Johnson v. Federal Express Corporation

Filing 102

ORDER - It is hereby ORDERED that Johnson's appeal of magistrate judge's decision 46 is DENIED & Magistrate Judge Schwab's order 43 denying motions at issue is AFFIRMED. (See order for complete details.) Signed by Chief Judge Christopher C. Conner on 12/16/13. (ki)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

CATHALENE JOHNSON,
Plaintiff
v.
FEDERAL EXPRESS
CORPORATION,
Defendant.

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CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:12-CV-444
(Chief Judge Conner)

ORDER
AND NOW, this 16th day of December, 2013, upon consideration of plaintiff
Cathalene Johnson’s appeal (Doc. 46) from Magistrate Judge Susan Schwab’s order
(Doc. 43) dated April 25, 2013, granting in part and denying in part Johnson’s
motion to compel discovery (Doc. 39) and motion to supplement the motion to
compel discovery (Doc. 40), in which Johnson sought more complete answers to
certain Requests for Admissions, as well as sanctions for failure to prepare and
improper limitations on corporate-designee depositions under Federal Rule of Civil
Procedure 30(b)(6), and it appearing that a magistrate judge has wide discretion in
addressing non-dispositive motions, see Walsh v. Krantz, No. 1:07-CV-0616, 2009
WL 321585, at *1 (M.D. Pa. Feb. 9, 2009) (internal citation omitted), and that a
district court judge may reconsider any motion decided by a magistrate judge
“where it has been shown that the magistrate judge’s order is clearly erroneous or
contrary to law,” 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A); see also FED . R. CIV . P. 72(a), and it further
appearing that a plaintiff “bears a heavy burden” in attempting to overturn a

magistrate judge’s discovery order, Walsh, 2009 WL 321585, at *1; see Deen-Mitchell
v. Bledsoe, No. 1:10-CV-2238, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68555, at *2 (M.D. Pa. June 27,
2011) (affirming magistrate judge’s order when plaintiff “merely reiterates the
arguments put forth in his original motion”), and upon a review of the record, the
court finding that Magistrate Judge Schwab carefully considered arguments from
both parties by reviewing the motions at issue, requesting additional briefing on all
outstanding discovery issues, and conducting a telephone conference on March 28,
2013, as well as a 2.5-hour in-person discovery conference on April 23, 2013, and the
court concluding that Magistrate Judge Schwab’s decision was not clearly
erroneous or contrary to law, it is hereby ORDERED that Johnson’s appeal
(Doc. 46) is DENIED and Magistrate Judge Schwab’s order (Doc. 43) denying the
motions is AFFIRMED.

/S/ CHRISTOPHER C. CONNER
Christopher C. Conner, Chief Judge
United States District Court
Middle District of Pennsylvania