Laboy v. Ontario County

56 F. Supp. 3d 255, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155835, 2014 WL 5591071
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. New York
DecidedOctober 28, 2014
DocketNo. 14-CV-6086 EAW
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 56 F. Supp. 3d 255 (Laboy v. Ontario County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Laboy v. Ontario County, 56 F. Supp. 3d 255, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155835, 2014 WL 5591071 (W.D.N.Y. 2014).

Opinion

DECISION AND ORDER

ELIZABETH A. WOLFORD, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Juan A. Laboy (“Plaintiff”) brought this action against Ontario Coun[257]*257ty, the Ontario County Sheriffs Office, Sheriff Philip C. Provero, Deputy Rebecca Edington, Deputy Nathan Bowerman, and Deputy Patrick Fitzgerald (the “Defendants”), pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging malicious prosecution, excessive use of force and unlawful arrest, and deliberately indifferent policies, practices, customs, training, and supervision. (Dkt. 1). Presently before the Court is Defendants’ motion to strike Plaintiffs motion for miscellaneous relief. (Dkt. 21). For the following reasons, Defendants’ motion is granted. Plaintiff is directed to re-file his motion for miscellaneous relief as two separate motion filings within ten business days of entry of this Decision and Order.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiff filed his complaint on February 24, 2014. (Dkt. 1). On My 25, 2014, Defendants filed a motion to dismiss. (Dkt. 14). The Court set a briefing schedule requiring Plaintiff’s response to be filed by September 2, 2014. (Id.).

On September 2, 2014, Plaintiff filed a motion that he labeled a “motion for miscellaneous relief.” (Dkt. 16). Plaintiffs motion seeks partial summary judgment against Defendants and also responds to Defendants’ motion to dismiss. (Id.). Plaintiff submitted a memorandum of law in support of this motion that is 59 pages in length. (Dkt. 17). Plaintiff also attached Exhibits A-K to his motion papers, but Exhibits F and I were not filed until September 3, 2014, one day after the date on which Plaintiffs response was due. (Dkt. 20).

On September 2, 2014, the date Plaintiffs response was due, Plaintiffs counsel contacted the Court by telephone and advised that his memorandum of law was 59 pages long, and that he had just become aware that the deadline to request permission to exceed the 25-page limit had passed.1 L.R. Civ. P. 7(a)(2)(C) limits any memoranda in support of or in opposition to a motion to 25 pages. On September 4, 2014, the Court received courtesy copies of Plaintiffs motion papers and an enclosure letter, relating that Plaintiffs counsel was unaware of the Court’s 25-page limit for response memoranda of law until he attempted to upload his oversized memorandum onto CM7ECF. Plaintiffs counsel also requested that the Court accept the memorandum of law in its present state, and treat the letter as a request for an exception to the 25-page limit nunc pro tunc. (Dkt. 19).

On September 4, 2014, Defendants filed a motion to strike Plaintiffs motion for miscellaneous relief, arguing: (1) some of the exhibits attached to Plaintiff’s motion for miscellaneous relief were filed one day after the date on which his response was due; and (2) Plaintiff’s memorandum of law exceeds the 25-page limit set by Local Rule 7(a)(2)(C), and Plaintiff failed to seek permission to exceed this page limit. (Dkt. 21-1 at ¶¶ 7, 9). Plaintiff filed a response on September 19, 2014 (Dkt. 23), and Defendants replied on September 26, 2014. (Dkt. 24).

For the reasons set forth below, the Court denies Defendants’ motion to strike as it relates to Plaintiffs filing of Exhibits F and I one day after the date on which his response was due, but grants the mo[258]*258tion to strike based on Plaintiffs filing of an oversized and hybrid memorandum of law.

DISCUSSION

1. Plaintiffs Filing of Exhibits One Day After His Response Deadline

“District Courts may grant extensions of time in purely procedural matters upon a showing of ‘excusable neglect.’ ” Lee v. ITT Standard, 268 F.Supp.2d 315, 329 (W.D.N.Y.2002), adopted by 268 F.Supp.2d 315 (W.D.N.Y.2002) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 6(b)(2) and LoSacco v. City of Middletown, 71 F.3d 88, 93 (2d Cir.1995)). “ ‘Excusable neglect’ under Rule 6(b) is a somewhat ‘elastic concept’ and is not limited strictly to omissions caused by circumstances beyond the control of [the] movant.’ Rather, it may encompass delays ‘caused by inadvertence, mistake or carelessness,’ at least when the delay was not long, there is no bad faith, there is no prejudice to the opposing party, and the movant’s excuse has some merit.” LoSacco, 71 F.3d at 93 (quoting Pioneer Inv. Servs. Co. v. Brunswick Assocs. Ltd. P’ship, 507 U.S. 380, 388, 113 S.Ct. 1489, 123 L.Ed.2d 74 (1993)) (internal citations omitted).

Here, Plaintiff filed Exhibits F and I one day late. Plaintiff contends that on September 2, 2014, the date Plaintiffs response was due, Plaintiffs counsel uploaded his motion documents to the CM7ECF filing system, but Exhibits F and I failed to upload. However, Exhibits F and I were successfully uploaded the following day. (Dkt. 23 at ¶¶ 6, 8). Plaintiffs counsel also mailed to Defendants a hard copy of his entire motion submission, including Exhibits F and I, on September 2, 2014. (Id. at ¶ 7).

Plaintiffs one-day delay in uploading Exhibits F and I was not excessive and did not result in prejudice to Defendants. See Kendall v. Fisse, No. 00 CV 5154(SJ), 2004 WL 1196811, at *1 n. 1, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28505, at *2 n. 1 (E.D.N.Y. June 1, 2004), aff'd, 149 Fed.Appx. 19 (2d Cir.2005) (“Even if Plaintiff did submit his opposition papers five days late, this delay was not excessive and did not result in great prejudice to Defendants.”). Even Defendants note that' Plaintiff’s late filings were the result of law office failure (Dkt. 24-2 at ¶ 11) or, in other words, that they were the result of “inadvertence, mistake or carelessness,” and qualify as excusable neglect according to the factors articulated in Pioneer and LoSacco. Therefore, Defendants’ motion to strike Plaintiff’s motion for miscellaneous relief based on the late filing of Exhibits F and I is denied.2

II. Plaintiffs Oversized Memorandum of Law

Local Rule of Civil Procedure 7(a)(2)(C) states, in relevant part:

Page Limits. Memoranda in support of or in opposition to any motion shall not exceed twenty-five pages in length, and [259]*259reply memoranda shall not exceed ten pages in length.

L.R. Civ. P. 7(a)(2)(C). The undersigned’s Chambers Procedures provide that a party may request leave to exceed the page limit set by Local Rule 7(a)(2)(C) by letter sent by fax to chambers, with copies to all counsel, identifying the number of additional pages requested. A request to exceed page limits may be made up to one business day before the filing deadline, and must identify the amount of additional pages requested.

Plaintiffs memorandum of law in support of his motion for miscellaneous relief is 59 pages long. (Dkt. 17). However, Plaintiff contends that his memorandum of law is only nine pages longer than is permitted by Local Rule 7(a)(2)(C), since it responds to Defendants’ motion to dismiss and supports his motion for partial summary judgment. (Dkt. 28 at ¶ 12).

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Bluebook (online)
56 F. Supp. 3d 255, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155835, 2014 WL 5591071, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laboy-v-ontario-county-nywd-2014.