Ashford v. Catoe et al

Filing 20

ORDER, the Clerk is directed to amend the docket sheet to reflect that Defendant Catoe is "James Catoe" and Defendant Taylor is "Keith Taylor." 16 MOTION to Substitute Attorney filed by Catoe, Taylor, is granted; 17 MOTION to Take Deposition from Charles Ashford filed by Catoe, Taylor is granted. Defendants must on or before 6/2/2014, comply with the instruction in this Order regarding the preservation of video recordings and photographs. Defendants must file any m otions on the issue of exhaustion on or before 6/16/2014. The parties must complete discovery on or before 9/29/2014, and must file dispositive motions, dealing with matter other than exhaustion on or before 10/29/2014. Signed by Magistrate Judge J. Thomas Ray on 5/08/2014. (kcs)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS
PINE BLUFF DIVISION

CHARLES ASHFORD,
ADC #133975
V.

PLAINTIFF

5:14CV00031 JLH/JTR

CATOE, Sergeant; and X
TAYLOR, Correctional Officer,
Tucker Maximum Security Unit, ADC

DEFENDANTS

INITIAL SCHEDULING ORDER
Defendants have filed their Answer providing their full and correct names.
Doc. 10. The Court will direct the Clerk to amend the docket sheet according.
Soon after filing their Answer, Defendants filed a Motion seeking permission
to substituted their counsel of record. Doc. 16. That request is granted.
In the Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants used excessive force against
him in November and December of 2014. Defendants must immediately preserve
any video recordings of that incident and any photographs that may have been
taken of Plaintiff's injuries. Defendants will have thirty days to locate any such
video recordings and photographs and file them, under seal, with the Clerk of the
Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. If any such video recordings or
photographs have been lost, destroyed, or are no longer available (for any reason),
Defendants must notify the Court within 30 days and provide a detailed explanation

of why that evidence is no longer available and the names of all ADC employees who
had any involvement in the destruction or loss of that evidence. The Court will then
promptly schedule a hearing to take testimony from the named ADC employees
concerning how and why the video recordings and photographs were lost or
destroyed.
The Prison Litigation Reform Act requires prisoners to fully and properly
exhaust their administrative remedies as to each claim before filing a lawsuit in federal
court. See 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a); Johnson v. Jones, 340 F.3d 624, 627 (8th Cir. 2003);
Graves v. Norris, 218 F.3d 884, 885 (8th Cir. 2000). Although exhaustion of
administrative remedies is an affirmative defense, the Eighth Circuit has clarified that
a court cannot proceed to the merits of any unexhausted claims. Jones v. Bock, 549
U.S. 199, 216 (2007); Barbee v. CMS, Case No. 10-1891, 2010 WL 3292789 (8th Cir.
Aug. 23, 2010) (unpublished opinion); Davis v. Harmon, Case No. 10-1863, 2010 WL
3259378 (8th Cir. Aug. 19, 2010) (unpublished opinion).
It would be beneficial to the Court, as well as the parties, if any exhaustion
issues were resolved before time and resources were unnecessarily expended
developing and addressing unexhausted claims. Accordingly, the Court will give
Defendants 45 days to file dispositive motions on the issue of exhaustion only.

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Additionally, the parties will have 150 days to complete discovery1 and 180 days to
file any other dispositive motions.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED THAT:
1.

The Clerk is directed to amend the docket sheet to reflect that Defendant

Catoe is "James Catoe," and Defendant Taylor is "Keith Taylor."
2.

Defendants' Motion to Substitute Counsel (Doc. 16) is GRANTED.

3.

Defendants' Motion to Depose Plaintiff (Doc. 17) is GRANTED.

4.

Defendants must, on or before June 2, 2014, comply with the instruction

is this Order regarding the preservation of video recordings and photographs.
5.

Defendants must file any motions on the issue of exhaustion on or

before June 16, 2014.
6.

The parties must complete discovery on or before September 29, 2014.

7.

The parties must file dispositive motions, dealing with matters other than

exhaustion, on or before October 29, 2014.
Dated this 8th day of May, 2014.

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
1

This means that the parties must send their final discovery requests to the opposing side so
that they have the full amount of time, as provided by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, to
respond before the discovery deadline expires. For instance, Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(b)(2) states that a
party has 30 days to respond to interrogatories. Thus, the parties must send their final interrogatories
to the opposing side at least 30 days before the expiration of the discovery deadline.
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