Barkley v. California Correctional Health Care Services, et al.

Filing 60

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Carolyn K. Delaney on 4/26/2018 DENYING without prejudice 53 Motion to Modify the Discovery and Scheduling Order. (Henshaw, R)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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JERMAINE BARKLEY,

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No. 2:16-cv-01386 KJM CKD P

Plaintiff,

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v.

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C. SMITH, et al.,

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ORDER

Defendants.

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Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with this civil rights action filed pursuant to

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42 U.S.C. § 1983. Currently pending before the court is defendant Pettersen’s motion to modify

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the discovery and scheduling order. ECF No. 53. The two remaining defendants, C. Smith and

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W. Vaughn, along with G. Pettersen, also recently filed a joint motion for summary judgment.

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ECF No. 57. Plaintiff has not filed any opposition to defendant Pettersen’s motion to modify the

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scheduling order in this case. For the reasons explained below, the court will deny defendant

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Pettersen’s motion to modify the discovery and scheduling order without prejudice.

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I.

Background

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This case is proceeding on the Eighth Amendment deliberate indifference claims against

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defendants Dr. Smith, Dr. Vaughn, and Dr. Pettersen who were employed at Mule Creek State

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Prison where plaintiff is incarcerated. Defendants Smith and Vaughn were served and filed their

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answer on November 1, 2016. See ECF No. 16. After further efforts were made to obtain an
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address for serving defendant Pettersen, the court issued a discovery and scheduling order on

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March 6, 2017. See ECF No. 26. Based on plaintiff’s motion, the discovery deadline was

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extended until October 13, 2017. See ECF No. 30. By order of September 29, 2017, the court

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once again extended the discovery deadline to January 12, 2018 and re-set the dispositive motions

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deadline to April 12, 2018. See ECF No. 40. Defendant Pettersen was subsequently served and

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filed an answer on February 5, 2018. ECF No. 52.

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II.

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In his motion to modify the current discovery and scheduling order, defendant Pettersen

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Motion to Modify the Discovery and Scheduling Order

points out that the discovery period had closed before he filed his answer. ECF No. 53 at 1. As a

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result, he “has not had an opportunity to conduct discovery in this matter and therefore cannot

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prepare an adequate defense to Plaintiff’s claims.” Id. However, before the court could rule on

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the pending motion to modify the scheduling order, defendant Pettersen, along with the remaining

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two defendants, filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that “there are no triable issues of

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fact to support a finding that Defendants were deliberately indifferent to Plaintiff’s medical

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needs….” ECF No. 57 at 1.

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III.

Analysis

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A party requesting a modification of the scheduling order must establish good cause for any

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amendment. Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(2). The good cause standard of Rule 16(b) focuses primarily

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on the reasons for seeking modification. See C.F. ex rel. Farnan v. Capistrano Unified Sch. Dist.,

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654 F.3d 975, 984 (9th Cir. 2011).

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While defendant Pettersen has demonstrated good cause based on his lack of discovery, the

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motion to modify the scheduling order governing this case is mooted by his pending motion for

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summary judgment. ECF No. 57. If the motion for summary judgment is granted with respect to

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defendant Pettersen then there will be no need to engage in further discovery or to modify the

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scheduling order. Therefore, in the interests of judicial economy, the court will deny the motion

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to modify the discovery and scheduling order without prejudice.

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/////

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Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that defendant Pettersen’s motion to modify the

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discovery and scheduling order, ECF No. 53, is denied without prejudice.

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Dated: April 26, 2018

_____________________________________
CAROLYN K. DELANEY
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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12/bark1386.motion2modifyDSO.docx

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