Simmons v. Simmons

Filing 82

ORDER denying 66 Motion for Sanctions - Signed by District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan on 03/15/2012. (Baker, C.)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
WESTERN DIVISION
No. 5:08-CV-00517-FL
GEOFFREY H. SIMMONS, JR.,
Plaintiff,
v.
GEOFFREY H. SIMMONS, and
SIMMONS LAW FIRM,

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ORDER

Defendants.

This matter comes again before the court on plaintiff’s motion for sanctions pursuant to
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b)(2)(A) (DE # 66), filed June 20, 2011. While defendant
Geoffrey H. Simmons (“defendant Simmons”) never responded directly to plaintiff’s motion,
defendant Simmons has twice filed documents at the court’s direction, lodged in the docket at entry
numbers seventy-two and eighty-one, in an effort to avoid sanctions. Plaintiff’s motion is now ripe
for adjudication. For the following reasons, said motion is DENIED.
BACKGROUND
Plaintiff Geoffrey H. Simmons, Jr. (“plaintiff”), a federal inmate, initiated this action on
October 15, 2008, stating in his pro se complaint claims against defendant Simmons for fraud and
malpractice. With leave of court, plaintiff filed amended complaint on March 23, 2011, adding
Simmons Law Firm as a defendant. On April 13, 2011, defendants filed answer to the amended
complaint.
The instant motion relates back in part to plaintiff’s motion to compel, filed December 3,
2010, before Simmons Law Firm was added as a defendant. Plaintiff sought then to compel

defendant Simmons’s responses to plaintiff’s interrogatories, request for admissions, and request
for production of documents. Plaintiff sought also to compel defendant Simmons to provide his
Rule 26(a)(1) initial disclosures.
By order entered March 23, 2011, the court granted plaintiff’s motion to compel.1 Plaintiff
filed the instant motion for sanctions on June 20, 2011, and raised issues therein whether defendant
Simmons had complied with the court’s order compelling his discovery responses. Accordingly,
by order entered October 28, 2011, the court directed defendant Simmons to file the entirety of his
responses in discovery.
On November 16, 2011, defendant Simmons filed his updated interrogatory responses, his
responses to plaintiff’s request for admissions, and his responses to plaintiff’s document requests.
Defendant Simmons did not file, however, his Rule 26(a)(1) initial disclosures. Finally, following
further direction from the court, defendant Simmons filed his Rule 26(a)(1) initial disclosures on
March 12, 2012.
DISCUSSION
Defendant Simmons, through the filing of his Rule 26(a)(1) initial disclosures, has finally
brought himself into compliance with the court’s March 23, 2011 order compelling his discovery
responses. In light of defendant Simmons’s compliance, the court finds unwarranted the issuance
of any sanctions pursuant to Rule 37(b)(2)(A). Accordingly, plaintiff’s motion for sanctions is
denied.

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The court ordered defendant Simmons to: (1) make the disclosures required by Rule 26(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure; (2) submit complete, clear, and sufficient answers to interrogatories ## 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 15; (3) submit
answers to plaintiff’s request for admissions, and (4) produce the documents sought in plaintiff’s request for production
of documents to the extent that said documents were in defendant’s custody or control, and to the extent that said
documents were within the broad scope of discovery pursuant to Rule 26(b).

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The court reminds the parties that by order entered February 13, 2012, it established a
discovery deadline of March 15, 2012, and a dispositive motions deadline of April 15, 2012. Should
the case remain pending after the conclusion of discovery and resolution of any dispositive
motion(s), the court will then issue a separate order setting the trial date and any pre-trial procedures.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, plaintiff’s motion for sanctions (DE # 66) is DENIED.
SO ORDERED, this the 15th day of March, 2012.

_________________________
LOUISE W. FLANAGAN
United States District Judge

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