Hill v. Phillips 66 Company

Filing 107

OPINION AND ORDER by Magistrate Judge Frank H McCarthy ; granting 99 Motion for Miscellaneous Relief (tjc, Dpty Clk)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA
ELIZABETH HILL,
Plaintiff,
vs.

Case No.14-CV-102-JED-FHM

PHILLIPS 66 COMPANY,
Defendant.
OPINION AND ORDER
Plaintiff’s Motion to Re-Open Discovery for a Limited Purpose, [Dkt. 99], is before
the court. The matter has been fully briefed, [Dkt. 99,103,106], and is ripe for decision.
Plaintiff seeks to re-open discovery for the limited purpose of taking a trial deposition
of her husband, John Hill, to preserve his complete testimony to be used in the trial of this
matter. On Defendant’s motion, the trial date was recently continued from the week of
June 20, 2016 to the week of August 15, 2016. Mr. Hill is expected to be deployed on
military duty at the time of the continued trial date and will therefore be unavailable to testify
at trial. Plaintiff represents that the discovery deposition of Mr. Hill taken by Defendant is
not sufficient for his trial testimony.
Defendant objects to Plaintiff’s request, arguing that Plaintiff knew of the possibility
of Mr. Hill’s deployment and that Plaintiff should have asked questions during the discovery
deposition to preserve the testimony. Defendant points out that discovery ended 16
months ago and claims that the request is therefore untimely. Defendant also asserts
prejudice in that Defendant would have to expend additional resources to prepare for and
participate in the deposition.

The court finds that Plaintiff’s request is reasonable. The court is not convinced that
Defendant will suffer undue prejudice as the trial date was moved on Defendant’s request
and Defendant would have to spend time in preparation for Mr. Hill’s trial testimony if he
were not deployed.
Plaintiff’s Motion to Re-Open Discovery for a Limited Purpose, [Dkt. 99], is
GRANTED.
SO ORDERED this 21st day of June, 2016.

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