Ciolino v. Dzurenda

District Court, D. Nevada·Decided November 17, 2021·No. 2:19-cv-00520·Unknown

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 * * * 4 STEPHEN CIOLINO, Case No. 2:19-cv-0520-MMD-CLB 5 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING, IN PART, AND 6 v. DENYING, IN PART, CIOLINO’S MOTION TO COMPEL DISCOVERY 7 JAMES DZURENDA, et al., AND GRANTING MOTION TO 8 Defendants. EXTEND TIME

9 [ECF Nos. 50, 51]

11 Before the Court is Stephen Ciolino’s (“Ciolino”) motion to compel and a request 12 for an extension of time to conduct discovery. (ECF Nos. 50, 51.)1 Defendants opposed 13 the motion, (ECF No. 52), and no reply was filed. Having considered the above 14 documents, the motion to compel is granted, in part, and denied, in part. In addition, the 15 motion for extension of time is granted. 16 I. BACKGROUND 17 Ciolino is an inmate in the custody of the Nevada Department of Corrections 18 (“NDOC”) and is currently housed at High Desert State Prison (“HDSP”). (See ECF No. 19 9.) Ciolino is proceeding in this case on Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference to 20 serious medical needs, American Disability Act, and Rehabilitation Act claims for the 21 delay in treating his Hepatitis C (“Hep-C”). (ECF No. 17.) 22 This case was stayed and consolidated, for the purposes of discovery only, with 23 thirteen other similar cases concerning NDOC’s policy and treatment protocols for 24 inmates diagnosed with Hep-C. (ECF No. 10.) Pro bono counsel was appointed for this 25 purpose. (ECF Nos. 14.) A master docket and case file were opened for the consolidated 26 discovery and pretrial matters proceeded under the “In Re HCV Litigation” master case

27 1 Although ECF Nos. 50 and 51 are identical documents, the Court docketed these 28 1 number 3:19-CV-0577-MMD-CLB (“HCV Litigation”). (ECF No. 13.) 2 Following the conclusion of discovery and settlement in the HCV Litigation, 3 appointed counsel withdrew. (ECF No. 22.) The stay in the instant case was lifted, an 4 answer was filed, and a scheduling order to complete any remaining discovery was 5 issued. (ECF Nos. 31, 38, & 45.) Pursuant to the scheduling order, Ciolino was permitted 6 to review any discovery obtained in the HCV Litigation. (ECF No. 45.) Any further 7 discovery in this case was limited to Ciolino’s “individual medical claims that were not the 8 subject of any previous discovery conducted in the HCV Litigation.” (Id.) Discovery 9 closed on November 15, 2021. (ECF No. 45.) 10 On October 18, 2021, Ciolino filed the instant motion to compel and request for an 11 extension of time arguing that he served requests for admissions to Dr. Michael Minev 12 (“Minev”) and Dr. Romeo Aranas (“Aranas”) which were not answered. (ECF No. 50.) In 13 addition, Ciolino asserts that he was not given adequate time to review his medical 14 records and argues the responses to his requests for production numbers 9 and 10 are 15 insufficient. (Id.) The motion to compel is supported by Ciolino’s declaration certifying 16 that he attempted to meet and confer in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1), LR 26- 17 6(c), and LR IA1-3(f) but received no response from Defendants. (ECF No. 50 at 2-5 & 18 22.) 19 Defendants filed an opposition contending the motion should be denied, primarily, 20 based on technical failures by Ciolino. Specifically, Defendants argue the motion should 21 be denied because Ciolino failed to: 1) meet and confer; 2) set forth the full text of the 22 discovery originally sought and any response to it pursuant to LR 26-6(b); and 3) the 23 discovery responses were mailed. (ECF No. 52.) Defendants state they never received 24 the meet and confer letter from Ciolino and that the responses the requests for 25 admissions were returned in the mail twice through no fault of their own. (Id.) 26 No reply was filed. 27 /// 28 /// 1 II. LEGAL STANDARD 2 “[B]road discretion is vested in the trial court to permit or deny discovery.” Hallett 3 v. Morgan, 296 F.3d 732, 751 (9th Cir. 2002). The “scope of discovery” encompasses 4 “any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party's claim or defense and 5 proportional to the needs of the case[.]” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). In analyzing 6 proportionality, the Court must consider the need for the information sought based upon 7 “the importance of the issues at stake in the action, the amount in controversy, the 8 parties' relative access to relevant information, the parties' resources, the importance of 9 discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed 10 discovery outweighs its likely benefit.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Relevance is to be 11 construed broadly to include “any matter that bears on, or that reasonably could lead to 12 other matter that could bear on” any party's claim or defense. Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. 13 Sanders, 437 U.S. 340, 351 (1978) (citation omitted). 14 When a party fails to provide discovery and the parties' attempts to resolve the 15 dispute without Court intervention are unsuccessful, the opposing party may seek an 16 order compelling that discovery. Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a). However, the party moving for an 17 order to compel discovery bears the initial burden of informing the court: (1) which 18 discovery requests are the subject of the motion to compel; (2) which of the responses 19 are disputed; (3) why he believes the response is deficient; (4) why defendants’ 20 objections are not justified; and (5) why the information he seeks through discovery is 21 relevant to the prosecution of this action. Harris v. Kernan, No. 2:17-cv-0680-TLN-KJN- 22 P, 2019 WL 4274010, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 10, 2019); see also Ellis v. Cambra, No. 23 1:02-cv-05646-AWI-SMS-PC, 2008 WL 860523, at *4 (E.D. Cal. 2008) (“Plaintiff must 24 inform the court which discovery requests are the subject of his motion to compel, and, 25 for each disputed response, inform the court why the information sought is relevant and 26 why defendant's objections are not justified.”). 27 Thereafter, the party seeking to avoid discovery bears the burden of showing why 28 that discovery should not be permitted. Blankenship v. Hearst Corp., 519 F.2d 418, 429 1 (9th Cir. 1975). The party resisting discovery “‘must specifically detail the reasons why 2 each request is irrelevant’ [or otherwise objectionable,] and may not rely on boilerplate, 3 generalized, conclusory, or speculative arguments.” F.T.C. v. AMG Servs., Inc., 291 4 F.R.D. 544, 553 (D. Nev. 2013) (quoting Painters Joint Comm. v. Emp. Painters Trust 5 Health & Welfare Fund, No. 2:10-cv-1385 JCM (PAL), 2011 WL 4573349, at *5 (D. Nev. 6 2011). Arguments against discovery must be supported by specific examples and 7 articulated reasoning. U.S. E.E.O.C. v. Caesars Ent., Inc., 237 F.R.D. 428, 432 (D. Nev. 8 2006). 9 III. DISCUSSION 10 A. Local Rule 26-6(b) 11 First, Defendants argue Ciolino’s motion should be denied because Ciolino failed 12 to comply with Local Rule 26-6(b). This rule states that all motions to compel must set 13 forth in full the text of the discovery originally sought and any response to it. LR 26-6(b). 14 Defendants are technically correct that Ciolino failed to rewrite each request for 15 admission in the body of his motion. However, Ciolino he did rewrite the substance of the 16 two requests for production of documents that are issue in this case. (See ECF No.

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