(PC) Hearns v. Gonzales

CourtDistrict Court, E.D. California
DecidedAugust 12, 2019
Docket1:17-cv-00038
StatusUnknown

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

Bluebook
(PC) Hearns v. Gonzales, (E.D. Cal. 2019).

Opinion

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

11 JAMAR HEARNS, 1:17-cv-00038-AWI-GSA-PC

12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING IN PART, AND DENYING IN PART, PLAINTIFF’S 13 v. MOTION TO COMPEL (ECF No. 31.) 14 ROSA GONZALES, et al., ORDER FOR DEFENDANT GONZALES 15 TO PROVIDE A FURTHER RESPONSE

TO PLAINTIFF’S REQUEST FOR 16 Defendants. PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS, SET TWO, NO. 1, AS INSTRUCTED BY THIS 17 ORDER, WITHIN THIRTY DAYS

18 19 I. BACKGROUND 20 Plaintiff is a former state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis with this civil 21 rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This case now proceeds with Plaintiff’s First 22 Amended Complaint filed on February 9, 2018, against defendant C/O Rosa Gonzales on Plaintiff’s 23 claims for retaliation, violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, and violation of 24 the Bane Act.1 (ECF No. 17.) 25 On July 16, 2018, the court issued a discovery and scheduling order setting out deadlines 26 for the parties, including a deadline of January 16, 2019, to complete discovery, and a deadline 27 28 1 On April 16, 2018, the court dismissed all other claims and defendants from this case, based on Plaintiff’s failure to state a claim. (ECF No. 21.) 1 of February 14, 2019, to file dispositive motions. (ECF No. 27.) On August 31, 2018, the court 2 sua sponte extended the deadline for filing dispositive motions to March 14, 2019. (ECF No. 3 29.) 4 On January 9, 2019, Plaintiff filed a motion to compel discovery. (ECF No. 31.) On 5 January 30, 2019, Defendant filed an opposition. (ECF No. 36.) On March 11, 2019, Plaintiff 6 filed a reply.2 (ECF No. 37.) 7 On January 18, 2019, on Plaintiff’s motion, the discovery deadline was extended to 8 March 4, 2019, for the limited purpose of Plaintiff filing a further motion to compel, and the 9 dispositive motions deadline was extended to May 4, 2019. (ECF No. 32.) The deadlines have 10 now expired. 11 Plaintiff’s motion to compel discovery is now before the court. Local Rule 230(l). 12 II. LEGAL STANDARDS 13 Under Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, “[p]arties may obtain discovery 14 regarding any non-privileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense.” Fed. R. 15 Civ. P. 26(b). “Relevant information need not be admissible at trial if the discovery appears 16 reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” Id. A party may 17 propound requests for production of documents that are within the scope of Federal Rule of Civil 18 Procedure 26(b). Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(a). 19 /// 20

21 2 On March 11, 2019, Plaintiff also filed a document titled “Judicial Notice,” in which Plaintiff 22 declares under penalty of perjury that he submitted his “Reply to Defendant’s Opposition to Motion to Compel” and “Request for Extension of Discovery Deadline” twice within approximately two weeks. (ECF No. 36.) Plaintiff 23 requests the court to take judicial notice in case any time restraints are affected.

24 The court may take judicial notice of court records. Valerio v. Boise Cascade Corp., 80 F.R.D. 626, 635 n.l (N.D. Cal. 1978), aff’d, 645 F.2d 699 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1126 (1981). Therefore, the 25 court takes judicial notice of the Plaintiff’s request for judicial notice and declaration filed on March 11, 2019. However, the facts contained in Plaintiff’s declaration are not the type of facts that are appropriate for judicial notice 26 because Plaintiff’s declaration is subject to reasonable dispute. “A judicially noticed fact must be one not subject to reasonable dispute in that it is either (1) generally known within the territorial jurisdiction of the trial court or (2) 27 capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.” Fed. R. Evid. 201(b). However, good cause appearing, the court considers Plaintiff’s reply to Defendant’s opposition 28 to the motion to compel, filed on March 11, 2019, to be timely filed. 1 Under Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, “a party seeking discovery may 2 move for an order compelling an answer, designation, production, or inspection.” Fed. R. Civ. 3 P. 37(a)(3)(B). The court may order a party to provide further responses to an “evasive or 4 incomplete disclosure, answer, or response.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(4). “District courts have 5 ‘broad discretion to manage discovery and to control the course of litigation under Federal Rule 6 of Civil Procedure 16.’” Hunt v. County of Orange, 672 F.3d 606, 616 (9th Cir. 2012) (quoting 7 Avila v. Willits Envtl. Remediation Trust, 633 F.3d 828, 833 (9th Cir. 2011)). Generally, if the 8 responding party objects to a discovery request, the party moving to compel bears the burden of 9 demonstrating why the objections are not justified. E.g., Grabek v. Dickinson, No. CIV S–10– 10 2892 GGH P, 2012 WL 113799, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Jan. 13, 2012); Ellis v. Cambra, No. 1:02–cv– 11 05646–AWI–SMS (PC), 2008 WL 860523, at *4 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 27, 2008). This requires the 12 moving party to inform the Court which discovery requests are the subject of the motion to 13 compel, and, for each disputed response, why the information sought is relevant and why the 14 responding party’s objections are not meritorious. Grabek, 2012 WL 113799, at *1; Womack v. 15 Virga, No. CIV S–11–1030 MCE EFB P, 2011 WL 6703958, at *3 (E.D. Cal. Dec. 21, 2011). 16 The Court is vested with broad discretion to manage discovery and notwithstanding these 17 procedures, Plaintiff is entitled to leniency as a pro se litigant; therefore, to the extent possible, 18 the Court endeavors to resolve Plaintiff’s motion to compel on its merits. Hunt, 672 F.3d at 616; 19 Surfvivor Media, Inc. v. Survivor Productions, 406 F.3d 625, 635 (9th Cir. 2005); Hallett v. 20 Morgan, 296 F.3d 732, 751 (9th Cir. 2002.) 21 III. PLAINTIFF’S ALLEGATIONS 22 Plaintiff is presently out of custody. The events at issue in the First Amended Complaint 23 allegedly occurred at Valley State Prison (VSP) in Chowchilla, California, when Plaintiff was 24 incarcerated there in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation 25 (CDCR). 26 Plaintiff’s allegations follow. On December 16, 2015, defendant C/O Rosa Gonzales 27 worked in D2. (ECF No. 17 at 5 ¶2.) C/O Gonzales told C/O Mata [not a defendant] that she 28 (Gonzales) would do the searches today. C/O Gonzales went straight to Plaintiff’s bunk area, 1 ransacked all his property and found the folder that contained legal documents for case No. 1:14- 2 cv-1177, where she (Gonzales) is named as a defendant.

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