Knapp v. Evgeros, Inc.

322 F.R.D. 312
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedAugust 21, 2017
Docket15 C 754, 15 C 7516
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 322 F.R.D. 312 (Knapp v. Evgeros, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Knapp v. Evgeros, Inc., 322 F.R.D. 312 (N.D. Ill. 2017).

Opinion

Memorandum Opinion and Order

Gaiy Feinerman, United States District Judge

Kitty Knapp and Timothy A. Caswell, each represented by Attorney Jason R. Craddock, Sr., seek relief under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 59(e) and 60(b) from judgments entered against them in these two cases. 15 C 754, Doc. 109; 15 C 7516, Doc. 63. The motions, materially identical and thus capable of resolution in a single opinion, are denied.

Background

A. Knapp v. Evgeros, Inc., No. 15 C 754

Knapp sued her former employer, Evge-ros, Inc., alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., and the Illinois Human Rights Act (“IHRA”), 776 ILCS § 5/1-101 et seq. 15 C 754, Doc. 1-1. Evgeros moved for summary judgment on March 31, 2016, and the court set a briefing schedule requiring Knapp to respond by May 13, 2016.15 C 754, Docs. 57, 61. At 11:57 p.m. on May 13, Craddock moved for an extension. 15 C 754, Doc. 64. The court granted the extension and set a new briefing schedule requiring Knapp to respond by June 3, 2016, but it warned that “no further extensions” would be granted “absent extraordinary circumstances.” 15 C 754, Doc. 66.

Instead of filing the response on June 3, Craddock again moved for an extension — this time at 11:53 p.m. 15 C 754, Doc. 67. Again, the court granted the motion, pushing the deadline back to June 6, and again it warned that there would be “no further extensions absent extraordinary circumstances.” 15 C 754, Doc. 69. Craddock missed the June 6 deadline as well, but this time waited until June 9 to ask for a third extension. 15 C 754, Doe. 72. Even so, the court granted the request and set yet another briefing schedule, this time requiring Knapp to respond by June 14, and Evgeros to reply by June 28.15 C 754, Doe. 74. The court also warned that “[n]o further extensions for the response papers will be granted.” Ibid.

Craddock filed Knapp’s summary judgment response on June 14, including a brief opposing summary judgment, a Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(B) response to Evgeros’s Local Rule 56.1(a)(3) statement, and a Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(C) statement. 15 C 754, Docs. 75-76. Those filings were defective in various ways. For one, the Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(C) statement at times cited whole deposition transcripts without specifying page or line [315]*315numbers. 15 C 754, Doc. 75 at 3-4 ¶ 13; see Packer v. Trs. of Ind. Univ. Sch. of Med., 800 F.3d 843, 850 (7th Cir. 2015) (“It is not the court’s role or obligation to read an entire deposition or affidavit in an effort to locate the particular testimony a party might be relying on; the court ought to know what portion of a witness’s testimony the party is invoking so that it can focus its attention on that testimony and assess whether it is admissible and actually supports the fact or inference for which it is cited.”); Ammons v. Aramark Unif. Servs., Inc., 368 F.3d 809, 817-18 (7th Cir. 2004) (affirming the district court’s decision to disregard Local Rule 56.1 responses on the ground that they “cited an entire deposition transcript rather than specific page references”). Craddock also attached evidentiary materials that his papers did not cite at all, and the brief contained no citations to the record, the Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(B) response, or the Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(C) statement. 15 C 754,' Docs. 76, 79.

On June 28, 2016, the day that Evgeros’s reply was due, Craddock filed what purported to be “corrected” versions of Knapp’s brief, Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(B) response, and Local Rule 56.1(b)(3)(C) statement. 15 C 754, Does. 83-84. The court immediately struck both filings on the ground that they were untimely and had been filed without leave of the court. 15 C 754, Doc. 85. Later that day, Craddock moved for leave to file instanter those documents. 15 C 754, Doc. 86. The court denied that motion on these grounds:

It is best to consider Knapp’s motion for leave to file instanter amended summary judgment response papers as a request for another extension of time to file her summary judgment responses. See Keeton v. Morningstar, Inc., 667 F.3d 877, 883 (7th Cir. 2012) (treating a late motion for leave to file instanter a summary judgment response as a motion to extend the deadline for filing the response). Rule 6(b)(1)(B) provides that when a party moves to extend a deadline that has already passed, the court should deny the motion unless the movant can show that her failure to meet the deadline was the result of “excusable neglect.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b)(1)(B); see Hassebrock v. Bernhoft, 815 F.3d 334, 341 (7th Cir. 2016) (“Rule 6 provides that when a request for extension of time is made after an earned deadline, ‘the court may, for good cause, extend the time ... if the party failed to act because of excusable neglect.’”). The determination whether a party’s neglect is excusable is “at bottom an equitable one, taking account of all relevant circumstances surrounding the party’s omission.” Pioneer Inv. Servs. Co. v. Brunswick Assocs. L.P., 507 U.S. 380, 395, 113 S.Ct. 1489, 123 L.Ed.2d 74 (1993) (interpreting a parallel provision of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure); see also Flint v. City of Belvidere, 791 F.3d 764, 768 (7th Cir. 2015) (applying Pioneer's definition of “excusable neglect” to Civil Rule 6(b)(1)(B)); Global Tech. & Trading, Inc. v. Tech Mahindra Ltd., 789 F.3d 730, 732 (7th Cir. 2015) (same); Raymond v. Ameritech Corp., 442 F.3d 600, 606 (7th Cir. 2006) (“We have held that Pioneer applies whenever ‘excusable neglect’ appears in the federal procedural rules.”). Relevant circumstances include “the danger of prejudice to the [non-movant], the length of the delay and its potential impact on judicial proceedings, the reason for the delay, including whether it was within the reasonable control of the movant, and whether the movant acted in good faith.” Pioneer, 507 U.S. at 395, 113 S.Ct. 1489; see also Peters v. Wal-Mart Stores E., LP, 512 Fed.Appx. 622, 628 (7th Cir. 2013); Raymond, 442 F.3d at 606. The “[m]ost important” of those factors is “the reason for the delay”; if the moving party fails to demonstrate “genuine ambiguity or confusion about the scope or application of the rules or some other good reason for missing the deadline,” she cannot establish excusable neglect, regardless of how short the delay was or how little it prejudiced the opposing party. Satkar Hospitality, Inc. v. Fox Television Holdings, 767 F.3d 701, 707 (7th Cir. 2014).

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322 F.R.D. 312, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/knapp-v-evgeros-inc-ilnd-2017.