Medley v. United States of America

Filing 89

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER - We will GRANT these motions 81 , 82 for extension of time, STAY further consideration of the summary judgment motion (Doc. 69 .) at this time pending a report on appointment of counsel to represent Medley, and will set a sch edule for further proceedings following clarification of whether any counsel is available to assist the plaintiff. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Pro Bono Coordinator for Middle District of Pennsylvania Chapter of the Federal Bar Association shall report to the Court on the progress of identifying pro bono counsel on or before October 10, 2017. Signed by Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson on September 19, 2017. (kjn)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
LOUIS MEDLEY,

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Plaintiff,
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Defendant.

CIVIL NO. 1:15-CV-1261
(Judge Caldwell)

(Magistrate Judge Carlson)

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This pro se civil rights action was first brought by Louis Medley, a federal
inmate, through the filing of a complaint on June 29, 2015. (Doc. 1.) Liberally
construed, in his complaint Medley alleged that prison officials negligently failed to
follow their own protocol for screening inmates for tuberculosis and placed a
tubercular inmate in Medley’s prison housing unit, exposing him to tuberculosis,
which he contracted in a latent form. (Id., ¶ 12.) While the ultimate merit of
Medley’s claims remained to be litigated, and is the subject of a pending summary
judgment motion, (Doc. 69.), Medley struggled to advance proper discovery in this
case and litigate these claims. Given the challenges which Medley faced in trying to
articulate his claims and discovery demands, and the arguable merit of those claims,
we conditionally appointed counsel in this case and directed the Pro Bono panel of

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the Middle District of Pennsylvania Chapter of the Federal Bar Association to notify
us if counsel had been located who could assist Medley. (Doc. 86.) We have not
received a response to this order from the Pro Bono Coordinator for the Middle
District of Pennsylvania Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, but have made
inquiries regarding the status of this order and anticipate having further information
to share with the parties.
In the meanwhile, action on the pending summary judgment motion has been
deferred as we awaited information concerning the appointment of counsel for
Medley. As we have awaited this information, Medley has filed several motions
seeking to extend his response deadline to the summary judgment motion. (Docs. 81
and 82.) We will GRANT these motions for extension of time, STAY further
consideration of the summary judgment motion (Doc. 69.) at this time pending a
report on appointment of counsel to represent Medley, and will set a schedule for
further proceedings following clarification of whether any counsel is available to
assist the plaintiff.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Pro Bono Coordinator for Middle
District of Pennsylvania Chapter of the Federal Bar Association shall report to the
Court on the progress of identifying pro bono counsel on or before October 10, 2017.

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Finally, IT IS ORDERED that the defendant provide a status report detailing
the discovery provided to Medley, so we may determine whether further discovery
is needed in this case on or before October 10, 2017.
SO ORDERED this 19th day of September 2017.

/s/ Martin C. Carlson
Martin C. Carlson
United States Magistrate Judge

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