Thomas v. Kaul et al.
Filing
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ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan on 6/28/2018 DENYING as moot 31 Motion to Compel. (Henshaw, R)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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CLIFFORD BRENT THOMAS,
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No. 2:16-cv-2784-JAM-EFB P
Plaintiff,
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v.
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K. KAUR, et al.,
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ORDER
Defendants.
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Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in an action brought under 42 U.S.C.
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§ 1983, has filed a motion to compel (ECF No. 31) which seeks the production of a drug test
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conducted at San Joaquin General Hospital on October 21, 2015. Defendants have filed an
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opposition wherein they state that: (1) plaintiff’s discovery requests failed to identify this
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document with sufficient specificity; and (2) they have already provided the document in
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question. ECF No. 34. The court credits the second argument and denies the motion on that
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basis.
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I.
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Legal Standards
Parties are obligated to respond to interrogatories to the fullest extent possible under oath,
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Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(b)(3), and any objections must be stated with specificity, Fed. R. Civ. P.
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33(b)(4); Davis v. Fendler, 650 F.2d 1154, 1160 (9th Cir. 1981) (“objections should be plain
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enough and specific enough so that the court can understand in what way the interrogatories are
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alleged to be objectionable”). A responding party is typically not required to conduct extensive
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research in order to answer an interrogatory, but reasonable efforts to respond must be
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undertaken. L.H. v. Schwarzenegger, No. S-06-2042 LKK GGH, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73752,
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2007 WL 2781132, *2 (E.D. Cal. Sep. 21, 2007). Further, the responding party has a duty to
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supplement any responses if the information sought is later obtained or the response provided
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needs correction. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(e)(1)(A).
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II.
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Analysis
Plaintiff’s motion to compel is limited to a single document – a drug test conducted in
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October of 2015 at San Joaquin General Hospital. Defendants have attached a copy of that
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document to their opposition (ECF No. 34-4 at 2-3) and their counsel has filed a declaration
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stating that this document was sent to plaintiff (ECF No. 34-1 at 1-2). Plaintiff has not filed a
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reply disputing either the relevance of the provided document or the contention that it was sent to
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him. Accordingly, the court finds that there is no longer any material dispute between the parties
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as to this issue.
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III.
Conclusion
Based on the foregoing, plaintiff’s motion to compel (ECF No. 31) is DENIED as moot.
DATED: June 28, 2018.
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