Jackson v. Department of Corrections Washington et al

Filing 39

ORDER directing Plaintiff to send discovery requests directly to Defendants, not the court, per the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Signed by Hon. Mary Alice Theiler. **2 PAGE(S), PRINT ALL**(Kyntrel Jackson, Prisoner ID: 355949) (TH)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE

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KYNTREL T JACKSON,
Plaintiff,

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Case No. C16-1856-RAJ-MAT
ORDER

v.
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
WASHINGTON, et al.,

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Defendants.

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This is a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 prisoner civil rights action. On September 18, 2017, plaintiff

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filed a request for production of documents with the Court. (Dkt. 36.) The Clerk of Court notified

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plaintiff that his discovery request was rejected and was being returned to him. On October 16,

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2017, plaintiff filed a letter complaining about the Clerk’s response. (Dkt. 38.) Specifically, he

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expressed concern that he was being denied the right to view the discovery, which he believed was

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available to the defendants. (Id.)

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Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, parties must serve discovery requests directly

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on the other parties and may not file discovery requests with the Court. Fed. R. Civ. P. 5(d)(1).

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The only time discovery may be submitted to the Court is if it accompanies a motion. Id.

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Plaintiff’s discovery request was returned to him because it was filed in contravention of the rules.

ORDER - 1

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He is not being denied the right to view discovery that defendants can access. If plaintiff has

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discovery requests, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require that he send them directly to

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defendants, not the Court.

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The Clerk is directed to send copies of this order to the parties and to the Honorable Richard
A. Jones.
Dated this 18th day of October, 2017.

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A

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Mary Alice Theiler
United States Magistrate Judge

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ORDER - 2