Garcia v. California Department of Correction & Rehabilitation, et al

Filing 30

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Allison Claire on 06/04/15denying 29 Motion to Appoint Counsel. Plaintiff shall no later than 7/31/15, serve his responses to all outstanding discovery requests. If plaintiff has discovery requests for defendants, he shall serve such requests not later than 06/26/15. The discovery deadline in this action is extended from 07/10/15 to 8/28/15. The dispositive motion deadline is extended from 10/02/15 to 11/20/15. (Plummer, M)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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DANNY R. GARCIA,

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Plaintiff,

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No. 2:13-cv-1952 JAM AC P

v.

ORDER

C/O HEATH, et al.,

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Defendants.

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

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action filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Currently pending is plaintiff’s fifth request for

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appointment of counsel. ECF No. 29. The court denies the instant request for the same reasons

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set forth in the court’s recent prior order that carefully considered plaintiff’s fourth request for

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appointment of counsel. See ECF No. 28. The court again concludes that plaintiff has not

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demonstrated exceptional circumstances warranting the appointment of counsel at this time. See

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ECF No. 28 (April 22, 2015 Order). See also Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir.

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2009) (plaintiff bears burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances).
However, the instant request is distinct from plaintiff’s prior requests insofar as plaintiff

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expresses confusion about how to proceed with ongoing discovery. Plaintiff states in pertinent

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part, ECF No. 29 at 2:

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Respondents counsel has requested interrogatories which seems like
part of the discovery and a request for production of documents,
again it seems that they are ordering me to produce the discovery or
suffer the consequences, but I have not been ordered by the judge to
do so, since I do not know how or when or if I should respond;
(complexity)[.]

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Pursuant to this court’s Discovery and Scheduling Order issued March 24, 2015, ECF No.

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24, the parties are encouraged to participate and cooperate in the discovery process without the

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necessity of further court order or intervention. By commencing this action, plaintiff is obligated

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to timely respond to defendants’ discovery requests. All requests for discovery should have been

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made by May 11, 2015. See id. at 5 (discovery requests to be served no later than 60 days before

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the July 10, 2015 discovery deadline). Discovery responses are to be provided within 45 days

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after service of the requests. Id. at 4.
In the present case, plaintiff must serve defendants with his answers to their

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interrogatories, and provide defendants with copies of the requested documents. The court will

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authorize an extension of time within which plaintiff must serve his discovery responses, and will

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modify the discovery and motion deadlines accordingly.

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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

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1. Plaintiff’s motion for the appointment of counsel, ECF No. 29, is denied without

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prejudice.
2. Plaintiff shall, no later than July 31, 2015, serve his responses to all of defendants’

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outstanding discovery requests.
3. If plaintiff has discovery requests for defendants,1 he shall serve such requests no later

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than June 26, 2015.
4. The discovery deadline in this action is extended from July 10, 2015 to August 28,

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2015.

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Plaintiff’s discovery requests may include the following: (1) requests for admission (yes-or-no
statements of fact) directed to each defendant, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 36; (2) up to twenty-five
interrogatories (questions) directed to each defendant, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 33; and (3) requests for
copies of documents, electronically stored information, or other tangible evidence directed to
each defendant, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 34.
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5. The dispositive motion deadline is extended from October 2, 2015 to November 20,

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2015.

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DATED: June 4, 2015

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