Villery v. Jones et al

Filing 66

ORDER Scheduling a Telephonic Hearing on Plaintiff's 57 Motion to Compel and Related Discovery Issues, signed by Magistrate Judge Jeremy D. Peterson on 8/14/2019. ( Telephonic Discovery Conference set for 8/28/2019 at 02:00 PM before Magistrate Judge Jeremy D. Peterson) (Copy of this order forwarded to Litigation Coordinator at VSP)(Martin-Gill, S)

1
2
3
4
5
6

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

7

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

8
9

JARED M. VILLERY,

10

Plaintiff,

11

ORDER SCHEDULING A TELEPHONIC
HEARING ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO
COMPEL AND RELATED DISCOVERY
ISSUES

v.

12

Case No. 1:15-cv-01360-DAD-JDP

J. JONES, et al.

13

ECF No. 57

Defendants.

14
15
16

Plaintiff Jared M. Villery is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in this civil rights

17

action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff has filed a motion to compel additional

18

responses to interrogatories and the production of more documents. See ECF No. 57.

19

Defendants oppose the motion, arguing that they have responded to or properly objected to

20

plaintiff’s requests. See ECF Nos. 59, 60. Plaintiff replied to their responses on July 17, 2019.

21

ECF No. 64.

22

The court will hold a telephonic discovery conference on August 28, 2019, at 2:00 pm.

23

The parties are strongly encouraged to confer on the scope of discovery prior to the

24

conference and are reminded, as we have noted previously in this case, that “[b]oilerplate

25

objections are disfavored and may be summarily overruled.” ECF No. 32 at 1. If the parties

26

can reach an agreement or partial agreement on the scope of discovery before the hearing, they

27

should submit a joint statement to the court not later than close of business on Monday, August

28

1

1
2
3
4

26, 2019.
If the parties cannot reach any agreement on the scope of discovery before the hearing,
they should arrive at the hearing prepared to discuss the following:
1. Offers to narrow the scope of document requests and reframe interrogatories. For

5

example, plaintiff represents in the attachments to his motion that he has made offers

6

to limit the scope of discovery. See, e.g., ECF No. 57 at 51.

7

2. Which document requests have received no production (or attempts at production)

8

and which have received a responsive production (and in what form). For example,

9

defendants’ initial objections to plaintiff’s document requests often ended by noting

10

that, “[b]ased on these objections, Defendant is unable to produce any documents in

11

response to [the] request.” See, e.g., id. at 21, 23, 28. And in defendants’ opposition

12

to plaintiff’s motion to compel, the paragraph devoted to the requests for documents

13

states that “[d]efendants have in fact produced any responsive documents that could

14

be found.” ECF No. 60 at 7 (emphasis added). Plaintiff disputes that responsive

15

documents have been provided for several requests, see ECF No. 64 at 6, and it is

16

unclear whether there was any effort to make a production.

17

3. If the parties are unable to reach any agreement on the scope of discovery at the

18

hearing, they should be prepared to discuss the legal merits of each request and the

19

objections to each request.

20

Order

21

1. The court will hold a telephonic discovery conference on August 28, 2019, at 2:00

22

p.m. (dial-in number: 1-888-204-5984; passcode: 4446176) to discuss matters

23

identified above.

24
25
26
27
28

2. Plaintiff must make arrangements with staff at his institution of confinement for his
attendance at the conference.
a. Plaintiff's institution of confinement must make plaintiff available for the
telephonic conference.
b. Before the conference, defense counsel must confirm with plaintiff's

2

1

institution of confinement that arrangements have been made for plaintiff's

2

attendance.
c. The clerk is directed to send a copy of this order to the litigation

3

coordinator at plaintiff's institution of confinement.

4
5
6

IT IS SO ORDERED.

7
Dated:

August 14, 2019

8

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

9
10
11

No. 205

12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

3