Smith v. District of Columbia

319 F.R.D. 40, 96 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 692, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168179, 2016 WL 7115957
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedDecember 6, 2016
DocketCivil Action No. 15-161 ABJ/DAR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 319 F.R.D. 40 (Smith v. District of Columbia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. District of Columbia, 319 F.R.D. 40, 96 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 692, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168179, 2016 WL 7115957 (D.C. Cir. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

DEBORAH A. ROBINSON, United States Magistrate Judge

Plaintiff, Gregory Smith, brought this civil rights action in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia alleging that the District of Columbia Department of Corrections (“DOC”) unlawfully detained him for 23 days after he was ordered to be released from custody. Amended Complaint (ECF No. 36) at 1. Defendants subsequently removed the ease to this court. Notice of Removal (ECF No. 1). Plaintiff dismissed the DOC as a defendant on February 27, 2015, leaving the District of Columbia (“the District”), and DOC employees Jack Jones and Jeanette Myrick as the remaining defendants. This case was referred to the undersigned for determination of Plaintiffs Motion for Costs and Fees (ECF No. 39), wherein Plaintiff alleges various discovery violations by the District and seeks sanctions pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37. See Plaintiffs Statement of Points and Authorities in Support of Plaintiffs Motion for Costs and Fees (“Plaintiffs P & A”) (ECF No. 39-1).

BACKGROUND

The Court (Jackson, J.), entered a scheduling order on March 10, 2015, establishing the deadlines governing the course of discovery in this proceeding. See Scheduling Order (ECF No. 13). During the discovery period, Plaintiff sought, inter alia, two main types of materials pertaining to the instant motion: data from the District’s electronic transaction management system (“TMS”), and “over-detention reports” compiled by the DOC. Plaintiffs P & A at 1-2.1

Over-Detention Reports

Plaintiff served Defendants with his first request for production of documents on March 27, 2015. Plaintiffs P & A at 4. In that request, Plaintiff sought “all reports prepared by the District of Columbia relating to overdetention of inmates at the D.C. Jail between March 1, 2007 and April 10, 2014.” Id. at 5. The District responded to this request on September 1, 2015, pointing Plaintiff toward its prior response to Plaintiffs Interrogatory No. 2, which had provided a table listing the number of over-detentions by month. M; Exhibit 6, District’s Responses to Plaintiffs Request for Production of Documents and Interrogatories (ECF No. 39-7). On September 25, 2015, Plaintiff served a second request for the production of documents, slightly rephrasing his request for “[a]ll release discrepancy reports from March 2009 through April 2014.” Exhibit 8, Response to Plaintiffs Second Set of Requests for Production of Documents (ECF No. 39-9) at 2. Plaintiff followed up on October 7, 2015, noting that Plaintiff was seeking “all reports prepared by the District of Columbia relating to the over-detention of inmates,” and that “[d]espite the acknowledgement of the existence of the monthly reports ... the monthly reports have not been produced.” Exhibit 7, Plaintiff Letter to District of Columbia (ECF No. 39-8) at 1. In response, the District directed Plaintiff to a website for the District of Columbia’s Judiciary and Public Safety on November 22, 2015. Exhibit 8 at 2.

[44]*44Plaintiff subsequently noticed a deposition pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6) outlining, inter alia, the following topics:

10. Prisoner overdetention at the DC Jail between March 18, 2009 and April 10, 2014.
a) All sources of information relied upon in answering Plaintiffs Interrogatory No. 2.
b) The definition of “overdetention” used in responding to Plaintiffs Interrogatory No. 2.
c) All policies to decrease the instances overdetention of prisoners between March 18, 2009 and April 10, 2014.
d) All policies to prevent the overde-tention of prisoners in place on March 2014.
e) All reports and/or written statements made by the Department of Corrections relating to prisoner ov-erdetention between March 18, 2009 and April 10, 2014.

Rule 30(b)(6) Deposition Notice (EOF No. 39-10) at 4-5. In addition to noticing those topics, Plaintiff requested that the deponent designated by the District provide “[a]ll reports published by the Department of Corrections relating to prisoner overdetention between March 18, 2009 and April 10, 2014.” The 30(b)(6) deposition was held on November 23, 2015, and the District’s designee, Defendant Jeanette Myrick, appeared and testified as to the over-detention reports, but did not bring the requested documents with her to the deposition. Exhibit 11, Jeanette Myrick Deposition I (Relating to Overdetention Reports) (EOF No. 39-12) at 2-3. Ms. Myrick testified that she authors over-detention reports and keeps electronic versions of said reports in a folder on her computer. Id. at 4.

On December 6, 2015, Plaintiff submitted to the District his third request for documents, specifically identifying the reports contained on Ms. Myrick’s computer. Plaintiffs P & A at 8. On January 27, 2016, the District produced said reports. Id.

TMS Data

Plaintiff first learned of the existence of the TMS data during the December 14, 2015 deposition of Defendant Jack Jones, an employee of the DOC. Plaintiffs P & A at 3. Mr. Jones testified that when the Records Office receives documents such as release orders from the D.C. Superior Court, such documents are uploaded into the TMS system. Id. The TMS system also indicates the time at which such documents are uploaded. Id. Plaintiff made his first request for the TMS data during the deposition. Id. Plaintiff followed up his initial request for the TMS data with an email request to the District on January 4, 2016. Exhibit 2, Plaintiff Email to District of Columbia (EOF No. 39-3) at 1. In this email, Plaintiff requested “screenshots of the TMS system indicating when the release orders (for cases 2014 CMD 452 and 2012 CMD 7806) were uploaded for [Plaintiff] into the TMS system.” Id. Alternatively, Plaintiff requested access to inspect the TMS system with regard to the cases pertaining to each of Plaintiffs releases. Id.

On January 29, 2016, the parties filed a Joint Status Report with the Court, wherein the District stated that it “anticipates ... full compliance with the requested discovery [of TMS data] in two (2) weeks.” Joint Status Report (EOF No. 27) at 2. The Joint Status Report also requested an extension of fact discovery until February 12, 2016. Id. at 2. On the final day of the fact discovery period, the District sent Plaintiff an email stating “[w]e have been advised that the TMI [sic] information you requested does not exist.” Exhibit 1, District Email to Plaintiff (EOF No. 39-2) at 1. The parties held a teleconference that same day, after which the Court (Jackson, J.) extended fact discovery until February 26, 2016. 01/12/2016 Minute Order.

Plaintiff noticed a second deposition pursuant to Rule 30(b)(6) in relation to the retention and preservation of the TMS data. Exhibit 5, Deposition Notice Regarding TMS Data (EOF No. 39-6). This notice included, inter alia, the following topics: “[t]he existence of data and/or information in the TMS system as it related to [Plaintiff] (for cases 2014 CMD 452 and 2012 CMD 7806)”; “[t]he retention policy for data contained in the [45]

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319 F.R.D. 40, 96 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 692, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168179, 2016 WL 7115957, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-district-of-columbia-cadc-2016.