Mejia Ruiz v. Home Depot USA Inc

District Court, N.D. Texas·Decided June 13, 2024·No. 3:22-cv-02266·Unknown

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS DALLAS DIVISION MARIA L. MEJIA RUIZ, § § Plaintiff, § § VS. § Civil Action No. 3:22-CV-2266-D § HOME DEPOT U.S.A., INC., § § Defendant. § MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Plaintiff Maria L. Mejia Ruiz (“Mejia”) moves to quash defendant Home Depot U.S.A., Inc.’s (“Home Depot’s”) subpoenas of nonparty Parkland Health Hospital System (“Parkland”). Home Depot moves to modify the scheduling order to reopen discovery for the limited purpose of obtaining the information sought in these subpoenas. For the reasons that follow, the court grants Home Depot’s motion and grants Mejia’s motion in part and denies it in part. I The relevant background facts of this case are largely set out in a prior memorandum opinion and order and need not be repeated at length for purposes of deciding these motions.1 The discovery deadline in this case was October 18, 2023, and the trial was initially set for the two-week docket of March 18, 2024, with a specific trial date of March 19, 2024. 1Mejia Ruiz v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., 2024 WL 406648, at *1 (N.D. Tex. Feb. 2, 2024) (Fitzwater, J.). On March 4, 2024 Home Depot filed an emergency motion to continue the trial due to the unavailability of a material witness. The court granted the motion and reset trial for the two- week docket of August 19, 2024.

On March 19, 2024, two weeks after the court granted the continuance, Home Depot served two subpoenas duces tecum on Parkland and notified Mejia that, pursuant to these subpoenas, it intended to depose Parkland by written questions and obtain documents from Parkland related to Mejia’s medical treatment history. The first subpoena required Parkland

to produce and answer questions about “all medical records in [its] possession” related to Mejia. P. Br. (ECF No. 63) at 8-11. The second subpoena required Parkland to produce and answer questions about “all x-rays, MRI scans, CT scans and corresponding reports” related to Mejia. P. Br. (ECF No. 63) at 14-17. Mejia moves to quash the subpoenas on the grounds that they are “without limitations

in time, scope, or breadth” and that they seek information that is irrelevant and invades her right to privacy. Id. at 1-2. She also points out that the discovery period ended months ago, and asserts that Home Depot should not be allowed to conduct discovery at this point. Mejia asks the court to order Home Depot to modify its subpoenas to seek only information “within the date of incident and the proper scope and breadth.” Id. at 2.

Home Depot opposes Mejia’s motion and also moves to modify the scheduling order for the limited purpose of enabling it to seek this additional discovery from Parkland. The court is deciding these motions on the briefs, without oral argument.

- 2 - II The court begins by addressing a preliminary matter: Mejia’s motion does not include a certificate of conference, as required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c)(1) and N.D. Tex. Civ. R. 7.1.

“A failure to satisfy conference requirements does not . . . mandate summary denial of [a motion,] because the Court retains discretion to waive strict compliance with the conference requirements and to consider the motion[] on [its] merits.” Brown v. Bridges, 2015 WL 11121361, at *5 (N.D. Tex. Jan. 30, 2015) (Solis, C.J.) (citation and internal

quotation marks omitted), modified in part, 2015 WL 12532137 (N.D. Tex. June 22, 2015). The court in its discretion can excuse a failure to confer when “it is clear that the motion is opposed and that a conference would neither have eliminated nor narrowed the parties’ dispute.” Obregon v. Melton, 2002 WL 1792086, at *1 n.3 (N.D. Tex. Aug. 2, 2002) (Fitzwater, J.).

Here, although Mejia’s failure to include a certificate of conference violated both the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and this court’s Local Civil Rules, it is clear that the motion is opposed. The issue in dispute—whether the information sought in the subpoenas is relevant and nonprivileged—is also already sufficiently narrow. Accordingly, the court will not deny Mejia’s motion based solely on her failure to comply with Rule 26(c)(1) and Local

Civil Rule 7.1. See State Auto. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Freehold Mgmt., Inc., 2018 WL 10391736, at *2 (N.D. Tex. Dec. 17, 2018) (Rutherford, J.) (declining to deny motion to quash and for protective order due to failure to comply with Rule 26(c)(1) and Local Civil Rule 7.1). Even so, it bears emphasizing that the “[f]ailure to comply with a local civil rule of - 3 - this court is to be carefully avoided and should not be repeated.” Obregon, 2002 WL 1792086, at *1 n.3. Indeed, a judge of this court has cautioned that “future noncompliance with the certificate of conference requirement may result in the Court striking the offending

motion from the docket.” Monitronics Int’l, Inc. v. Skyline Sec. Mgmt., Inc., 2017 WL 7520612, at *1 n.1 (N.D. Tex. Oct. 30, 2017) (Toliver, J.). III The court now turns to the merits and considers whether it is appropriate to reopen

discovery for the limited purpose of enabling Home Depot to depose Parkland by written questions and obtain additional documents from Parkland.2 A Rule 16(b)(4) governs a party’s request to modify a scheduling order. Cartier v. Egana of Switz. (Am.) Corp., 2009 WL 614820, at *2 (N.D. Tex. Mar. 11, 2009) (Fitzwater,

C.J.). “To modify the scheduling order, a party must demonstrate good cause and obtain the judge’s consent.” Rodrigues v. US Bank Nat’l Ass’n, 2021 WL 2077650, at *1 (N.D. Tex. May 24, 2021) (Fitzwater, J.) (citing Cartier, 2009 WL 614820, at *2). The good cause standard “require[s] the movant ‘to show that the deadlines cannot reasonably be met despite the diligence of the party needing the extension.’” Puig v. Citibank, N.A., 514 Fed. Appx.

483, 487-88 (5th Cir. 2013) (per curiam) (quoting S&W Enters., LLC v. SouthTrust Bank of

2The court assumes arguendo that, when a party to a civil lawsuit seeks information relevant to the lawsuit from a nonparty, the matter is governed by the discovery rules in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and is not simply part of the evidence-gathering process that may fall outside the discovery rules. - 4 - Ala., N.A., 315 F.3d 533, 535 (5th Cir. 2003)). In determining whether the movant has met its burden under Rule 16(b)(4), the court considers four factors: “(1) the explanation for the failure to timely comply with the

scheduling order; (2) the importance of the modification; (3) potential prejudice in allowing the modification; and (4) the availability of a continuance to cure such prejudice.” Squyres v. Heico Cos., 782 F.3d 224, 237 (5th Cir. 2013) (alterations adopted) (citation omitted). The court considers the four factors holistically and “does not mechanically count the number of

factors that favor each side.” EEOC v. Serv. Temps, Inc., 2009 WL 3294863, at *3 (N.D. Tex. Oct. 13, 2009) (Fitzwater, C.J.), aff’d, 679 F.3d 323 (5th Cir. 2012). B The court construes Home Depot’s response to Mejia’s motion—which argues under Rule 16(b)(4) that good cause exists to allow Home Depot to seek additional discovery from

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