Jones v. PVHA/SIMS-Savannah Commons, LLC et al

Filing 61

ORDER DENYING 55 Motion to Stay. Signed by Magistrate Judge Christopher L. Ray on 2/17/2021. (JH)

Case 4:20-cv-00007-RSB-CLR Document 61 Filed 02/17/21 Page 1 of 2

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
VINCENT JONES,

)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
v.
)
)
THRIVE SENIOR LIVING, LLC
)
and JOYCE CROWDER MCBRIDE, )
)
Defendants.
)

CV420-007

ORDER
Before the Court is defendants’ motion to stay discovery pending the
disposition of defendants’ pending motion to dismiss. Doc. 55. The Court
has discretion to stay discovery pending resolution of a motion, Fed. R.
Civ. P. 26(c), but when doing so, must take a “preliminary peek” at the
merits of a dispositive motion to see if it “appears to be clearly meritorious
and truly case dispositive.” Feldman v. Flood, 176 F.R.D. 651, 652–53
(M.D. Fla. 1997). “[A] request to stay discovery pending a resolution of a
motion is rarely appropriate unless resolution of the motion will dispose
of the entire case.” CSX Transp., Inc. v. United States, 2014 WL 11429178,
at * 1 (S.D. Ga. May 30, 2014) (citing Feldman, 176 F.R.D. at 652). Here,
defendants concede that their motion “would not be dispositive of the

Case 4:20-cv-00007-RSB-CLR Document 61 Filed 02/17/21 Page 2 of 2

entire case” as it would resolve only claims I and II, but argue that the
stay is appropriate as the granting of the motion to dismiss would obviate
the need for “approximately 50% of the discovery needed to properly
defend this matter.” Doc. 55-1 at 3–4. This Court has, on occasion,
permitted stays when success on a dispositive motion might narrow the
scope of discovery. See United States ex rel. Jolie Johnson v. Spanish Oaks
Hospice, Inc., No. CV415-143, doc. 47 (S.D. Ga. July 19, 2017). Based on
that preliminary peek of its merits, however, the motion to dismiss is not
so obviously meritorious as to warrant a stay. Therefore, the motion to
stay discovery is DENIED. Doc. 55.
SO ORDERED, this 17th day of February, 2021.

_______________________________
___________________________
__
__
_
_ __ __
_
CHRISTOPHER L. RAY
C R TOP
CHRISTOPHER
Y
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
STATES MAGISTR
T
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA