Johnson v. Berndt

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 ADRIAN TL JOHNSON, Case No. 2:20-cv-00150-JAD-EJY

4 Plaintiff ORDER 5 v.

6 SGT. BERNDT, et al.,

7 Defendants.

8 9 Pending before the Court is Defendants’ Motion for Leave to Conduct a Deposition of 10 Plaintiff Adrian Johnson (ECF No. 61). The Court notes that discovery in this matter closes on April 11 18, 2022 and, therefore, issues this Order promptly so that the deposition may proceed. 12 “[P]arties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any 13 party’s claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case[.]” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). “[T]he 14 scope of permissible discovery under Rule 26 is ‘broad.’” Republic of Ecuador v. Mackay, 742 F.3d 15 860, 866 (9th Cir. 2014) (quoting Shoen v. Shoen, 5 F.3d 1289, 1292 (9th Cir. 1993)). “Information 16 within this scope of discovery need not be admissible in evidence to be discoverable.” Fed. R. Civ. 17 P. 26(b)(1). Under Rule 30(a)(2)(B) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the deposition of a 18 person confined in prison may only be taken by leave of Court. 19 Defendants seeks Plaintiff’s deposition to understand all allegations raised in Plaintiff’s 20 operative Complaint as they pertain to those claims that proceeded following the Court’s Screening 21 Order. Defendants indicate they intend to take Plaintiff’s deposition through a video platform. The 22 claims that remain in this case against the identified and served Defendants were enumerated by the 23 Court in its March 7, 2022 Order stating: “Johnson’s original complaint [ECF No. 11] is the operative 24 pleading in this case, which proceeds only on Johnson’s First Amendment retaliation claim against 25 Berndt, Heim, Leavitt, and Williams.” ECF No. 57. Plaintiff does not object to having his deposition 26 taken. ECF No. 62.

27 1 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendants’ Motion for Leave to Conduct a 2 Deposition of Plaintiff Adrian Johnson (ECF No. 61) is GRANTED. 3 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that discovery is extended to allow Defendants to arrange for 4 Plaintiff’s deposition, which must occur within the next thirty (30) days). The deposition is to last 5 no more than four (4) hours. 6 Dated this 5th day of April, 2022. 7

8 ELAYNA J. YOUCHAH 9 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27