Pinson v. Dukett

District Court, D. Arizona·Decided October 10, 2023·No. 4:19-cv-00422·Unknown

Opinion

WO

Jeremy Pinson, No. CV-19-00422-TUC-RM

Plaintiff, ORDER

v.

United States,

Defendant. Pending before the Court are Defendants’ Motion in Limine No. 1: Failure to Timely Disclose Witnesses (Doc. 195); Defendant’s Motion in Limine No. 2: Evidence of Other Incidents and/or PREA Noncompliance (Doc. 196); Defendant’s Motion in Limine No. 3: Opinion Testimony (Doc. 197); Defendant’s Motion in Limine No. 4: Department of Justice Investigator General and Report (Doc. 198); Defendant’s Motion in Limine No. 5: Testimony or Evidence Regarding Functionality of Cell Duress Alarm (Doc. 199); Defendant’s Motion in Limine No. 6: Special Investigative Supervisors Manual (Doc. 200); and Plaintiff’s Motion in Limine (Doc. 202).1 I. Background In the remaining claim in this case, Plaintiff seeks monetary damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act (“FTCA”) against Defendant United States, alleging that United States Penitentiary (“USP”)-Tucson prison officials failed to address her reports that her cellmate was threatening to rape her. (See Docs. 21, 22, 25, 53, 117.) Specifically,

1 Plaintiff’s Motion for Order Securing Trial Witness Appearances (Doc. 216) will be resolved separately on an expedited basis. Plaintiff alleges that on July 12, 2019, she was placed in the Special Housing Unit in a cell with Ricki Makhimetas. (Doc. 22 at 5.) She passed notes to Officer Vasquez notifying him that Makhimetas had threatened to rape her, but Officer Vasquez did not separate Plaintiff from Makhimetas. (Id.) Later that night, Makhimetas attacked and tried to rape Plaintiff, causing injuries that required her to be transported to the emergency department of the Tucson Medical Center. (Id.) The parties filed their Joint Proposed Pretrial Order on April 24, 2023. (Doc. 162.) A bench trial is scheduled for November 6, 2023. (Doc. 180.) II. Discussion In the parties’ Joint Proposed Pretrial Order, Plaintiff lists 61 witnesses, including numerous individuals who will testify to BOP officials’ non-compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (“PREA”) and/or officials’ responses to threats reported by inmates on unrelated occasions. (Doc. 162 at 5-12.) Defendant lists 21 witnesses, including Makhimetas. (Id. at 12-17.) In the pending Motions in Limine, Defendant moves to preclude all of Plaintiff’s witnesses due to untimely disclosure (Doc. 195), and further argues that this Court should preclude Plaintiff from offering witness testimony concerning unrelated incidents (Doc. 196), expert witness testimony (Doc. 197), testimony from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz (Doc. 198), testimony or evidence concerning the functionality of the duress alarm inside Plaintiff’s cell (Doc. 199), and evidence or testimony concerning a BOP Special Investigative Services Manual (“SIS Manual”) (Doc. 200). Plaintiff moves to preclude Defendant from calling Makhimetas as a witness. (Doc. 202.) The Court heard oral argument on the pending Motions in Limine at a pretrial conference held on September 28, 2023, and took the Motions under advisement. (Doc. 211.) During the pretrial conference, Plaintiff averred that prison officials had confiscated and destroyed her case file and that, in order to prepare for trial, she needed copies of documents disclosed by Defendant during discovery, as well as copies of documents she filed in response to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. (Id.) Defendant agreed to provide Plaintiff with copies of documents disclosed during discovery. (Id.; see also Doc. 212.) The Court will direct the Clerk to mail Plaintiff copies of the documents she filed in response to Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. A. Defendant’s Motion in Limine No. 1: Failure to Timely Disclose Witnesses (Doc. 195) Defendant argues that Plaintiff failed to disclose during discovery the witnesses she lists in the parties’ Joint Proposed Pretrial Order and that, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b)(2)(A) and (c)(1), she should be precluded from calling the witnesses at trial. (Doc. 195.) Defendant avers that eight of the witnesses listed by Plaintiff in the Joint Proposed Pretrial Order were first identified in motions that Plaintiff filed in December 2022 and January 2023; that Plaintiff intentionally withheld the identities of forty other witnesses; and that eleven witnesses were never mentioned by Plaintiff until she listed them in the Joint Proposed Pretrial Order. (Id. at 4-8.) Defendant argues that Plaintiff’s failure to disclose her witnesses during discovery was not substantially justified and that allowing Plaintiff to call the witnesses at trial would be prejudicial to Defendant, who was denied an opportunity to depose the witnesses or otherwise conduct discovery concerning their anticipated testimony. (Id. at 8-10.) In response, Plaintiff concedes that witnesses Sonnen, Dial, Lewis, Dobbs, Armendariz, Gooch, and Talai were not disclosed during discovery, but she avers that she disclosed them promptly after learning of their testimony in 2022. (Doc. 209 at 3-5.) With respect to her other witnesses, Plaintiff states that she properly disclosed a witness list in this case, by certified mail sent on June 14, 2021, with tracking number 7020-0640- 0001-3944-7870. (Id. at 1; see also Doc. 145 at 9.) Plaintiff further contends that, after learning Defendant claimed she had not disclosed a witness list, she re-mailed her witness list to defense counsel. (Doc. 151.) Defendant avers that the witness list sent with tracking number 7020-0640-0001-3944-7870 pertained to one of Pinson’s other cases, CV-19-00235-RM, and Defendant presents documentation supporting that averment. (See Docs. 147-1, 147-2; see also Doc. 195-2 at 3, 6-10, 12.) Defense counsel further contends that his office never received Plaintiff’s re-sent witness list. (Doc. 195-2 at 4.) Rule 37(c)(1) provides that, if a party fails to “identify a witness as required by Rule 26(a) or (e), the party is not allowed to use that information or witness to supply evidence . . . at a trial, unless the failure was substantially justified or is harmless.” Here, the record does not support Plaintiff’s contention that she timely disclosed a witness list; the witness list to which Plaintiff refers was labeled as being for CV-19-00235-RM rather than this case. (See Docs. 147-1, 147-2; see also Doc. 195-2 at 3, 6-10, 12.) However, the literal terms of Rule 37(c)(1) do not apply because Plaintiff has not violated a disclosure obligation of Rule 26(a) or (e). Plaintiff is in the custody of the United States and brought this action pro se, and therefore these proceedings are exempt from the initial disclosure requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(1). See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1)(B)(iv). The information that the Court requires the parties to disclose in their Joint Proposed Pretrial Order encompasses the information required by Rule 26(a)(3), and Plaintiff disclosed her witnesses in the Joint Proposed Pretrial Order. Because Plaintiff is not in violation of a disclosure obligation of Rule 26(a) or a supplemental disclosure obligation of Rule 26(e), the Court declines to preclude her witnesses under Rule 37(c)(1). Rule 37(b)(2)(A) provides that, if a party fails to obey an order to provide discovery, the court “may issue further just orders,” including prohibiting the party from “introducing designated matters in evidence.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2)(A)(ii). The Court’s Scheduling Order required the parties to disclose a “complete list of witnesses” prior to the close of discovery, a

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