Coreno v. Gamboa et al

Filing 16

ORDER (SI, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 4/13/2011)

1
2
3
4
5

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

6

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

7
8

JOSEPH CORENO,

9

Plaintiff,

United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

10
11
12

No. C 10-2372 SI (pr)
ORDER

v.
Dr. LAWRENCE GAMBOA;
Dr. SEPULVEDA, C.M.O.,
Defendants.

13

/

14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

A.

Plaintiff's Miscellaneous Requests
Plaintiff requested a copy of the court's local rules and information about how the

defendants would be served. (Docket # 14.) The court's local rules should be available in his
prison's law library. The U.S. Marshal served process on the defendants, and both defendants
have appeared in this action, so there are no service of process problems.
Plaintiff also requested "motion for counsel" forms. (Docket # 15.) There is no form for
such a motion. A plaintiff who seeks appointment of counsel may do so by writing out his own
motion, explaining in it why counsel should be appointed for him. Plaintiff is cautioned that in
such a motion (and in any other filing for this case), he should include the case caption and case
number on the first page of every document, and clearly identify what the document is; sending
letters to the judge or the court clerk is not the best way to have things considered in his case.

1

In the same document requesting "motion for counsel" forms, plaintiff also requested ten

2

deposition subpoenas and information about deposition costs. (Docket # 15.) The clerk will

3

send ten blank subpoenas to plaintiff for him to fill out completely and return to the court for the

4

subpoenas to be issued by the clerk and returned to plaintiff for service. The cost for a

5

deposition is the cost of a court reporter (for which plaintiff must make arrangements and pay),

6

plus a witness fee of $40.00 per day plus actual transportation expenses. See 28 U.S.C. § 1821.

7

The court does not waive the fees, and plaintiff must pay them himself or have someone pay

8

them on his behalf.
Due to the cost of conducting depositions, many pauper litigants find it easier to try to

10
United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

9

obtain discovery through several other discovery methods available under the Federal Rules of

11

Civil Procedure. Some examples: if plaintiff wants written responses from a defendant, he can

12

send a set of interrogatories (Rule 33); if he only wants one-word answers (i.e., admission or

13

denial) from a defendant, he can send a request for admissions (Rule 36); if he wants documents

14

from a defendant, he can send a request for production of documents (Rule 34); if he wants to

15

ask questions in person, he can conduct an oral deposition of a party (Rule 30); and if he wants

16

testimony or documents from a non-party, he can subpoena them for a deposition (Rules 30, 45).

17

(Of course, plaintiff must pay for copying charges for documents produced if he wants copies,

18

and must pay witness fees and other expenses related to depositions and service of subpoenas.)

19

Those are the basic discovery tools available to a litigant. The court generally is not involved

20

in the discovery process and only becomes involved when there is a dispute between the parties

21

about discovery responses. Discovery requests and responses normally are exchanged between

22

the parties without any copy sent to the court. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 5(d) (listing discovery

23

requests and responses that "must not" be filed with the court until they are used in the

24

proceeding or the court orders otherwise).

25

/ /

/

26

/ /

/

27
28
2

1
2

B.

Defendants' Request For Extension Of Deadline

3

Defendants filed an ex parte request for an extension of time to file a dispositive motion.

4

Upon due consideration of the request and the accompanying declaration of attorney Matthew

5

M. Grigg, the court GRANTS the request. (Docket # 13.) The court now sets the following new

6

briefing schedule for dispositive motions:

7

1.

Defendants must file and serve their dispositive motion no later than July 1, 2011.

8

2.

Plaintiff must file and serve on defense counsel his opposition to the dispositive

9

motion no later than August 5, 2011.

United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

10
11
12
13

3.

Defendants must file and serve their reply brief (if any) no later than August 26,

2011.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: April 13, 2011

_______________________
SUSAN ILLSTON
United States District Judge

14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
3