Reayes v. Madden

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 KEJUAN REAVES, Case No.: 23-cv-254-DMS-KSC

12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO 13 v. COMPEL [Doc. No. 48] 14 MADDEN et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, filed this lawsuit alleging defendants 18 violated his civil rights by using excessive force against him. See generally Doc. No. 1. 19 Defendants obtained leave of court to take plaintiff’s deposition. Doc. No. 33. Defendants 20 now seek an Order compelling plaintiff to answer questions he refused to answer during 21 his deposition, which defendants took on December 18, 2024. See Doc. No. 48. Plaintiff 22 has not timely filed an Opposition. 23 Any party may move the Court for an order compelling a witness to answer a 24 question posed during a deposition. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(3)(B)(i). The identities of 25 witnesses are generally discoverable. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1)(A)(i). Using deposition 26 testimony to identify potential witnesses is likewise generally proper in civil cases. See 27 generally V5 Techs v. Switch, Ltd., 334 F.R.D. 615, 618 (D. Nev. 2020) (collecting cases). 28 1 || Here, plaintiff claimed during his deposition that he knew of many witnesses to the events 2 || giving rise to this lawsuit. See Doc. No. 51 at 4. He testified that he would call “at least 3 of them as witnesses during trial. /d. at 5. He further testified he could identify them 4 their names and nicknames, and he knew their locations. See id. at 6-8. This information 5 ||is patently discoverable. During his deposition, plaintiff also suggested he wanted to secure 6 || attorney representation before producing discovery. See id. at 6. Being self-represented 1s 7 ||not grounds for refusing to produce discovery. 8 Within ten days of this Order, plaintiff shall execute a declaration under penalty of 9 || perjury of the laws of the United States and serve it upon defendants by mailing it to 10 defense counsel. The declaration shall identify each and every witness to the incident 11 |/known to plaintiff—not only those witnesses from whom plaintiff may seek to elicit 12 ||favorable testimony. Plaintiff shall also provide the names, nicknames, locations, and 13 || contact information for any such witnesses. Failure to adequately disclose this information 14 lead to the exclusion of these witnesses’ testimony should plaintiff attempt to 15 |/introduce it. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(b)(2)(A) (ii). 16 Because the Court’s Scheduling Order cannot accommodate unreasonable delay of 17 || this matter, the litigation coordinator or other staff at the penal institution housing plaintiff 18 directed to assist the parties (to the greatest extent practicable) in expeditiously securing 19 || this discovery. 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 ||Dated: March 4, 2025 AA 22 Ml Ye □□ 3 Hori. Karen 8S. Crawford United States Magistrate Judge 24 25 26 27 28