Williams v. Agredano, et al.

Filing 25

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman on 05/20/16 granting 24 Motion to Compel. Plaintiff is ordered to attend her deposition. (Plummer, M)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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LONNIE WILLIAMS,

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No. 2: 15-cv-1767 JAM KJN P

Plaintiff,
v.

ORDER

R. AGREDANO, et al.,
Defendants.

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Plaintiff is a state prisoner, proceeding without counsel, with a civil rights action pursuant

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to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending before the court is defendants’ motion to compel plaintiff’s

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attendance at her deposition. (ECF. No. 24.) Plaintiff has not opposed this motion. For the

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following reasons, defendant’ motion to compel is granted.

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Pursuant to Rule 37(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a party propounding

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discovery or taking a deposition may seek an order compelling responses when an opposing party

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has failed to respond or has provided evasive or incomplete responses. According to defendants,

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on March 8, 2016, they served plaintiff with a notice of deposition, which included a request for

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production of documents. (ECF No. 24-2 at 16-19.) The deposition was scheduled for April 7,

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2016, at 9:00 a.m., at California State Prison-Sacramento (“CSP-Sac”). (Id.)

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At no time prior to April 7, 2016, did defendants receive any objection to the notice of
deposition, or any communication from plaintiff, in which she indicated that she could not attend
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the deposition on April 7, 2016. (Id. at 2.) On April 7, 2016, defense counsel traveled to CSP-

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Sac, and was escorted to the room in which the deposition was to take place. (Id.) At about 9:00

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a.m., Officer Enriquez informed defense counsel that an officer had gone to plaintiff’s cell to

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escort her to the deposition, but that plaintiff refused to come out of her cell. (Id.)

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Because this is the first instance in which plaintiff has refused or otherwise failed to attend

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her deposition, defendants do not seek sanctions at this time. Defendants state that if plaintiff

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fails to attend her deposition a second time, following issuance of a court order, defendants

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reserve the right to seek sanctions.

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Defendants have demonstrated that plaintiff failed to attend her deposition without good

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cause. Accordingly, defendants’ motion to compel is granted. Plaintiff is ordered to attend her

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deposition. If plaintiff again refuses to attend her deposition, she will be subject to sanctions

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including monetary sanctions and/or the dismissal of this action.

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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

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1. Defendants’ motion to compel (ECF No. 24) is granted;

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2. Plaintiff is ordered to attend her deposition.

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Dated: May 20, 2016

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