Hammitt v. Butte County Jail et al.
Filing
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ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman on 11/14/2017 DENYING plaintiff's 31 motion to compel and plaintiff's 35 request for an order directing defendants to respond to his interrogatories. (Yin, K)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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THOMAS FRANKLIN HAMMITT,
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No. 2: 16-cv-2644 KJN P
Plaintiff,
v.
ORDER
BUTTE COUNTY JAIL, 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. On October 2, 2017, the undersigned issued an order addressing plaintiff’s
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motions for extensions of time to conduct discovery. (ECF No. 30.) In particular, the
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undersigned granted plaintiff thirty days to file a motion to compel. (Id.) The undersigned
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denied plaintiff’s request for an extension of time to serve new discovery requests. (Id.) Pending
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before the court is plaintiff’s motion to compel. (ECF No. 31.)
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In the motion to compel, plaintiff alleges that defendants failed to provide him with the
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following documents: 1) a copy of the Butte County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Divisions
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Operations Manual (request no. 1); and 2) a copy of the California Forensic Medical Group (aka
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“CFMG”) 2016 Policy and Procedure Manual (request no. 2). (Id.)
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In the October 2, 2017 order, the undersigned addressed the documents sought in request
no. 2. In particular, the undersigned ordered defendants to provide plaintiff with the 2016
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Policies and Procedures regarding medical services. (ECF No. 30 at 3.) On October 30, 2017,
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plaintiff filed a notice stating that he had received this document. (ECF No. 34.) Accordingly,
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the motion to compel is deemed resolved as to request no. 2.
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With respect to request no. 1, in the opposition to the pending motion, defendants state
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that plaintiff did not request the documents described in this request. Defendants have provided a
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copy of plaintiff’s request for production of documents. (ECF No. 33-1.) In the request for
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production of documents, plaintiff requested the entire Butte County Sheriff’s Officer Department
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Operations Manual. (Id. at 1.) Defendants state that in response to this request, they informed
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plaintiff that no such document existed as set forth in the request. (ECF No. 33-2 at 3.)
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Defendants also responded that if plaintiff was seeking all Butte County Sheriff’s Office
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Department Orders, defendants objected on the grounds of undue burden and privilege. (Id.)
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Plaintiff may not amend his discovery requests in a motion to compel. However, in both
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descriptions of request no. 1, plaintiff clearly seeks a manual for Butte County Sheriff’s Officers.
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Defendants have represented that no such document exists. The undersigned cannot order
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defendants to produce a document that does not exist.
To the extent plaintiff seeks all Butte County Sheriff’s Department Orders, the
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undersigned agrees with defendants that such a request is unduly burdensome and overbroad. In
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the instant action, plaintiff alleges that he was denied adequate mental health treatment while
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housed at the Butte County Jail. (ECF No. 20.) Clearly, not every Butte County Sheriff’s
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Department Order is relevant to this claim, or would lead to relevant information.
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Finally, on November 8, 2017, plaintiff filed a letter with the court stating that on October
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20, 2017, he served defendants with interrogatories. (ECF No. 35.) Plaintiff alleges that
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defendants informed him that they would not respond to his interrogatories because they were
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untimely. (Id.) Plaintiff requests that the court order defendants to respond to his interrogatories.
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(Id.)
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As discussed above, the court denied plaintiff’s request to serve defendants with new
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discovery requests. (See ECF No. 30.) Accordingly, the undersigned will not order defendants to
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respond to the interrogatories served on October 20, 2017, because they are untimely.
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Accordingly, for the reasons discussed above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
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1. Plaintiff’s motion to compel (ECF No. 31) is denied;
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2. Plaintiff’s request for an order directing defendants to respond to his interrogatories
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(ECF No. 35) is denied.
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Dated: November 14, 2017
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Ham2644.com
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