Carr v. Hoover et al

Filing 111

ORDER REQUIRING AUTHENTICATION OF DOCUMENTS. Signed by District Judge Michael P. Mills on 7/17/18. (cr)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI
GREENVILLE DIVISION
GREGORY PAUL CARR
v.

PLAINTIFF
No. 4:16CV88-MPM-DAS

OFFICER LLOYD HOOVER
CHIEF FREDDIE CANNON
MAYOR JOHN COX

DEFENDANTS

ORDER REQUIRING AUTHENTICATION
OF DOCUMENTS
On May 15, 2018, the court issued an order setting a schedule for additional briefing on the
defendant’s motion for summary judgment. The defendant has submitted additional briefing, but the
plaintiff has not. In the order setting a briefing schedule, the court stated:
Unfortunately, none of the documents submitted by either party qualify as competent
evidence the court may consider on summary judgment, as neither was accompanied
by a sworn statement that the documents were true and correct copies, and none
appear to be self-authenticating.
ECF Doc. 102 at 6. In his brief, the defendant included an affidavit, in which he authenticated his
narrative on pages 3-4 of the Incident Report included with his motion for summary judgment. Thus,
the defendant has authenticated only two pages of the 60+ pages of exhibits attached to the motion.
The court believed that the order setting a briefing schedule made clear that both the plaintiff and
defendant were to brief the sole remaining issue, as set forth in the order, and to authenticate the
documents already presented. This case is set for a jury trial on August 13, 2018, a little less than a
month from now. Rule 56 makes clear that, if the movant meets all the criteria, then the court must
grant summary judgment. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). In addition, under Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(f), a court
may “grant summary judgment on grounds not raised by a party,” after providing the parties notice
and a reasonable time to respond. The court provided such notice in this case.

The court believes that the documents provided by the plaintiff and the defendant, if
authenticated, are sufficient for the court to make a reasoned decision in this case. However, even
after the order requiring additional briefing, only two pages of the numerous documents at the court’s
disposal have been authenticated.
Thus, within 7 days of the date of this order, the parties must authenticate the documents
already submitted in previous summary judgment briefing.
SO ORDERED, this, the 17th day of July, 2018.

/s/ MICHAEL P. MILLS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE NORTHERN
DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI