Jordan 161106 v. Thornell

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedOctober 22, 2024
Docket2:23-cv-00802
StatusUnknown

This text of Jordan 161106 v. Thornell (Jordan 161106 v. Thornell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jordan 161106 v. Thornell, (D. Ariz. 2024).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Eric Jordan, No. CV-23-0802-PHX-GMS (DMF)

10 Plaintiff,

11 v. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

12 Ryan Thornell, et al.,

13 Defendants. 14 15 TO THE HONORABLE G. MURRAY SNOW, SENIOR UNITED STATES 16 DISTRICT JUDGE: 17 This matter is referred to the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge Deborah 18 M. Fine pursuant to Rules 72.1 and 72.2 of the Local Rules of Civil Procedure for all 19 pretrial proceedings as authorized under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) (Doc. 8 at 10). 20 For the reasons set forth below, it is recommended that Defendant’s motion to 21 dismiss (Doc. 43) be granted as set forth herein and that this matter be dismissed without 22 prejudice for Plaintiff’s failure to prosecute and failure to comply with orders of this Court. 23 I. BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL POSTURE 24 Throughout these proceedings, Plaintiff Eric Jordan (“Plaintiff”) has been and 25 remains confined in an Arizona State Prison Complex. Upon screening of Plaintiff’s May 26 2023 Complaint (Doc. 1), the Court ordered that Defendant Vance must answer the 27 excessive force claim in Count One in his individual capacity only, and the Court dismissed 28 the remaining claims and defendants (Doc. 8). The excessive force claim in Count One of 1 the Complaint against Defendant Vance in his individual capacity arose from alleged 2 events in November 2022 (Doc. 1 at 3-7). As the Court observed:

3 In Count One, Plaintiff alleges he was subjected to excessive force. He 4 claims he is diabetic and, on November 11, 2022, had low blood sugar, “slipped into a diabetic coma with seizure,” was unconscious and 5 unresponsive, was “mentally [and] physically out of it,” could not “focus [or] 6 understand[] the condition,” and was “not all there.” Plaintiff asserts that while he was unconscious and needing medical assistance, Defendant Vance 7 “assaulted” Plaintiff by either punishing him or hitting him with an object, 8 hard, in the face. He contends he suffered injuries including headaches, eye damage and a loss of vision for two-and-a-half months, nose bleeds when he 9 blows his nose, breathing problems, and a chipped and lose tooth. 10 (Doc. 8 at 3) (footnote 1 omitted) (emphasis and alterations in original). 11 After Defendant Vance filed an answer, on December 14, 2023, the Court issued a 12 Scheduling and Discovery Order (Docs. 12, 14). In the following few months, the parties 13 filed notices of service indicating that written discovery requests and responses were 14 proceeding (by Plaintiff: Docs. 16, 17, 22; by Defendant Vance: Docs. 15, 18, 19, 20, 24, 15 26, 27). 16 By June 2024, Defendant reported in a motion to extend certain Scheduling Order 17 deadlines that discovery was not moving forward smoothly (Doc. 28). Some of the reasons 18 Defendant reported were claimed delays by Plaintiff in returning complete releases and 19 Plaintiff’s refusal of a discovery requests envelope sent to Plaintiff by Defendant (Id. at 2- 20 3). Defendant reported continued efforts to work with Plaintiff to resolve disputes and to 21 move discovery forward (Id.). On June 6, 2024, the Court granted Defendant’s motion to 22 extend certain Scheduling Order deadlines (Doc. 29). Also on June 6, 2024, Plaintiff filed 23 motions to extend time to respond to Defendant’s discovery requests (Docs. 30, 31). On 24 June 7, 2024, the Court granted Plaintiff’s motions to extend time and extended the 25 deadline for Plaintiff to respond to the referenced discovery requests to June 28, 2024 26 (Docs. 32). In doing so, the Court noted that “Plaintiff’s motions lack any statement as to 27 good cause for the extensions of time requested, and the record raises concerns about 28 1 Plaintiff’s good faith participation in discovery[,]” but the Court decided to “nevertheless 2 grant the extensions requested in Plaintiff’s motions” (Id.). 3 On June 27, 2024, Plaintiff filed a request for production of documents and tangible 4 things which set forth Plaintiff’s discovery requests verbatim (Doc. 33). Plaintiff also filed 5 a Notice of Request for Production of Documents and Tangible Things regarding the 6 requests for production (Doc. 34). On June 28, 2024, the Court struck Plaintiff’s request 7 for production of documents and tangible things (Doc. 36). The Order doing so included 8 the text of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 5(d)(1)(A):

9 Any paper after the complaint that is required to be served — together with 10 a certificate of service — must be filed within a reasonable time after service. But disclosures under Rule 26(a)(1) or (2) and the following discovery 11 requests and responses must not be filed until they are used in the proceeding 12 or the court orders filing: depositions, interrogatories, requests for documents or tangible things or to permit entry onto land, and requests for admission. 13 (Doc. 36 at 1-2). On July 12, 2024, Plaintiff filed with the Court his responses to 14 Defendant’s discovery requests in violation of the applicable rules and the Court’s previous 15 Order (Doc. 37). In a July 15, 2024, Order which struck Plaintiff’s improperly filed 16 discovery responses, the Court again cited and quoted Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17 5(d)(1)(A) (Doc. 38). The Court also ordered that Plaintiff promptly file a proper notice 18 of service regarding any discovery responses he has served (Doc. 38 at 2). 19 On July 15, 2024, Defendant filed a Motion for Sanctions seeking an order for 20 sanctions against Plaintiff for failure to comply with this Court’s June 7, 2024, Order to 21 provide responses to Defendant’s discovery by June 28, 2024 (Doc. 39). In the motion, 22 defense counsel “certifie[d] that undersigned counsel has conferred in good faith with 23 Plaintiff prior to seeking this relief from the Court” (Id. at 1). In the motion, Defendant 24 stated that: 25

26 On July 2, 2024, undersigned counsel sent Plaintiff a letter reminding him of the Court’s Order and asking for responses by July 12, 2024. (See Ltr. dated 27 7/2/2024 to Plaintiff, attached as Exhibit 4.) On July 12, 2024, undersigned 28 counsel also had a telephone call with Plaintiff to meet and confer regarding Plaintiff’s delinquent discovery responses. Plaintiff stated that he thinks he 1 filed a response to some of the requests but has not responded to the remainder because he is looking for someone to assist him and he was 2 delayed due to his recent address change. He thinks he can serve responses 3 in the next “week or two”. Plaintiff’s excuse is curious as he was able to prepare and serve Requests for Production to Defendant prior to the Court’s 4 June 28 deadline expired, yet he did not comply with the Court’s Order to 5 respond to Defendant’s discovery. Shortly after the parties’ call, on July 12, 2024, Plaintiff inappropriately filed responses to Defendant’s First Set of 6 Requests for Admissions on the docket, which the Court has stricken. (Dkts. 7 37-38.) Defendant has not received proper service of these responses through the mail. Nor has Defendant received responses to Defendant’s Second Set 8 of Interrogatories and Third Set of Requests for Production served on April 9 22, 2022. 10 (Id. at 2-3). In the motion, Defendant further stated that:

11 [a]s a sanction for his continued and unjustified failure to comply with the 12 Court’s June 7, 2024 Order, Defendant requests the Court stay further proceedings until the Order is obeyed.

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Jordan 161106 v. Thornell, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jordan-161106-v-thornell-azd-2024.