Chatman v. Felker, et. al.

Filing 93

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan on 03/19/13 ordering defendants shall have 30 days from the date of this order to file a reply to plaintiff's opposition to defendants' motion for summary judgment. The 08/01/12 motion for summary judgment 77 is administratively vacated pending receipt of defendants' timely reply. (Plummer, M)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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CHARLES CHATMAN,
Plaintiff,

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No. 2:06-cv-2912 LKK EFB P

vs.
TOM FELKER, et al.,
Defendants.

ORDER
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Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in an action brought under 42

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U.S.C. § 1983. The remaining defendants in this action move for summary judgment. Dckt. No.

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77. Plaintiff filed an opposition on November 28, 2012, which the court deemed timely. Dckt.

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Nos. 88, 89. Rather than submit a reply brief, defendants have filed a self-styled “response.”

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Dckt. No. 92. According to defendants, it would be “incredibly time consuming if not

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impossible” to draft a reply to plaintiff’s 217-page opposition “in its current form.” Id. at 2.

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Defendants object that plaintiff has not complied with Local Rule 260(b) by reproducing

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defendants’ undisputed facts along with plaintiff’s response. Defendants would like the court to

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order plaintiff to comply with the rule or to otherwise provide some guidance to defendants.

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Defendants note that their own motion is 236 pages long. Id. While plaintiff may not

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have complied with the letter of Local Rule 260(b), he has complied with its purpose that; i.e.
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that each party identify what facts they rely on and annotate those facts with citation to the

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evidence in support of each fact. Moreover, plaintiff is a pro se litigant. His opposition is well

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organized and not unreasonably long (50 pages of brief, plus exhibits) in light of the number of

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claims and the length of defendants’ motion, and it is not difficult to determine the facts asserted

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by plaintiff or the legal arguments in support of his opposition. Defendants should have

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submitted a timely reply or sought an extension of time if they believed one was necessary.

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Nevertheless, the court will provide defendants another opportunity to file a reply brief.

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Due to the time necessary to allow defendants to file a reply, the court cannot currently rule on

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the summary judgment motion. Therefore, under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(e)(1) and

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(4), to provide defendants this opportunity to address plaintiff’s assertions of fact, the court will

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vacate the motion for summary judgment from the court’s calendar until defendant’s reply, if

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any, is timely filed. This action is purely administrative and the parties need take no further

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action.

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Once defendants have filed a reply or the time for doing so has expired, the undersigned

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will issue findings and recommendations regarding the August 1, 2012 motion for summary

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judgment appearing at Docket No. 77.

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Accordingly, it is hereby ORDERED that:

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1. Defendants shall have 30 days from the date of this order to file a reply to plaintiff’s

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opposition to defendants’ motion for summary judgment.
2. The August 1, 2012 motion for summary judgment (Dckt. No. 77) is administratively

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vacated pending receipt of defendants’ timely reply.

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Dated: March 19, 2013.

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