Lewis v. Cumberland County Sheriff's Department et al

Filing 23

ORDER Re Scheduling and appointment of attorney. (DOCKET TEXT SUMMARY ONLY-ATTORNEYS MUST OPEN THE PDF AND READ THE ORDER.)(JBB)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
Northeastern DIVISION
Melaine Lewis

)
)
Plaintiff
)
)
v.
)
)
Cumberland Count Sheriffs’s Dept )
Et al.
)
Defendant
)

No. 3:18-29
Judge Crenshaw/Brown
Jury Demand

SCHEDULING ORDER

The plaintiff has sent the court a letter asking if an
attorney has been appointed for her. She has not made a request for
an attorney and unless she can show exceptional circumstances one
will not be appointed for her.

Attorneys in civil case are not

required by the constitution and will not be appointed except in
cases where the party shows exceptional circumstances. Confinement
is not an exceptional circumstance by itself. The plaintiff should
respond within 30 days from receipt of this order to any requests
from the defendants with the requested items or proper objection to
their production. The plaintiff is free to serve discovery on the
defendants.

The plaintiff has named “Unknown Medical Personnel”,

unfortunately the Marshall cannot serve an unknown.
plaintiff

can

individuals

identify

the

court

and
must

return

a

dismiss

service
any

such

Unless the

packet
claims

for

such

without

prejudice and the running of the statute of limitations will likely
prevent a new suit against them.

This

matter

has

been

referred

to

the

undersigned

Magistrate Judge to enter a scheduling order for management of the
case

(Docket

Entry

No.8).

The

following

scheduling

order

is

entered:
I.

GENERAL COURT RULES AND PROCEDURES
Any filing made with the Court must comply with Rule 5 of

the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which requires that a copy of
the filing be sent to the opposing party or the party’s counsel and
that the filing contain a certification stating that a copy has been
sent, to whom, at what address, and on what date. Any filing that
does not comply with this requirement will be returned and/or
stricken from the record.
Each party is responsible for making and obtaining copies
of any documents or filings sent to the Court. It is not the Court's
responsibility to provide free copies of any documents to the
parties. If a party desires to obtain a copy of a document in the
official court file, the party should contact the Clerk's Office,
with the docket entry number of the document if possible, to request
a copy. The cost of an electronically filed document is 10¢ per
page, or 50¢ per page if it is not electronically filed.
Each party is required to keep both the Court and the
opposing party or the party’s counsel informed of his or her current
address. The Plaintiff's failure to keep the Court informed of

her

current address may result in a recommendation that the action be

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dismissed for failure to prosecute and for failure to comply with
the Court's order.

II.

PRETRIAL DEADLINES
Amendment of Pleadings
The parties shall have until Sept 30, 2019 to move to

amend the pleadings.
Discovery
All discovery shall be completed by Jan. 31, 2020.

By

this, the Court means that all written discovery should be served
far enough before the discovery completion date, i.e., at least
thirty days prior to the discovery completion deadline, so that
responses or objections to any written discovery can be made prior
to the completion deadline. For example, serving written discovery
upon an opposing party a few days prior to the discovery completion
deadline does not comply with this scheduling order and may result
in discovery being denied to the requesting party.
Any party seeking to serve written discovery upon another
party

that

would

result

in

responses

being

served

after

the

discovery completion deadline must obtain leave of the Court to
serve untimely discovery requests.
Written discovery should be sent to the opposing party and
should not be filed with the Court, nor should a copy of the written
discovery be sent to the Court unless it is sent as an attachment
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to a discovery motion. A court order is not required for a party to
engage in discovery and discovery in an action is not stayed upon
the filing of any motion unless specifically ordered by the Court.
Discovery Motions
All discovery motions must be filed by Jan. 31, 2020. All
discovery motions must comply with the applicable requirements
contained in Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule
37.01 of the Local Rules of Court, or any other relevant Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure. Before any motion related to a discovery
dispute is filed, the parties shall conduct a telephone conference
with the Magistrate Judge about the matter in dispute. Because the
Plaintiff is a prisoner she may write the Court to request such a
telephone conference be scheduled. In her letter she should briefly
state the nature of the problem.]

Dispositive Motions
All dispositive motions to dismiss or for summary judgment
shall be filed by March 13, 2020. Responses shall be due 28 days
after the motion, and replies, if any, limited to five pages, shall
be due 14 days after any response. Plaintiff is forewarned that
dispositive motions must be responded to 28 days after they are
filed, unless an extension is granted by the Court, and that failure
to respond to the motion and to statements of facts may result in
the Court taking the facts alleged in the matter as true and
4

granting the relief requested. In responding, Plaintiff may not just
rely on her complaint. Plaintiff must show there is a material
dispute of fact with citation to the record, affidavits or other
matter of evidence. Plaintiff should read and comply with Federal
Rule

of

Civil

Procedure

56

and

Local

Rule

LR

56.01(a).

If

dispositive motions are filed before the deadline, the deadlines for
filing responses and replies shall be advanced accordingly.
Other Motions
The Plaintiff is reminded that any objection to orders of
the Magistrate Judge on nondispositive motions must be filed within
14 days after service of the order to which any objection is made
(Local Rule 72.02).
Any other motions (other than in limine or related to
trial matters) must be filed by March 13, 2020.
Motions to seal: Any party requesting that documents or
portions of documents be sealed must demonstrate compelling reasons
to seal the documents and that the sealing is narrowly tailored to
those reasons. The motion to seal, even if unopposed, must “analyze
in detail, document by document, the propriety of secrecy, providing
reasons

and

legal

citations.”

Beauchamp

v.

Federal

Home

Loan

Mortgage Co., No. 15-6067, 2016 WL 3671629 at *4-5 (6th Cir. Jul.
11 2016) (quoting Shane Grp., Inc. v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of
Michigan, Nos. 15-1544, 1551, 1552, 2016 WL 3163073 at *3 (6th Cir.
June 7, 2016)). Protective orders should not provide that documents
5

produced

in

discovery

and

designated

as

“confidential”

will

automatically be sealed upon filing or use at trial. Any such
language in a proposed protective order will be stricken and may
result in denial of the motion to enter the protective order.
Modification of case management order: Any motion to modify the
case management order or any case management deadline shall be filed
at least seven days before the earliest affected deadline. If the
parties agree, the motion may be filed up to the earliest affected
deadline. The motion must include a statement confirming that
counsel

for

the

moving

party

has

discussed

the

requested

modification or extension with opposing counsel and whether there
is any objection to the motion. The motion (even if a joint motion)
must also include: (i) all deadlines, even unaffected deadlines, so
that it will not be necessary for the Court to review previous case
management orders in consideration of the motion, and (ii) a
statement that the requested extension will still conform to the
requirements of Local Rule 16.01(d)(2)(f) that

no dispositive

motion, including response and replies, be filed later than 90 days
in advance of the target trial date.
This matter has not been set for trial but will be ready
for a jury trial after Sept. 1 2020.
It is so ORDERED.
/s/
Joe B. Brown
JOE B. BROWN
United States Magistrate Judge
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