(PC) O'Connor v. J. Lizarraga

District Court, E.D. California·Decided September 13, 2021·No. 2:19-cv-00658·Unknown

Opinion

GLENN O’CONNOR, No. 2: 19-cv-0658 KJM KJN P Plaintiff, v. ORDER CORRECTIONS AND REHABILITATION, et al., Defendants. Plaintiff is a state prisoner, proceeding without counsel, with a civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending before the court is plaintiff’s motion to compel (ECF No. 77) and plaintiff’s motion to enlarge the record (ECF No. 78), construed as a supplemental motion to compel. (ECF No. 84.) For the reasons stated herein, plaintiff’s motion to compel and supplemental motion to compel are denied. Plaintiff’s Claims To put the pending motions in context, the undersigned herein describes plaintiff’s claims. This action proceeds on plaintiff’s amended complaint, filed May 13, 2019, on plaintiff’s Eighth Amendment claim for damages against defendants Brockenborough, Boyd, Holmes, Lizarraga, Manning and Weiss. (ECF No. 13.) All defendants are located at Mule Creek State Prison (“MCSP”), where plaintiff was housed when he filed this action. Plaintiff alleges that he suffers from sleep apnea. (Id. at 9.) Plaintiff alleges that he uses a CPAP machine to treat his sleep apnea. (Id. at 10.) Plaintiff alleges that all defendants denied his request for continuous power for his CPAP machine. (Id.) Legal Standard for Motion to Compel The scope of discovery under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1) is broad. Discovery may be obtained as to “any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). “Information within this scope of discovery need not be admissible in evidence to be discoverable.” Id. The court, however, may limit discovery if it is “unreasonably cumulative or duplicative, or can be obtained from some other source that is more convenient, less burdensome, or less expensive;” or if the party who seeks discovery “has had ample opportunity to obtain the information by discovery;” or if “the proposed discovery is outside the scope permitted by Rule 26(b)(1).” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(2)(C). Generally, if the responding party objects to a discovery request, the party moving to compel bears the burden of demonstrating why the objections are not justified. E.g., Grabek v. Dickinson, 2012 WL 113799, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Jan. 13, 2012); Ellis v. Cambra, 2008 WL 860523, at *4 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 27, 2008). This requires the moving party to inform the court which discovery requests are the subject of the motion to compel, and, for each disputed response, why the information sought is relevant and why the responding party's objections are not meritorious. Grabek, 2012 WL 113799, at *1. Motion to Compel (ECF No. 77) Request for Admissions Plaintiff first argues that defendant Brockenborough failed to respond to the request for admissions. (ECF No. 77 at 1.) In the opposition, defendants contend that they timely served plaintiff with defendant Brockenborough’s response to plaintiff’s request for admissions. (ECF No. 83 at 2.) In the reply, plaintiff concedes that he received defendant Brockenborough’s response to his request for admissions. (ECF No. 86 at 1.) Accordingly, this matter is deemed resolved. Request for Production of Documents Plaintiff generally argues that defendant’ response to his request for production of documents was “incomplete and much of it was irrelevant.” (ECF No. 77 at 1.) However, plaintiff specifically addresses only defendants’ response to request for production of documents no. 1. (Id. at 3-8.) Plaintiff’s general objections that defendants failed to adequately respond to his request for production of documents does not meet his burden in demonstrating why defendants’ objections and responses were inadequate. Accordingly, the undersigned herein addresses only defendants’ response to request for production no. 1. Request no. 1 sought copies of any documents issued or maintained by MCSP regarding power outages. (Id. at 11.) “These could be memos, directives, alerts, notices, work orders, ‘Huddle notes’ (medical).” (Id.) Defendants responded, Objection. This request is vague as to timeframe. This request is vague and ambiguous as to the phrase “regarding power outages.” This request is vague and ambiguous as to the term “Huddle notes.” This request is overly broad, unduly burdensome, and potentially encompasses documents that are not relevant to any claims or defenses in this case. As written, this request potentially encompasses documents that do not concern plaintiff’s claims and that fall outside the period when plaintiff was housed at Mule Creek State Prison. Without waiving these objections, defendants produce documents that are potentially responsive to this request (Bates Nos. DEF-001 to DEF-089.) Defendants continue to search for additional responsive documents and will amend this response upon identifying them. (Id.) In the motion to compel, plaintiff argues that the Huddle notes were requested because it is likely that the nursing/medical staff discussed how the power outages interfered with patient care, etc. (Id. at 3.) Plaintiff clarifies that nursing staff and doctors meet in a daily “huddle” for which notes are kept. (Id.) Plaintiff then argues that the documents defendants produced in response to request no. 1 are irrelevant. (Id. at 4.) Plaintiff describes the documents defendants provided in DEF-001 to DEF-006, DEF-007 to DEF-037, DEF-038 to DEF-050, DEF-052 to DEF-053, DEF-054 to DEF-061, DEF-062 to DEF-063, DEF-064 to DEF-084, DEF-085-087 and DEF-090. (Id. at 4-7.) Plaintiff does not address these documents other than describing them as “irrelevant.” (Id.) Plaintiff requests that the court order defendants to provide him with documents that may exist “from prison-design to plant operations maintenance department, redacted as necessary for security, and relevant to plaintiff’s claims for the years 2016-2019 at Mule Creek State Prison’s Infill Complex (Facilities D & E only).” (Id. at 8.) In the opposition, defendants argue that plaintiff did not meet his burden of explaining why defendants’ response to request no. 1 was deficient. (ECF No. 83 at 4.) Defendants observe that plaintiff did not explain why each of defendants’ objections lack merit. (Id.) Defendants also observe that in contrast to the motion to compel, plaintiff’s request no. 1 did not specifically demand production of documents related to Mule Creek State Prison’s Facilities D & E; and it did not specifically demand the production of unspecified prison design records, power plant operations records, or maintenance records. (Id.) Instead, defendants contend that request no. 1 demanded the production of “any document maintained by MCSP regarding power outages.” (Id.) Defendants argue that they cannot be compelled to produce documents that plaintiff did not request in his discovery request. (Id.) In the opposition, defendants argue that plaintiff has not adequately explained why the documents discussed in the motion to compel, i.e., DEF-001 to DEF-006, DEF-007 to DEF-037, DEF-038 to DEF-050, DEF-052 to DEF-053, DEF-054 to DEF-061, DEF-062 to DEF-063, DEF- 064 to DEF-084, DEF-085-087 and DEF-090, are not relevant. (Id.) Defendants also contend that after conducting a diligent search, they produced all nonprivileged or non-confidential documents they were able to locate and were within their possession, custody or control. (Id.) Defendants contend that upon receiving plaintiff’s request for production of documents, defense counsel contacted the MCSP Litigation Coordinator to request assistance with locating the documents that responded to plaintiff’s request. (ECF No.

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(PC) O'Connor v. J. Lizarraga, (E.D. Cal. 2021).

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