Austin v. Horizon Human Services Incorporated

Filing 39

ORDER: IT IS ORDERED DENYING Plaintiff's Motion to Compel Discovery 33 . (See attached PDF for details). Signed by Senior Judge Frederick J Martone on 9/10/13.(JAMA)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

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Gary Austin,
Plaintiff,

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vs.

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Horizon Human Services. Inc.,
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Defendant.
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No. CV-12-02233-PHX-FJM
ORDER

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The court has before it plaintiff’s motion to compel discovery (doc. 33) and
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defendant’s response (doc. 36). Plaintiff did not file a reply and the time for doing so has
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expired. See LRCiv 7.2(d).
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Plaintiff filed a motion to compel discovery on August 13, 2013. Any motion to
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compel “must include a certification that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted
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to confer with the person or party failing to make disclosure or discovery in an effort to
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obtain it without court action.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(1). No discovery motion will be
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considered or decided unless the movant attaches to his motion a certification that “after
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personal consultation and sincere efforts to do so,” the parties have been unable to
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satisfactorily resolve the matter. LRCiv 7.2(j); Hart v. Agnos, 2008 WL 2008966, *7 (D.
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Ariz. 2008).
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Plaintiff provides no affidavit, declaration, or certification signed under penalty of
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perjury, detailing his good faith attempts to resolve the discovery dispute with opposing

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counsel prior to seeking a judicial resolution of the issue. Instead, the motion contains one

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sentence stating that the “Plaintiff has engaged in good-faith efforts to resolve this situation

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with the Defendant and has reached an impasse.” Motion at 1. This is not sufficient under

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the Rules. Because plaintiff did not file a reply, he does not dispute defendant’s argument

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that the motion to compel does not comply with either the federal or local rules.

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Therefore, IT IS ORDERED DENYING plaintiff’s motion to compel (doc. 33).

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Because it is difficult for a party to successfully manage the complexities of a lawsuit

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unaided by a lawyer, we urge plaintiff to seek the advice of counsel. If he does not have a

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lawyer, he may wish to call the Lawyer Referral Service of the Maricopa County Bar

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Association at 602-257-4434.

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DATED this 10th day of September, 2013.

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