Lewis v. Herrman's Excavating, Inc.

200 F.R.D. 657, 2001 WL 677357
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedApril 21, 2001
DocketNo. 00-4036-RDR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 200 F.R.D. 657 (Lewis v. Herrman's Excavating, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lewis v. Herrman's Excavating, Inc., 200 F.R.D. 657, 2001 WL 677357 (D. Kan. 2001).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

O’HARA, United States Magistrate Judge.

I. Introduction.

This is a sexual harassment case. Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 35, the plaintiff, Pamela K. Lewis, has filed a motion which seeks to require John Moore, an employee of the defendant, Herrman’s Excavating, Inc., to submit to an examination of his penis by a physician (doc. 112). As explained in more detail below, plaintiff has failed to show excusable neglect for not filing her Rule 35 motion within the time period previously set by the Court. Therefore, her motion must be denied as untimely. Further, even if plaintiffs belated request to extend the applicable deadline was granted, the Court finds that, under the facts presented in this case, Mr. Moore, as a non-party, cannot be compelled to submit to the requested physical examination.

II. Factual Background.

The final pretrial order which was filed on March 12, 2001 reflects that this case is brought pursuant to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e. Plaintiff has asserted three separate claims of employment discrimination against defendant, ie., hostile work environment sexual harassment, quid pro quo sexual harassment, and retaliation. Although the facts of this case as a whole are hotly contested, the facts material to the instant motion are essentially uncontroverted.

The merits of the instant motion have been fully addressed by the parties’ attorneys. The motion also has been addressed separately by Mr. Moore, pro se, although primarily on the basis of personal privacy rather than legal or technical grounds.

The written submissions indicate that plaintiffs sexual harassment claims are based, at least in part, on the allegation that one day Mr. Moore exposed his penis to plaintiff and asked her to perform fellatio. With regard to this allegation, in response to questions posed by her own attorney, plaintiff testified during the second day of her deposition on January 12, 2001 that she observed that Mr. Moore’s penis was uncircumcised. When Mr. Moore was deposed a few weeks earlier, on December 22, 2000, he vehemently denied that he ever exposed himself to plaintiff or asked for sexual favors. But, Mr. Moore was not asked whether his penis was circumcised during approximately ninety minutes of interrogation. However, Mr. Moore’s unsworn written response to plaintiffs motion states that he is circumcised. Evidently sometime during late January of 2001, Mr. Moore’s wife was deposed and she testified that Mr. Moore is circumcised. With the factual dispute thus clearly drawn, plaintiff now seeks a physical examination of Mr. Moore to corroborate her testimony.

III. Analysis.

A. Plaintiffs Delay in Seeking Relief Under Rule 35.

Plaintiff filed this case on March 21, 2000. On August 2, 2000, the Court conducted a scheduling conference with the parties’ attorneys. The Court’s scheduling order reflects that all discovery was to be completed by December 4, 2000. Further, that Order stated: “The parties shall complete any Fed.R.Civ.P. 35 physical or mental examinations by November 14, 2000.”

On October 23, 2000, plaintiff moved to modify the scheduling order as it related to designating her expert witnesses. On October 30, 2000, the Court granted that motion and, in addition to extending both parties’ expert designation deadlines, the Court extended the deadline for completion of all discovery to January 31, 2001. Significantly, however, plaintiff never sought to modify the November 14, 2000 deadline for completing [659]*659Rule 35 examinations until she filed the instant motion on February 22, 2001. This was after all discovery had closed, and indeed after the final pretrial conference had been conducted.1

Plaintiff suggests that the Court’s scheduling order set a deadline of November 14, 2000 for requesting a physical examination. However, as discussed above, the Court actually set a deadline of November 14, 2000 for completing such an examination. The Court obviously contemplated that, in the event- the parties were unwilling to make informal arrangements, any motions along these lines would be filed well in advance of November 14, 2000.

Plaintiff acknowledges that she missed the deadline for requesting an examination of Mr. Moore. Fed.R.Civ.P. 6(b)(2) provides that “[w]hen ... an act is required or allowed to be done at or within a specified time, the court for cause may at any time in its discretion ... upon motion made after the expiration of the specified period permit the act to be done when the failure to act was the result of excusable neglect ...” (emphasis added). Plaintiff contends that her motion is supported by good cause and that her failure to timely request an examination of Mr. Moore was attributable to excusable neglect. For the reasons explained below, the Court respectfully disagrees.

In determining whether neglect is “excusable,” in addition to all other relevant circumstances surrounding a party’s omission, the following specific factors must be considered:

1. the danger of prejudice to the non-moving party;
2. the length of the delay and its impact on the proceedings;
3. the reason for the delay, including whether it was under the control of the movant; and
4. whether the movant acted in good faith.

Pioneer Inv. Services Co. v. Brunswick Associates Ltd. Partnership, 507 U.S. 380, 395, 113 S.Ct. 1489, 123 L.Ed.2d 74 (1993).

Defendant claims that it would be unfairly prejudiced here because it would not have the opportunity to develop rebuttal evidence if the examination were to show that Mr. Moore is uneircumcised. The Court does not believe that allowing the requested physical examination would unfairly prejudice defendant, as it is difficult to conceive as a practical matter what kind of rebuttal evidence could be developed. More to the point, though, if the examination were allowed at this juncture, Mr. Moore obviously would be prejudiced- — by the sheer invasion of his privacy.

Plaintiff delayed at least one month in filing her motion. It is unclear whether allowing the physical examination at this late date, after the parties’ factual contentions have been finalized by virtue of the pretrial order, would have a serious impact on these proceedings. The Court doubts that there would be much of an impact. .

Plaintiffs attorney argues that, although he conducted a thorough investigation of plaintiffs case, plaintiff did not tell him about Mr. Moore’s penis being uncircumcised until after Mr. Moore had been deposed on December 22, 2000, which was more than one month after the deadline for completing a Rule 35 examination already had passed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
200 F.R.D. 657, 2001 WL 677357, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lewis-v-herrmans-excavating-inc-ksd-2001.