(PC) Felix v. Cazores

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 TYLO JEROME FELIX, JR., Case No.: 1:24-cv-00332-JLT-SKO 10 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO MODIFY THE DISCOVERY 11 v. AND SCHEDULING ORDER 12 C. CAZORES, et al., (Doc. 19) 13 Defendants. 14 15 Plaintiff Tylo Jerome Felix, Jr., is proceeding pro se in this civil rights action pursuant to 16 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This action proceeds on Plaintiff’s constitutional claims against Defendants 17 Cazores, Smotherman, Diaz, Velasquez, and Arreazola. 18 I. INTRODUCTION 19 The Court issued its Discovery and Scheduling Order on August 23, 2024. (Doc. 17.) The 20 deadline for the filing of a motion for summary judgment based upon a failure to exhaust 21 administrative remedies was set for November 23, 2024. (Id.) 22 On November 14, 2024, Defendants filed a “Motion to Modify Scheduling Order to 23 Extend Deadline to File Motion Challenging Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies.” (Doc. 19.) 24 II. DISCUSSION 25 Pursuant to Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a scheduling order “may 26 be modified only for good cause and with the judge's consent.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(4). This 27 good cause standard “primarily considers the diligence of the party seeking the amendment.” Johnson v. Mammoth Recreations, Inc., 975 F.2d 604, 609 (9th Cir. 1992). The court may modify 1 the scheduling order “if it cannot reasonably be met despite the diligence of the party seeking the 2 extension.” Id. If the party was not diligent, the inquiry should end. Id. 3 Defendants move for a 30-day extension of the deadline for filing a motion for summary 4 judgment based upon a failure to exhaust administrative remedies. (Doc. 19.) The motion is 5 supported by the Declaration of Janet Chen, a Supervising Deputy Attorney General at the 6 California Attorney General’s Office. (Id. at ¶ 1.) 7 Ms. Chen states that on September 11, 2024, Deputy Attorney General Ravpreet Bhangoo 8 unexpectedly went on medical leave and was expected to return on November 6, 2024. (Id., ¶ 2.) 9 Ms. Bhangoo’s medical leave has now been extended though January 2025. (Id.) Either Ms. Chen 10 or another attorney in her office will need additional time to further investigate the defense and 11 prepare any motion for summary judgment based upon a failure to exhaust administrative 12 remedies. (Id., ¶ 3.) A declaration from the Chief of the Office of Appeals will be necessary to 13 support the motion, “and the turnaround time for obtaining such a declaration is three weeks.” 14 (Id.) Due to Plaintiff’s incarceration and pro se status, a stipulation could not be obtained. (Id., ¶ 15 5.) 16 Here, Defendants have established good cause for an extension of the deadline for the 17 filing of a motion for summary judgment based upon a failure to exhaust administrative remedies. 18 The deadline will be extended as requested. 19 III. CONCLUSION AND ORDER 20 Accordingly, and for good cause shown, the Court ORDERS that: 21 1. Defendants motion to modify the scheduling order (Doc. 19) is GRANTED; and 22 2. The Discovery and Scheduling Order is MODIFIED to extend the deadline for filing 23 a motion for summary judgment based upon a failure to exhaust administrative 24 remedies from November 23, 2024, to December 23, 2024. 25 IT IS SO ORDERED. 26

27 Dated: November 20, 2024 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE