Reece v. Sisto et al

Filing 84

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan on 1/17/17 ordering plaintiff's motion requesting that defendants be sanctioned for denying him a copy of his deposition transcript 76 is denied. Plaintiff's motion to compel further responses to his request for production of documents 77 is denied. (Plummer, M)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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CHARLES G. REECE,

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No. 2:10-cv-0203-JAM-EFB P

Plaintiff,
v.

ORDER

D.K. SISTO, et al.,
Defendants.

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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. He has filed a motion requesting that defendants be sanctioned for denying him a

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copy of his deposition transcript and a motion to compel further responses to his requests for

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production of documents. For the reasons that follow, the motions are denied.

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Plaintiff claims that “[d]efendants have knowingly violated the discovery rules and

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Plaintiff[’s] rights by denying him a copy of the [deposition transcript].” See ECF No. 76 at 2.

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Defendants, however, are not obligated to provide plaintiff with a free copy of the deposition

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transcript. Pursuant to Rule 30 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, plaintiff must first pay for

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a copy of the deposition transcript, and then obtain it from the officer before whom the deposition

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was taken. Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(f)(3). Although plaintiff is proceeding in forma pauperis pursuant

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to 28 U.S.C. § 1915, that statute does not authorize the expenditure of public funds for deposition

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transcripts. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915; Tedder v. Odel, 890 F.2d 210, 211-12 (9th Cir. 1989) (per
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curiam) (“‘[T]he expenditure of public funds [on behalf of an indigent litigant] is proper only

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when authorized by Congress’”) (alteration in original) (quoting United States v. MacCollom, 426

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U.S. 317, 321 (1976)). If plaintiff wishes to obtain a copy of his deposition transcript, he must

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follow the steps outlined in Rule 30. Because plaintiff fails to demonstrate any basis for sanctions

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against defendants, the motion is denied.

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Plaintiff also moves to compel further responses to all of his requests for production of

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documents, arguing generally, that defendants “failed to provide any of the requested documents

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[and] repeatedly stated they would not provide any documents.” ECF No. 77 at 2. Defendants

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opposed the motion. ECF No. 78. Plaintiff did not file a reply.

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As the moving party, plaintiff bears the burden of informing the court of (1) which

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discovery requests are the subject of his motion to compel, (2) which of defendants’ responses are

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disputed, (3) why he believes defendants’ responses are deficient, (4) why defendants’ objections

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are not justified, and (5) why the information he seeks through discovery is relevant to the

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

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U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9568, (E.D. Cal. Feb. 10, 2009) (“Without knowing which responses plaintiff

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seeks to compel or on what grounds, the court cannot grant plaintiff’s motion”); Ellis v. Cambra,

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No. CIV 02-05646-AWI-SMS PC, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109050 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 27, 2008)

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(“Plaintiff must inform the court which discovery requests are the subject of his motion to

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compel, and, for each disputed response, inform the court why the information sought is relevant

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and why Defendant's objections are not justified.”).

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Plaintiff served each defendant with 24 requests for production of documents. ECF No.

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77 at 90-103, 117-131. As to each request, defendants provided a response or an objection. Id.

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Plaintiff moves to compel further responses to every one of his requests without explaining why

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any particular response is deficient or why any objection lacks merit. Plaintiff thus fails to carry

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his burden on his motion to compel. Moreover, the court has reviewed defendants’ responses and

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notes that the objections asserted are not boilerplate, but rather, tailored to the specific

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deficiencies in each request. For example, plaintiff repeatedly sought documents that would

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support various contentions of the defendants. Defendants’ responses explained that they had
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never made the stated contentions and appropriately objected to those requests as argumentative.

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Other requests required responsive documents only if defendants had not made an “unqualified

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admission” in response to a specific request for admission. Where defendants had admitted the

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request at issue, they properly responded to the requests for production as inapplicable. There is

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also nothing facially deficient about defendants’ objections to other requests as equally available

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to plaintiff, overbroad, vague, ambiguous, and unintelligible. Plaintiff’s motion fails to explain

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why any of these objections is not justified or to clarify his requests in ways that would allow

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defendants to respond.

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In response to other requests, defendants stated that they could not provide the requested

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documents because the documents described do not exist. In contending that defendants “do not

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say they don’t have [the requested documents], they just refused to provide them,” plaintiff

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misstates the record. ECF No. 77 at 3.

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Defendants also responded to numerous requests by agreeing to produce certain

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photographs for plaintiff to view, but declining to produce the photographs for plaintiff to

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possess, citing “security reasons.” Plaintiff has not shown that his ability to view, but not keep,

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copies of the photos prevents him from prosecuting his case. Whether viewing the photos might

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provide further information on that question remains to be seen. But he has failed to establish a

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need to keep copies that outweighs the security issues raised by defendants if such photos were to

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remain in an inmate’s possession. Plaintiff does point out that the photographs referenced by

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defendants were previously provided to him and made part of the record in this case when

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defendants submitted them with a motion to dismiss in 2015. ECF No. 77 at 5; see also ECF No.

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60-4. However, plaintiff also states, without elaboration, that the photographs “are not what he is

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seeking” in response to his document requests. ECF No. 77 at 5. Thus, while plaintiff effectively

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undermines any purported security concerns with respect to the previously filed photographs, he

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nevertheless fails to show that any further responses should be compelled. Rather, his statement

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that he is not seeking copies of the photos that were previously submitted with a motion to

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dismiss indicates that he is attempting to obtain copies of other photos that, according to the

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defendants, would raise security concerns if plaintiff were allowed to keep them. Thus, he simply
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has not demonstrated a need for copies of specific photographs or that such need outweighs the

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security concerns raised by defendants.

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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
1. Plaintiff’s motion requesting that defendants be sanctioned for denying him a copy of his
deposition transcript (ECF No. 76) is denied.
2. Plaintiff’s motion to compel further responses to his requests for production of documents
(ECF No. 77) is denied.
DATED: January 17, 2017.

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