(PC) Israel v. Carter

District Court, E.D. California·Decided August 25, 2022·No. 2:21-cv-01267·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 AKIVA A. ISRAEL, No. 2: 21-cv-1267 TLN KJN P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 RUBY CARTER, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner, proceeding without counsel, with a civil rights action pursuant 18 to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending before the court is plaintiff’s motion to compel. (ECF No. 53.) 19 For the reasons stated herein, plaintiff’s motion to compel is denied. 20 Background 21 To put the motion to compel in context, the undersigned herein sets forth the claims on 22 which this action proceeds. 23 This action proceeds on the second amended complaint against defendant Ruby Carter as 24 to claims one and two. (ECF No. 35.) Plaintiff alleges that on August 18, 2020, defendant Carter 25 violated the Eighth Amendment by denying plaintiff Mirtazapine and Hydroxyzine. (Id.) 26 Plaintiff alleges that as a result of not receiving her medication, her mental and medical 27 conditions deteriorated and she suffered suicidal ideation. (Id.) 28 The alleged deprivations occurred at Mule Creek State Prison (“MCSP”). 1 Legal Standard for Motion to Compel 2 The scope of discovery under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1) is broad. 3 Discovery may be obtained as to “any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or 4 defense and proportional to the needs of the case.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). “Information within 5 this scope of discovery need not be admissible in evidence to be discoverable.” Id. The court, 6 however, may limit discovery if it is “unreasonably cumulative or duplicative, or can be obtained 7 from some other source that is more convenient, less burdensome, or less expensive;” or if the 8 party who seeks discovery “has had ample opportunity to obtain the information by discovery;” 9 or if “the proposed discovery is outside the scope permitted by Rule 26(b)(1).” Fed. R. Civ. P. 10 26(b)(2)(C). 11 “The party seeking to compel discovery has the burden of establishing that its request 12 satisfies the relevancy requirements of Rule 26(b)(1).” Bryant v. Ochoa, 2009 WL 1390794, at 13 *1 (S.D. Cal. May 14, 2009) (citations omitted). “Thereafter, the party opposing discovery has 14 the burden of showing that the discovery should be prohibited, and the burden of clarifying, 15 explaining or supporting its objections.” Id. The opposing party “has the burden to show that 16 discovery should not be allowed…” DIRECTV, Inc. v. Trone, 209 F.R.D. 455, 458 (C.D. Cal. 17 2002). 18 Clarification of At-Issue Discovery Requests 19 In the motion to compel, plaintiff does not clearly identify the at-issue discovery requests. 20 However, plaintiff alleges that she notified defendant that the responses to interrogatories nos. 7-8 21 and request for production of documents nos. 1-3, 6-7, 9-12 were insufficient. (ECF No. 53 at 3.) 22 Plaintiff only addresses defendant’s responses to her request for production of documents. 23 Accordingly, the undersigned finds that plaintiff’s motion to compel concerns only request for 24 production of documents nos. 1-3, 6-7 and 9-12. Defendant also interpreted the motion to compel 25 to address these requests.1 26 //// 27 1 Plaintiff did not dispute defendant’s interpretation of the motion to compel as addressing 28 request for production of documents nos. 1-3, 6-7 and 9-12. 1 Request No. 1 2 Request no. 1 sought, 3 Any and all grievances, complaints, or other documents received by prison staff or CDCR agents at Mule Creek or CDCR generally 4 concerning the mistreatment and/or improper medical conduct by Defendant Carter, and any memoranda, investigative files, or other 5 documents created in response to such complaints since January 1, 2000. 6 7 ECF No. 53 at 37.) 8 Defendant responded, 9 Objection. The request for all grievances and complaints received by prison staff or CDCR agents at Mule Creek or CDCR concerning 10 mistreatment and or improper medical conduct by defendant Carter is overbroad as to scope and time, not relevant to the claims and 11 defenses in this case, is unduly burdensome and not proportional to the needs of the case, and invasive of the privacy rights of defendant 12 and any inmates who may have submitted complaints. The request further violates the official information privilege and seeks personal 13 and private information of staff members or materials that constitutes personnel information, which is confidential. (Cal. Code of Regs., 14 tit. 15, §§ 3321, 3450, & 3370.) Without waiving these objections, defendants state: all relevant, unprivileged responsive documents in 15 their possession, custody or control will be produced. 16 (Id. at 38.) 17 The undersigned finds that the documents sought in request no. 1 regarding grievances, 18 complaints or other documents concerning alleged inadequate medical care provided by 19 defendant Carter to other inmates are not relevant to this action. The issues in this action are 20 solely related to defendant Carter’s actions taken toward plaintiff, therefore making defendant 21 Carter’s treatment of other inmates not relevant. Brooks v. Tate, 2013 WL 4049058, at *2 (E.D. 22 Cal. Aug. 7, 2013) (third-party prisoner complaints alleging inadequate medical care not relevant 23 to whether defendant was deliberately indifferent to plaintiff); Gallagher v. Department of 24 Corrections, 2017 WL 347467, at *2 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 24, 2017) (“The facts and circumstances 25 of each inmate’s medical condition are different, and therefore, whether or not a particular inmate 26 filed a grievance as to his medical condition is not relevant to this case.”). 27 Moreover, assuming the relevancy of the documents sought in request no. 1, the request is 28 overbroad because it seeks documents from January 1, 2000, to the present. The alleged 1 deprivation in this action occurred on August 18, 2020. The request for documents going back 20 2 years from the alleged deprivation is overbroad. 3 For the reasons discussed above, the motion to compel as to request no. 1 is denied.2 4 Request No. 2 5 Request no. 2 sought, “Any and all policies, directives or instructions to staff concerning 6 the complete care model governing healthcare operations at Mule Creek State Prison.” (ECF No. 7 53 at 38.) 8 Defendant responded, 9 Objection. The request for all policies, directives, or instructions to staff concerning the complete care model governing healthcare 10 operations at Mule Creek State Prison is overly broad and unduly burdensome to the extent that there are many policies and procedures 11 concerning inmate healthcare provided by Mule Creek State Prison. 12 Subject to and without waiving objection, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 33(d), a copy of the California Department of 13 Corrections and Rehabilitation, California Correctional Health Care Services, Health Care Department Operations Manual section 3.2.1, 14 Article 2-Pharmacy and Medication Services is attached and labeled as AG-036-AG-037. 15 16 (Id.) 17 The undersigned finds that request no. 2 is overbroad in that not every policy, directive or 18 instruction to staff concerning the complete model governing healthcare operations at MCSP is 19 relevant to this action. Defendant adequately responded to request no. 2 by providing plaintiff 20 with copies of manuals related to pharmacy and medication services, which are relevant to the 21 issues raised in this action. For these reasons, the motion to compel as to request no. 2 is denied.

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