Walker v. Metro North Commuter Railroad

Opinion

New York, NY 10170 President www.mta.info

D Metro-North Railroad ugust 22, 2025 mac MEMO ENDORSED Honorable Gary Stein Unites States District Court Southern District of New York 500 Pearl Street New York, NY 10007 Re: Jesse L. Walker v. Metro North Commuter Railroad, 23 Civ. 9883 Dear Magistrate Judge Stein: I represent Defendant Metro-North Commuter Railroad (“Metro-North”) in the above- referenced matter, in which the parties have consented to proceed before Your Honor for all purposes. I write with Plaintiff's consent to provide a status update pursuant to the Court’s July 14, 2025 Order. Pending Conference Request On August 11, 2025, Metro-North requested a Rule 37.2 conference in connection with its request for Plaintiff to consent to the release of documents and information concerning his contact with Metro-North’s Employee Assistance Program (“EAP”). ECF No. 43. Plaintiff's response to Metro-North’s request was docketed on August 18, 2025. ECF No. 44. In Plaintiffs response, he clarified for the first time that he had contact with EAP as early as 2006. Metro- North is willing to limit the scope of its requested release to documents and information concerning Plaintiffs contact with EAP on or after April 19, 2017, which is the operative period for Plaintiff’s allegations in this action. A proposed release reflecting this revision has been provided to Plaintiff. Plaintiff continues to object to signing the revised release. ! Request for Brief Adjournment of Fact Discovery Deadline Fact discovery is currently scheduled to be completed by August 29, 2025. Metro-North is requesting a brief adjournment of that deadline for the limited purpose of incorporating in its document production a forthcoming arbitration decision on Plaintiff's appeal of his February 2022 disciplinary charges, which are referenced in Plaintiff's Amended Complaint, ECF No. 4 at 5. The arbitrator heard Plaintiff's appeal on August 11, 2025, and Metro-North anticipates that the parties will receive a decision in the coming weeks. This arbitration decision is relevant, among other reasons, because a decision upholding Plaintiffs discipline would be highly pertinent to, if not dispositive of, his Title VII challenge to such discipline. See, e.g., Collins v. ' Undersigned counsel respectfully requests that any Rule 37.2 conference on this topic be scheduled for on or after September 2, 2025 to account for scheduled time away from the office.

Jesse L. Walker v. Metro North Commuter Railroad, 23 Civ. 9883 August 22, 2025 Status Update N.Y. City Transit Auth., 305 F.3d 113, 118-19 (2d Cir. 2002) (considering neutral arbitrator’s decision upholding disciplinary decision “highly probative of the absence of discriminatory intent” in such decision and affirming dismissal of Title VII challenge to disciplinary decision). Therefore, Metro-North respectfully requests that the fact discovery deadline be adjourned for the limited purpose of permitting the production of this forthcoming arbitral decision. Plaintiff does not object to this request. Apart from the above-referenced issues, the parties have completed fact discovery. Sincerely, s/ Jennifer A. Mustes Jennifer A. Mustes Associate Counsel (212) 340-2504 jmustes@mnr.org ce: Jesse L. Walker (pro se plaintiff, by ECF and email)

The request for an extension of the fact discovery deadline is GRANTED. The fact discovery deadline is hereby extended to September 26, 2025. Defendant’s request for a discovery conference in connection with the discovery dispute concerning Plaintiff's contact with Metro-North’s Employee Assistance Program (Dkt. Nos. 43 & 44) is also GRANTED. The discovery conference shall be held on Friday, September 5, 2025. A scheduling order will be issued shortly. Date: August 28, 2025 SO ORDERED: New York, NY ay Me AT HON. GARY STEIN UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE