QAYUMI v. DUKE UNIVERSITY
Filing
64
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER signed by JUDGE CATHERINE C. EAGLES on 12/28/2017, that: 1. The plaintiff's motion for an extension of time to complete discovery, Doc. 53 , is DENIED. 2. The motion at Doc. 63 is GRANTED. 3. The notices of deposition at Docs. 62 -1 62 -7 are QUASHED. (Garland, Leah)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
ARIANA QAYUMI,
Plaintiff,
v.
DUKE UNIVERSITY,
Defendant.
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1:16-CV-1038
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Catherine C. Eagles, District Judge.
This matter is before the Court on the plaintiff’s motion for an extension of time to
complete discovery. Doc. 53. On December 14, 2017, the Magistrate Judge entered a
text order granting the plaintiff’s motion for extension. The defendant Duke University
objects to the Magistrate Judge’s order. Doc. 56. Because the plaintiff has not shown
good cause for the extension of the discovery period and has not acted with due diligence,
the motion will be denied.
This case was filed in state court and removed to this court in August 2016. See
Doc. 1. On January 18, 2017, the Court entered the Rule 16 Scheduling Order. Doc. 32.
Discovery thus began on January 18, 2017, and was scheduled to end on October 18,
2017. Id. This nine-month discovery period, which was agreed-upon by the parties, Doc.
31, is the longest contemplated by the Local Rules. See LR 26.1. By notice filed April
17, 2017, the case was set for trial during the July 2018 Civil term of court. Doc. 36.
After Duke filed a Motion to Compel Discovery in August, Doc. 37, and a Motion
to Exclude Expert Opinion Testimony, Doc. 39, the Court extended the discovery period
until November 30, 2017. Text Order, Sept. 18, 2017. As part of that Order, the Court
“emphasize[d] the importance of adhering and complying with the discovery schedule
and other deadlines set by this Court.” Id.
On the day the discovery period was scheduled to close, the plaintiff moved to
extend the discovery period for two months. See Doc. 53. The plaintiff asserted she
needed more time to produce documents in the custody of third parties and “additional
time to conduct additional discovery relating to the roughly 10,500 pages of documents
Defendant produced in response to Plaintiff’s requests” to produce documents. Id. at ¶ 6.
The plaintiff asserted she would use this time to “streamline the issues, clarify the factual
disputes, and ensure that she is able to present authenticated, admissible evidence to
defend the motion for summary judgment that Defendant intends to file.” Id. at ¶ 7.
In general, a scheduling order may be modified only for good cause and with the
judge's consent. Fed. R. Civ. P. 16(b)(4). Good cause generally requires the exercise of
reasonable diligence by the party seeking the modification. See Belcher v. W.C. English
Inc., 125 F. Supp. 3d 544, 549 (M.D.N.C. 2015); 3 James Wm. Moore et al., Moore's
Federal Practice § 16.14[1][a], at 16-75 (3d ed. 2016)(stating that “the party seeking an
extension must show that, despite due diligence, it could not have reasonably met the
scheduled deadlines.”); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 16 advisory committee's note, 1983
Amendment, Discussion, Subdivision (b) (“[T]he court may modify the schedule on a
showing of good cause if it cannot reasonably be met despite the diligence of the party
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seeking the extension.”); LR 26.1(d) (providing that motions seeking to extend discovery
period “must set forth good cause justifying the additional time and will be granted or
approved only upon a showing that the parties have diligently pursued discovery”).
The plaintiff has identified nothing which would support a finding that she acted
with diligence during the discovery period. While she asserts in conclusory fashion that
her efforts in pursuing discovery have been “extensive and exhaustive,” Doc. 62 at 2, she
fails to identify any such discovery. She does not dispute defense contentions, Doc. 56 at
2, that she:
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served no interrogatories or requests to admit during the discovery period;
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did not notice any depositions during the discovery period;
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waited until late August 2017 – some seven months after the discovery
period began and less than two months before the end of discovery, as then
scheduled – to serve requests to produce documents;
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received the bulk of Duke’s document production on October 9, with the
remainder served on October 26;
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did not then seek to depose any witnesses about the documents, nor did she
serve any Requests to Admit to authenticate any of the documents; and
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waited for over a month after the last of these documents were produced to
seek an extension of time to complete discovery.
In her motion, the plaintiff did not identify what specific discovery she needed from
Duke, nor did she explain why she had been unable to obtain it during the discovery
period. While she has since noticed the deposition of seven witnesses, see Docs. 62-1 –
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62-7, she has yet to offer any explanation for why she needs those depositions or why she
did not depose these witnesses before November 30, and she has not tied their
depositions to any particular documents disclosed by Duke in October. See Doc. 62.
The plaintiff also asserts that she needs an extension of the discovery period in
order to obtain documents from third parties. However, she does not dispute that these
documents are responsive to discovery requests Duke served almost a year ago.1 If and
when the plaintiff receives those documents, they should of course be provided to Duke
immediately and the close of the discovery period does nothing to remove that obligation.
See Doc. 52 at ¶ 7. It is obvious that Duke is ready to proceed, see, e.g., id. at ¶ 9, and
Duke should not be penalized with additional unwanted delay because the plaintiff has
not provided responsive documents. Moreover, if the plaintiff believed these materials
were important to her prosecution of this case, she should have obtained and provided
them to the defendant long ago. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1)(A)(ii). Her own delays in
locating relevant evidence to support her case do not justify an extension of time.
Finally, an extension of the discovery deadline has a number of negative
consequences in view of the long-set trial date. Overall, an extension of the discovery
period would trade certainty for uncertainty, to the detriment of all parties and the Court.
1
Duke asked the plaintiff for her communications with the Office for Civil Rights and for her
student records from Stanford on January 19, 2017, see Doc. 37-4 at 7, 16-17; see generally Doc.
38, and Duke filed a motion to compel as to these materials in August. See Docs. 37, 38. The
plaintiff failed to respond to that motion. She asserts in her recent brief that she has asked for her
records from Stanford on three different occasions, though she does not provide the dates of
those requests and has made no specific showing as to her diligence in seeking these records.
4
The Local Rules are designed to give the parties time to brief and the Court time,
in the ordinary case, to decide any summary judgment motions before the disclosure
requirements of Rule 26(a)(3) and LR 40.1(c) come into play. The forty-five-day
extension approved by the Magistrate Judge means the summary judgment briefing
would not be complete before the end of March at the earliest,2 leaving only two months
before pretrial disclosures are due.
Given that this case is not the only case on the Court’s docket, this time frame
places undue time pressures on the Court and makes it likely that the parties will begin
serious trial preparation before it is known that a trial will happen or whether the issues
will be narrowed by summary judgment rulings. As often happens when the discovery
period is extended, one or both parties may seek a continuance to avoid that result. If the
trial has to be continued, the delay harms all parties. If the case is not continued, the
parties will prepare for trial without the benefit of a summary judgment decision.
Deadlines are in place for a reason and they are relied upon by the parties and the
Court to move a case efficiently and fairly towards final resolution. The plaintiff has not
explained why she could not prepare her case within the planned discovery period, which
was generous to begin with and which was already extended once. She has failed to
show good cause for the motion.
2
If discovery is extended until January 15, then the defendant has until mid-February to file a
summary judgment motion, LR 56.1(b), the plaintiff has thirty days to respond, and the
defendant has two more weeks to reply. LR 56.1(e).
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The Court concludes that the Magistrate Judge’s Order to the contrary, which fails
to address any of these undisputed facts, is clearly erroneous. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A).
It is ORDERED that:
1. The plaintiff’s motion for an extension of time to complete discovery, Doc. 53,
is DENIED.
2. The motion at Doc. 63 is GRANTED.
3. The notices of deposition at Docs. 62-1 – 62-7 are QUASHED.
This the 28th day of December, 2017.
__________________________________
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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