Balmer Fund, Inc., The et al v. Harper, Kansas, City of

Filing 31

ORDER STAYING DISCOVERY AND TERMINATING PRETRIAL DEADLINES pending resolution of 20 motion for summary judgment. Signed by Magistrate Judge James P. O'Hara on 9/5/2017. (amh)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS
THE BALMER FUND, INC., a Kansas
not-for-profit corporation, and
ROSALEA HOSTETLER,
Plaintiffs,
v.

Case No. 17-1046-EFM

CITY OF HARPER, KANSAS,
Defendant.

ORDER
By informal communication with the court, the parties in this case have jointly
requested a temporary stay of discovery and scheduling-order deadlines pending a ruling on
defendant’s motion for summary judgment (ECF No. 20).
The court may stay discovery if: (1) the case is likely to be finally concluded via a
dispositive motion; (2) the facts sought through discovery would not affect the resolution of
the dispositive motion; or (3) discovery on all issues posed by the complaint would be
wasteful and burdensome.1 The decision whether to stay discovery rests in the sound
discretion of court. As a practical matter, this calls for a case-by-case determination.

1

See Wolf v. United States, 157 F.R.D. 494, 495 (D. Kan. 1994) (citing Kutilek v.
Gannon, 132 F.R.D. 296, 297-98 (D. Kan. 1990)); Lofland v. City of Shawnee, Kan., No. 162183, 2016 WL 5109941, at *1 (D. Kan. Sept. 20, 2016).
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Considering the relevant factors, information provided by the parties, and the briefing
related to the pending dispositive motion, the court agrees with the parties that a brief stay
of all pretrial proceedings is warranted until the court rules the dispositive motion. In
consideration of the foregoing, and upon good cause shown,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:
1.

All deadlines set in the June 2, 2017 scheduling order (ECF No. 16), including

all scheduled hearings, are terminated and will be re-set following the court’s ruling on the
motion for summary judgment.
2.

If this case remains pending in any part after a decision on the motion for

summary judgment, then within 14 days of the decision the parties shall confer and submit
via email to the undersigned’s chambers a status report suggesting new pre-trial deadlines.
Dated September 5, 2017, at Kansas City, Kansas.

s/James P. O’Hara
James P. O'Hara
U.S. Magistrate Judge

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