Khwaja v. Jobs to Move America

Opinion

USDC SDNY TKO DOCUMENT 3 ki W Kh mt ELECTRONICALLY FILED mer . Wwaja D O Cc Admitted in NY & NJ ai Southern District of New York DATE FILED:__05/06/2022__ District of New Jersey New York/New Jersey State Bar April 22, 2022 Murtaza Khwaja District Judge Hon. John P. Cronan Admitted in GA Northern Daniel Patrick Moynihan District of Georgia United States Courthouse Georgia State Bar 500 Pearl St. New York, NY 10007-1312 LETTER RE: Request to Extend Discovery in KHWAJA v. JOBS MOVE TO AMERICA, et al., Case No. 19-cv-7070 \ Dear Judge Cronan: Plaintiff in the above matter respectfully requests that the Court extend Discovery by one (1) month and to compel Defendants to expeditiously resolve the pending discovery issues described below. Please accept this letter motion in lieu of a formal motion. Plaintiff is now appearing pro se in this matter. Owing to unavailability and/or unresponsiveness of Counsel, Plaintiff has been unable to address a number of discovery issues including the following: 1. Plaintiff timely requested availability of three witnesses to be deposed from the law firm representing Defendants in this matter. No dates were provided despite numerous requests. Plaintiff's Counsel subsequently became unavailable on account of some personal issues. Plaintiff now seeks leave to depose these individuals and requests that the Court grant Plaintiff leave to conduct these depositions out of time. 2. Defendants have failed to provide information relevant to Plaintiff’s work performance located in Defendants’ company drive as well email communication between Defendants’ employee and third parties tending to support Plaintiff's claims of discrimination. Plaintiff hereby requests the Court’s intercession in compelling Defendants’ to produce this material and to grant an extension of one month to provide ample time to ensure that these documents are produced. 3. Plaintiff requests additional time to conduct third-party depositions. Plaintiff seeks the below extension in good faith and the events leading to the need for extension were outside Plaintiff's control. Defendants will not be prejudiced through an extension, not will an extension inconvenience this Court as the Court’s Joint Discovery Plan provides that the parties may seek to schedule additional discovery, so long as it is

completed by May 31, 2022. Defendants do not consent to an extension of the discovery period. Respectfully submitted,

APRIL 22, 2022 s/s Omer W. Khwaja The Khwaja Omer Law Offices PLLC 646 226 2185 okhwaja@tkolawoffices.com

Following a telephone conference with the parties today, and for the reasons stated on the record, it i hereby ORDERED, as follows: 1. Because Plaintiff's attorney of record, Louis Johnson Jr. ("Johnson"), failed to appear at the telephone conference, no later than May 20, 2022, Johnson shall show cause as to why the Court should not report Johnson to the Grievance Committee for failing to appear for the scheduled court conference and for failing to communicate with his client. 2. With respect to Item 1 of Plaintiff’s letter motion, Plaintiff’s motion for leave to take depositions of attorneys employed by the law firm representing Defendants is DENIED. Plaintiff has not made the requisite showing to take the depositions of opposing counsel. See /n re Subpoena Issued to Dennis Freedman, 350 F.3d 65, 68, 72 (2d Cir. 2003). 3. With respect to Item 2 of Plaintiff's letter motion, Plaintiff’s motion that the Court compel production of documents is DENIED. Plaintiff has not identified a document request served upon Defendants for the information sought, let alone met and conferred with opposing counsel regarding any such document request. 4, With respect to Item 3 of Plaintiff's letter motion, Plaintiff’s motion for leave to take third-party depositions of Sophia Reuss and Lorelie Christie is DENIED as premature. Plaintiff indicated that he has not been able to locate these individuals. If Plaintiff is able to locate these individuals and, after meeting and conferring with Defendants, Defendants do not consent to Plaintiff taking depositions of Reuss and/or Christie, he may make an appropriate application to the Court.

SO ORDERED. Dated: May 6, 2022 peor if ton,