Bridges v. Hubbard et al

Filing 82

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Dale A. Drozd on 05/24/12. ORDERING that plaintiff's 78 Motion to Compel is DENIED. (Benson, A.)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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WILLIE BRIDGES,

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Plaintiff,

No. CIV S-09-0940 GEB DAD P

vs.
SUZAN L. HUBBARD, et al.,
Defendants.

ORDER
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Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action seeking
relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending before the court is plaintiff’s motion to compel.
PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL
In his motion to compel, plaintiff seeks a court order compelling defendants to

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respond to his request for production of documents and to fully answer his propounded requests

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for admission and interrogatories. In plaintiff’s view, all of his discovery requests are relevant to

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the claims he has presented in this action. (Pl.’s Mot. to Compel. at 1-3, Exs. A-C.)

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In opposition to plaintiff’s motion to compel, defense counsel argues that

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defendants never received any request for production of documents from plaintiff. In addition,

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counsel argues that the defendants properly objected to plaintiff’s requests for admission because

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they were unintelligible and unanswerable as worded. Defense counsel contends that she
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referred plaintiff to the appropriate Federal Rule of Civil Procedure so that he could reformat his

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discovery requests in a way that would allow defendants to respond to them, but plaintiff made

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no attempt to cure the noted defects. Finally, counsel contends that plaintiff’s interrogatories

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were based on defendants’ responses to the requests for admission. Because defendants objected

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to each of plaintiff’s requests for admission, they could not properly respond to any of plaintiff’s

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interrogatories. (Defs.’ Opp’n to Pl.’s Mot. to Compel at 2-4.)

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DISCUSSION
Under Rule 26 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, “[p]arties may obtain
discovery regarding any non-privileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense.”

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Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b). Under Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the court may

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order a party to provide further responses to “an evasive or incomplete disclosure, answer, or

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response.” See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(3).

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As to plaintiff’s request for production of documents, the court will not order

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defendants to provide responses to these discovery requests. In the pending motion, plaintiff

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claims that he gave his discovery requests to one Correctional Officer Emich on September 11,

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2011, but he never received defendants’ responses to them. Meanwhile, defense counsel

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maintains that the defendants never received any request for production of documents from

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plaintiff. Although plaintiff has attached a copy of his request for production of documents to his

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motion to compel, his request for production of documents does not contain a proof of service

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indicating that he served the discovery requests on the defendants. Nor has plaintiff verified his

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motion to compel or submitted any independent evidence such as a signed declaration

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establishing that he properly served defendants with his request for production of documents.

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Because plaintiff has failed to demonstrate that he properly served defendants with his discovery

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requests, the court has no basis on which to grant this aspect of his motion to compel. See, e.g.,

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Palmer v. Crotty, No 1:07-CV-0148-LJO-DLB PC, 2010 WL 4279423 at *1 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 22,

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2010) (denying motion to compel because plaintiff failed to submit any evidence that he served
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discovery requests on defendant); Rider v. Yates, No. 1:07-cv-01516-SMS PC, 2010 WL 492697

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at *1 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 5, 2010) (burden is on the moving party to provide the court with

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information necessary to make a ruling, including proof of service for discovery requests

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particularly when defendants contend they were not properly served).

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Turning to plaintiff’s requests for admission and interrogatories, as an initial

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matter plaintiff’s motion to compel with respect to these discovery requests is inadequate. The

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court does not hold litigants proceeding pro se to the same standards that it holds attorneys.

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However, at a minimum, as the moving party plaintiff has the burden of informing the court why

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he believes the defendants’ responses are deficient, why the defendants’ objections are not

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justified, and why the information he seeks through discovery is relevant to the prosecution of

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this action. See, e.g., Brooks v. Alameida, No. CIV S-03-2343 JAM EFB P, 2009 WL 331358

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at *2 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 10, 2009) (“Without knowing which responses plaintiff seeks to compel or

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on what grounds, the court cannot grant plaintiff’s motion.”); Ellis v. Cambra, No. CIV F-02-

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5646 AWI SMS PC, 2008 WL 860523 at *4 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 27, 2008) (“Plaintiff must inform

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the court which discovery requests are the subject of his motion to compel, and, for each disputed

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response, inform the court why the information sought is relevant and why Defendant’s

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objections are not justified.”).

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Here, plaintiff has provided no specific arguments in support of his motion to

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compel and is essentially asking the court to make his arguments for him. The court will not

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examine each of plaintiff’s discovery requests and each of the defendants’ responses thereto in

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order to determine whether any of the defendants’ responses are somehow deficient. It was

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plaintiff’s burden to describe why the defendants’ particular responses were inadequate. See,

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e.g., Williams v. Flint, No. CIV S 06-1238 FCD GGH P, 2007 WL 2274520 at *1 (E.D. Cal.

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Aug. 6, 2007) (“It is plaintiff’s burden to describe why a particular response is inadequate. It is

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not enough to generally argue that all responses are incomplete.”).

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/////
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Moreover, the court has conducted a cursory review of plaintiff’s requests for

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admission, and defendants’ objections appear to be well taken. Specifically, plaintiff’s requests

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for admission are not properly formatted because the vast majority of them ask defendants

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questions that do not permit them to fairly admit or deny the requests for admission. For

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example, in his discovery requests to defendant Marquez, in Request for Admission No. 2,

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plaintiff asks “Before January 31, 2005, how many time[s] have you served as Lead investigator

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as LEIU agent?” Similarly, in Request for Admission No. 5, plaintiff asks “At ‘HDSP’ from

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January 30, 2005, to March 30, 2005, [h]ow many Black inmates were personally interviewed by

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you?” Likewise, in Request for Admission No. 17, plaintiff asks “How many alleged

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conspirators were documented in CDCR-1030 disclosure form dated February 25, 2005, as taken

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a VCSA examination?” Plaintiff asks the other defendants similar questions in his requests for

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admission propounded to them. Plaintiff’s interrogatories ask defendants to answer questions

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based on their responses to his requests for admission. Because plaintiff has failed to adequately

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support his motion to compel and because defendants’ objections based on plaintiff’s failure to

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comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 36 appear to be well taken, the court has no basis

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on which to grant this aspect of plaintiff’s motion to compel.

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CONCLUSION

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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff’s motion to compel (Doc.

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No. 78) is denied.

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DATED: May 24, 2012.

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DAD:9
brid0940.mtc

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