Olmos v. Ryan

CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedApril 17, 2020
Docket2:17-cv-03665
StatusUnknown

This text of Olmos v. Ryan (Olmos v. Ryan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Olmos v. Ryan, (D. Ariz. 2020).

Opinion

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6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 7 Timothy Paul Olmos, 8 Plaintiff CV-17-3665-PHX-GMS (JFM) -vs- 9 Charles L. Ryan, et al., Defendants. Order 10 11 Under consideration is Plaintiff's Motion to Compel filed September 23, 2019 (Doc. 12 120), supported by his Memo in Support (Doc. 121). 13 Pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 36(a)(6) and 37(a)(3)(B) and Local 14 Rule of Civil Procedure 27.1(a), Plaintiff seeks an order determining the sufficiency of 15 Defendants’ responses to requests for admission and compelling responses to Plaintiffs’ 16 various discovery requests. (Plaintiff makes widespread references back to earlier motions 17 and exhibits, including his Motion to Modify Scheduling Order (Doc. 64), Motion for an 18 Order to Show Cause (Doc. 75), and Motion to Modify Scheduling Order (Doc. 82).) 19 Defendants have responded (Doc. 137) arguing that the responses were appropriate, 20 Plaintiff’ objections are irrelevant, and the requests are disproportional to the needs of the 21 case given the amount in controversy and the burden vs. benefit of the requests. Plaintiff 22 did not timely reply, and the request for an extension has been denied. (See Order 3/13/20, 23 Doc. 159 (denying extension); Order 4/9/20, Doc. 167 (affirming order).) 24 A. BACKGROUND 25 Plaintiff filed his First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) (Doc. 18) on April 20, 2018. 26 Counts One, Three, Four, Five, and Six of Plaintiff’s FAC were dismissed without 27 1 Charles Ryan, former director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, is the sole 2 remaining defendant. 3 In Count Two, Plaintiff claims his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment due process 4 rights were violated because he has never been paid interest earned on his prison trust 5 account. Plaintiff claims there “is no pre- or post-deprivation remedy under state law 6 applicable to Ryan’s taking, no hearings are provided, no appeal process is available, no 7 dispute process is applicable, and no other meaningful process is available to challenge 8 A.R.S. § 41-1604.03(B)(2) and that collection of the interest violates his due process 9 rights. In Count Seven, Plaintiff claims his Eighth Amendment rights are violated because 10 Defendant Ryan only provides hygiene supplies to inmates whose spendable trust account 11 balances are less than $12.00 per month. Plaintiff claims this creates financial hardships 12 for him and that he must choose between purchasing hygiene items or purchasing legal 13 materials. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that he is unable to afford to regularly replace his 14 toothbrush or purchase shaving cream, razors, shampoo, and deodorant. 15 In the meantime, on or about August 19, 2019, Plaintiff was released from the 16 Arizona State Prison. (Notice of Change of Address, Doc. 104.) 17 Defendant does not argue with the basic facts alleged by Plaintiff. On Count Two, 18 Defendant asserts that the prison system’s expenses on Plaintiff exceed the interest he 19 would earn from his Inmate Trust Account, precluding a finding of a taking. As to Count 20 Seven, Defendant contends that Plaintiff could afford the necessary hygiene items, and 21 thus cannot prove any violations of the Eighth Amendment. 22 Important to the discussion on discovery relating to Count Two is the amount at 23 issue. Defendant points to the applicable two year statute of limitations and argues: “For 24 the two years prior to his Complaint, the interest on Mr. Olmos’s inmate trust account will 25 not exceed $20, and will more than likely not exceed $10.” The Court has nothing before 26 it to conclude otherwise. 27 Discovery Requests – Plaintiff has served on Defendant two sets of interrogatories 1 and a set of requests for admissions (RFA). Plaintiff challenges the responses to: 2 (a) RFA numbers 1 and 4 thru 6 OR 7????, 3 (b) 1stINT number 1, 2(a), 2(b)(iv), 2(b)(vi)-(x), 3, and 5; 4 (c) 1stRFP numbers 1-3, 5, and 6; 5 (d) 2ndRFP numbers 1 and 2; 6 (e) 3rdRFP numbers 2 and 3; 7 (f) all of 4thRFP; 8 (g) all of 2ndINT. 9 Defendants have generally responded to these requests, albeit often with objections. 10 B. APPLICABLE LAW 11 “Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant 12 to any party's claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case, considering the 13 importance of the issues at stake in the action, the amount in controversy, the parties' 14 relative access to relevant information, the parties' resources, the importance of the 15 discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed 16 discovery outweighs its likely benefit..” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1) (emphasis added). 17 “The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure strongly favor full discovery whenever 18 possible.” Farnsworth v. Procter & Gamble Co., 758 F.2d 1545, 1547 (11th Cir.1985). 19 “The party who resists discovery has the burden to show that discovery should not be 20 allowed, and has the burden of clarifying, explaining, and supporting its objections.” 21 DIRECTV, Inc. v. Trone, 209 F.R.D. 455, 458 (C.D.Cal.,2002). 22 To avoid discovery, a party must assert their specific objections in response to the 23 request, and argue them in response to a motion to compel. “It is well established that a 24 failure to object to discovery requests within the time required constitutes a waiver of any 25 objection.” Richmark Corp. v. Timber Falling Consultants, 959 F.2d 1468, 1473 (9th Cir. 26 1992). Similarly, in evaluating a motion to compel, the Court does not rely on objections 27 1 Co. v. Seaboard Corp., 189 F.R.D. 655, 662 (D. Kan. 1999) (“When ruling upon a motion 2 to compel, the court generally considers those objections which have been timely asserted 3 and relied upon in response to the motion. It generally deems objections initially raised 4 but not relied upon in response to the motion as abandoned.”). 5 C. APPLICATION TO DISCOVERY 6 1. INTERROGATORIES 7 a. 1stINT-1 8 First interrogatory 1 asked: 9 Monthly totals for the following categories of information, beginning 10 from the month that the ADC indigent program was implemented to present: 11 a. Total ADC prisoner population (i.e., state-run and contract beds facilities); and 12 b. Number of indigents. 13 Defendant responded:

14 See STATE-000000008 and STATE-000000009 (Indigent Count). 15 In the attached exhibit STATE-000000008, Defendant provided monthly indigent 16 counts for April 2018 through December 2018. In STATE-000000009, Defendant 17 provided monthly inmate accounts for January 2012 through December 2018. 18 Plaintiff argues the response is incomplete because the relevant time frame extends 19 back to September 5, 2000, referencing Exhibit H to Doc. 75, the effective date of the 20 program. Plaintiff argues that under Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 33(b)(4) Defendant failed to 21 adequately preserve an objection to the temporal scope of the request. To make the point, 22 Plaintiff references Exhibit D to Doc. 64, where Defendant raised a specific objection to a 23 request for production based on an overbroad scope of time. Plaintiff further argues that 24 the response provided indicates the information is readily available. (Motion at ¶¶ 3-7.) 25 Defendant responds by asserting for the first time objections that the requested 26 information is irrelevant and disproportional.

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