Hardy v. Rauner et al

Filing 54

ORDER DENYING 7 Motion to Compel. Signed by Magistrate Judge Donald G. Wilkerson on 9/11/2018. (sgp)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
NEDRICK JEFFREY HARDY, SR.,
Plaintiff,
v.
BRUCE RAUNER, et al.,
Defendants.

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)

Case No. 3:17-cv-1354-NJR-DGW

ORDER
WILKERSON, Magistrate Judge:
Now pending before the Court is the Motion to Compel filed by Plaintiff on January 11,
2018 (Doc. 7). The motion is DENIED.
Plaintiff claims that a paralegal at the prison where he is housed, Particia B. Stewart, is
preventing him from researching matters in the law library and filing documents with the Court.
He asserts that he was unable to file a motion related to this complaint in December, 2017 because
Ms. Stewart represented to others that he was represented by counsel in this case (which he is not).
He states his unit is only allowed to attend law library one day a week, on Tuesday, which Ms.
Stewart has prevented on one occasion. Plaintiff further claims that he should not be compelled
to provide his “privileged legal communications” to the Court to any person employed by the
prison as they are confidential.
The Court does not manage the prison’s law library. Documents sent to the Court are not
“privileged” and are in fact public documents that are not confidential. Ms. Stewart is not a party
to this lawsuit. Finally, this motion was filed prior to Defendants being served. As such, there
were no motions or documents filed by Defendant for which a response was required.
Therefore, Plaintiff’s motion has no merit.
Page 1 of 2

However, in the future, to the extent that Plaintiff believes that a document he has
submitted to the Court has not been filed, he may file a motion for leave to file the document and
attach the missing document (whether it is a motion or response to a motion or other document).
To the extent that Plaintiff believes that he has not had sufficient time to respond to a motion, he
may file a motion for extension of time.
DATED: September 11, 2018

DONALD G. WILKERSON
United States Magistrate Judge

Page 2 of 2