Briggs et al v. Montgomery et al

Filing 276

ORDERED that Defendant TASC's Motion to Stay Discovery is denied. (Doc. 252 ). Signed by Magistrate Judge Eric J Markovich on 4/26/21. (MYE)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

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Deshawn Briggs, et al.,

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Plaintiffs,

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ORDER

v.

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No. CV-18-02684-PHX-EJM

County of Maricopa, et al.,

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Defendants.

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Pending before the Court is Defendant TASC’s Motion to Stay Discovery. (Doc.
252). Plaintiffs filed a Response (Doc. 267) and TASC filed a Reply (Doc. 270).

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TASC argues that all discovery should be stayed pending resolution of its motion

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for summary judgment because: (1) TASC’s motion for summary judgement could

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resolve this case in its entirety; (2) no discovery is necessary to resolve the motion for

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summary judgement; (3) TASC has already incurred enormous expense in discovery; and

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(4) the discovery that Plaintiffs seek and are anticipated to seek is burdensome, of limited

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utility, and will burden third parties unnecessarily.

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In response, Plaintiffs argue that discovery should be not stayed because: (1)

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TASC’s motion for summary judgement is premature, factually misleading, and wrong

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on the merits; (2) Plaintiffs need additional discovery to rebut TASC’s arguments in the

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motion for summary judgment; (3) the ordinary time and expense of litigation does not

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establish good cause for a stay, especially where the supposed burden on TASC is based

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on hypothetical discovery requests that the Plaintiffs have not even made; and (4) a stay

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at this stage of the litigation—less than six weeks before the close of class certification

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fact discovery—would unfairly prejudice Plaintiffs by delaying the adjudication of their

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claims and the resolution of this case.

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Neither the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure nor Ninth Circuit case law provide a

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clear standard against which to evaluate a motion to stay discovery when a dispositive

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motion is pending. DRK Photo v. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2012 WL 5936681, at

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*1 (D. Ariz. Nov. 27, 2012). While “[c]ourts have broad discretionary power to control

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discovery[,] . . . [a] pending dispositive motion is not generally a situation that in and of

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itself would warrant a stay of discovery.” Id. (internal quotations and citations omitted).

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Here, the parties generally agree on the legal standard utilized by district courts in the

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Northern and Eastern Districts of California. That is, a stay may be granted where: (1) the

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pending motion is potentially dispositive of the entire case, or at least dispositive on the

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issue at which discovery is directed; and (2) the motion can be decided without any

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additional discovery. Id. Discovery must proceed if both prongs of this test are not proven

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by the party seeking a stay. Applying this two-part test requires a “preliminary peek” at

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the merits of the pending dispositive motion and a showing by the moving party “that

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there is at least an immediate and clear possibility of success on [that] motion.” Id. at *2

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(internal quotations and citation omitted). TASC points out that Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 26(c)(1)

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authorizes a court to stay discovery where there is good cause to do so, such as to avoid

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undue burden and expense. (Doc. 252 at 4). Plaintiffs emphasize that a party seeking a

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blanket stay of discovery “carries a heavy burden of making a strong showing why

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discovery should be denied.” (Doc. 267 at 5) (quoting DRK Photo, 2012 WL 5936681, at

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*1).

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In light of the legal backdrop discussed above, the Court must first resolve

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whether TASC has shown that there is an immediate and clear possibility of success on

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their summary judgment motion. Plaintiffs have not yet filed their response to the motion

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for summary judgment. As a result, it is difficult for this Court to conduct a “ preliminary

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peek” at the motion to assess its likelihood of success. The Court notes that TASC’s

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arguments in support of the motion for summary judgement are persuasive. However, in

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their Response in opposition to the Motion to Stay Discovery, Plaintiffs provide a

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preview of the arguments they will make in their response to TASC’s summary

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judgement motion. The Court finds those arguments equally persuasive. As such, the

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Court’s “preliminary peek” at the summary judgement motion does not evidence that

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TASC will likely prevail on that motion. Because TASC cannot meet this first prong of

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the test for granting a stay of discovery, the Court declines to stay discovery.

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The Court acknowledges and accepts TASC’s arguments about the time and

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expense of the discovery conducted thus far. But, unfortunately, substantial time and

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expense in conducting discovery are present in most civil cases, and especially in a case

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involving a potential class action. And the Court notes that discovery is already limited to

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potential class certification. TASC has the right, as it has previously done, to file motions

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or seek court intervention regarding discovery requests that it believes are unrelated to

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class certification and/or are unreasonably broad and not proportional to class

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certification. The Court believes that those are the proper remedies, and not a wholesale

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stay of discovery relating to class certification, especially given the impending deadline

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on that issue.

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Accordingly, for the reasons stated above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that
Defendant TASC’s Motion to Stay Discovery is denied. (Doc. 252).
Dated this 26th day of April, 2021.

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