Caesar v. Beard, et al.

Filing 76

ORDER Regarding Plaintiff's Motion for Reconsideration 69 ;Plaintiffs request to compel further responses to the Second Set of Interrogatories to Defendant Lopez, (Doc. No. 69) is denied; Plaintiffs request to extend the discovery deadline (Doc. No. 72) is denied, signed by Magistrate Judge Barbara A. McAuliffe on 8/13/18. (Martin-Gill, S)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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DANNY CAESAR,
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Plaintiff,
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v.
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LOPEZ, et al.,
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Defendants.
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Case No.: 1:13-cv-01726-DAD-BAM (PC)
ORDER REGARDING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION
FOR RECONSIDERATION
(Doc. No. 69)

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I.

Background

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Plaintiff Danny Caesar is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis in this civil

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rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This case proceeds on plaintiff’s second amended

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complaint against defendants Patel, Lopez, and Nanditha for deliberate indifference to serious medical

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needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment, and against defendant Patel for retaliation in violation of

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the First Amendment. The claims arise out of events occurring at Kern Valley State Prison (“KVSP”)

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in late 2012 and early 2013.

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On March 19, 2018, Plaintiff filed a motion to compel. (Doc. No. 65.) On April 24, 2018, the

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motion was denied. (Doc. No. 66.) On May 7, 2018, Plaintiff filed a motion for reconsideration of the

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April 24, 2018 order, directed to the District Judge. (Doc. No. 69.)

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On August 9, 2018, the District Judge denied in part Plaintiff’s motion for reconsideration, and

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referred certain matters back to the undersigned for further consideration, if appropriate and necessary.

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(Doc. No. 75.) Thus, the Court now addresses those matters.

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II.

Interrogatories

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First, Plaintiff seeks to compel further responses from Defendant Lopez to the Second Set of

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Interrogatories. The interrogatories at issue request statistical information about all medical appeals at

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KVSP between 2010 and the present, including how many were from Sensitive Needs Yard (“SNY”)

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inmates, how many were from non-SNY inmates, and how many were granted, partially granted, or

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denied, for each of those groups of inmates. (Doc. No. 71, at 9-14.) Defendants responded that such

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information could not be fully provided because the California Correctional Health Care Services does

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not maintain any data breaking down medical appeals based on specific yards at KVSP. Plaintiff was

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provided statistics on how many medical appeals were received at KVSP overall from July 2012 to

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December 2013 (1,552 medical appeals). (Id.) Plaintiff was also provided data about how many of

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those appeals were granted, denied, and partially granted, including at what level of review those

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appeals were granted or partially granted, where applicable. (Id.)

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In support of his motion to compel, Plaintiff argues that the information he seeks can be

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determined by a manual review of the medical appeals. Plaintiff further contends that the information

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is needed so that he can determine whether different medical practices are applied to different inmates

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based on their yard. Specifically, Plaintiff asserts that the information will help show whether

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Defendants denied him sufficient medical care to incompetence, or whether they engaged in a “sinister

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practice” of providing preferential treatment for certain prisoners. (Doc. No. 72, at 3-4.)

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Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(2)(iii) expressly limits discovery where the burden or

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expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit. See, e.g., Green v. Baca, 219 F.R.D.

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485 (C.D. Cal. 2003). “[I]n determining whether a request is overbroad, the court must weigh the

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costs of compelling discovery against the movant’s asserted interest in the information sought.”

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Meeks v. Parsons, No. 1:03-cv-06700-LJO-GSA, 2009 WL 3003718 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 18, 2009) (citing

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Richards of Rockford, Inc. v. Pacific Gas & Elec. Co., 71 F.R.D. 388, 390 (N.D. Cal. 1976)).

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Similarly, “[i]n determining whether a request for discovery will be unduly burdensome to the

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responding party, the court weighs the benefit and burden of the discovery. . . . This balance requires a

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court to consider the needs of the case, the amount in controversy, the importance of the issues at

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stake, the potential for finding relevant material and the importance of the proposed discovery in

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resolving the issues.” Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Welles, 60 F. Supp. 2d 1050, 1053–54 (S.D. Cal.

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1999).

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Here, the Court finds that the burden and expense of manually reviewing over a thousand paper

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records of the medical appeals, if possible, that Plaintiff requests outweighs the likely benefit of the

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discovery sought. Plaintiff’s case concerns whether the medical provider Defendants severely

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undertreated his frostbite residuals based on his allegations that they refused to accept the fact that he

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suffers from that condition. (Doc. No. 40.) Thus, his claim concerns the provision of medical care to

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him. Plaintiff has not shown that the medical care provided to other inmates bears any relevance to

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Plaintiff’s claim or a defense here. The burden Plaintiff seeks to impose is unduly burdensome, and

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Plaintiff’s request to compel further responses to the Second Set of Interrogatories to Defendant Lopez

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is denied.

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III.

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Plaintiff also seeks a six-month extension of the discovery deadline, which ended on May 22,

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2018. (Disc. and Scheduling Order, Doc. No. 55.) Plaintiff contends that the extension is necessary

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because this is his first time conducting discovery as a litigant, and he made some errors. He further

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asserts that defense counsel took long periods to give responses to his requests. Finally, he is

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concerned about future motions to compel.

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Extension of Discovery Deadline

The Court finds that Plaintiff has failed to show the diligence and good cause necessary to

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extend the discovery deadline. Court construes Plaintiff’s pleadings liberally due to his pro se status,

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but a pro se litigant is nevertheless responsible for complying with the Federal Rules of Civil

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Procedure, the Local Rules, and the Court’s orders, including the deadlines set in the discovery and

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scheduling order. See Ghazali v. Moran, 46 F.3d 52, 54 (9th Cir. 1995) (citing King v. Atiyeh, 814

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F.2d 565, 567 (9th Cir. 1987)). Further, although Plaintiff complains of delays by defense counsel, he

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provides no information on how he was prejudiced by such delays, nor any explanation for what

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discovery still needs to be done and why. The Court previously informed Plaintiff that such

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information would be necessary to evaluate any request to extend the discovery deadline some months

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ago. (See April 24, 2018 Order, Doc. No. 68.) Plaintiff was also informed that any motions to compel

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must be filed before the May 22, 2018 deadline, and that they would not be considered after that date.

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(Disc. and Scheduling Order ¶ 7.) His request for a six-month extension of what was initially an

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eight-month discovery period, is unreasonable. For these reasons, Plaintiff’s request to extend the

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discovery deadline is denied.

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IV.

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Accordingly, it is HEREBY ORDERED that:

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Conclusion

Plaintiff’s request to compel further responses to the Second Set of Interrogatories to

Defendant Lopez, (Doc. No. 69) is denied; and
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Plaintiff’s request to extend the discovery deadline (Doc. No. 72) is denied.

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IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated:

August 13, 2018

/s/ Barbara

A. McAuliffe

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UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE