEADLINE

         The deadline for the completion of all non-expert discovery is June 19, 2020. All nonexpert discovery must be provided by this date, including discovery ...