Drum v. Brimer

22 F. Supp. 2d 1224, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13656, 1998 WL 552963
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedAugust 19, 1998
Docket97-1015-JTM
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 22 F. Supp. 2d 1224 (Drum v. Brimer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Drum v. Brimer, 22 F. Supp. 2d 1224, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13656, 1998 WL 552963 (D. Kan. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM ORDER

MARTEN, District Judge.

Currently before the court are several outstanding motions relating to discovery and appointment of counsel, and proposals for and objections to pretrial orders in this action for alleged excessive force and illegal detention by officers of the Wichita Police Department and the Sedgwick County Sheriffs Office. Plaintiff Kevin Drum has moved for partial summary judgment. In addition, both the city and county defendants have filed separate motions for summary judgment. The court finds that all discovery and other motions may be resolved, and that summary judgment should issue in favor of defendants.

1. General Motions

The various motions to compel of plaintiff Drum (Dkt. Nos. 74, 76, and 109) will be denied for the same reasons identified in the court’s previous order addressing the *1226 motions before the court. The plaintiff may disagree with the answers received in discovery, but this is not a basis for granting a motion to compel a particular answer which the plaintiff may desire. In addition, the various objections raised by defendants, such as to relevance, are correct.- It may be noted that in several responses the defendants provide objections to the request as stated, but still proceed to provide general information on a given topic. Plaintiffs motions for production of various documents (Dkt. Nos. 84.1, 87, and 108) are without substantial merit and are denied. The defendants’ related motions to quash (Dkt. Nos. 99 and 111) are hereby granted.

The various motions for assistance of counsel filed by Drum (Dkt. .Nos. 77, 83, and 112) do not state any rationale for appointment of counsel which was not previously considered and rejected in the court’s previous order on the subject. The considerations weighing against the granting of appointment of civil counsel were stated in one of the cases cited by plaintiff in support of one of his motions:

For many reasons courts should not grant such applications indiscriminately. Volunteer lawyer time is a precious commodity. Courts are given a major role in its distribution. Because this resource is available in only limited quantity, every assignment of a - volunteer lawyer to an undeserving client deprives society of a volunteer lawyer available for a deserving cause. We cannot afford that waste.
Available volunteer-lawyer time should not be allocated arbitrarily, or on the basis of the aggressiveness and tenacity of the claimant. The phrase pro bono publico suggests meaningfully that distribution of this resource should be made with reference to public benefit. The ancient adage about “the squeaky wheel” may well be an accurate statement of a law of nature; it should not be adopted also as a law of prescription.

Cooper v. A. Sargenti Co., 877 F.2d 170, 172 (2nd Cir.1989).

Finally, the court denies plaintiffs motions for continuance (Dkt. Nos. 80 and 84.2) and defendant Brimer’s motion for leave to file discovery responses (Dkt. No. 81). The court also denies as lacking any substantial justification plaintiffs various motions to supplement his summary judgment responses (Dkt.Nos.120, 122, 127). The court has recognized plaintiffs status as an incarcerated person, and has accordingly acted to carefully preserve his right to a fair trial through the application of generous deadlines or extensions of time for the completion of responsive pleadings. The plaintiff, however, has failed to demonstrate any credible rationale for the attempt to respond to defendants’ summary judgment motions by installment. Accordingly, the requests to supplement are denied.

2. Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment

Summary judgment is proper where the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show there is no genuine issue as to any material fact, and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). In considering a motion for summary judgment, the court must examine all evidence in a light most favorable to the opposing party. McKenzie v. Mercy Hospital, 854 F.2d 365, 367 (10th Cir.1988). The party moving for summary judgment must demonstrate its entitlement to summary judgment beyond a reasonable doubt. Ellis v. El Paso Natural Gas Co., 754 F.2d 884, 885 (10th Cir.1985). The moving party need not disprove plaintiffs claim; it need only establish that the factual allegations have no legal significance. Dayton Hudson Corp. v. Macerich Real Estate Co., 812 F.2d 1319, 1323 (10th Cir.1987).

In resisting a motion for summary judgment, the opposing party may not rely upon mere allegations or denials contained in its pleadings or briefs. Rather, the nonmov-ing party must come forward with specific facts showing the presence of a genuine issue of material fact for trial and significant probative evidence supporting the allegation. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). Once the moving party has carried its burden under Rule 56(c), the party opposing summary judgment must do more than *1227 simply show there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts. “In the language of the Rule, the nonmoving party must come forward with ‘specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.7” Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co., Ltd. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986) (quoting Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(e)) (emphasis in Matsushita). One of the principal purposes of the summary judgment rule is to isolate and dispose of factually unsupported claims or defenses, and the rule should be interpreted in a way that allows it to accomplish this purpose. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).

The plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment against defendants Brimer and Spencer should also be denied. The only justification for the motion is plaintiffs continued reliance on the allegedly preclusive effect of the state court’s decision to suppress the evidence against him. As the court stated in its previous order, the findings made in the state criminal action are not binding in the present civil action, for the independent reasons that the present civil action involves different parties and a different standard of proof.

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Bluebook (online)
22 F. Supp. 2d 1224, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13656, 1998 WL 552963, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/drum-v-brimer-ksd-1998.