Estate of Wayne A. Jones v. The City of Martinsburg, et al

Filing 118

ORDER DENYING MOTION 117 TO INCREASE NUMBER OF PAGES IN BRIEF. Signed by District Judge Gina M. Groh on 8/8/2014. (tlg)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA
MARTINSBURG

ESTATE OF WAYNE A. JONES, by
Robert L. Jones and Bruce A. Jones,
Administrators of the Estate of Wayne
A. Jones,
Plaintiff,
v.

CIVIL ACTION NO: 3:13-CV-68
(JUDGE GROH)

THE CITY OF MARTINSBURG,
WEST VIRGINIA, DOES 1 TO 25, Pfc.
Erik Herb, Pfc. Daniel North, Ptlm.
William Staubs, Ptlm. Paul Lehman,
and Pfc. Eric Neely,
Defendants.

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO INCREASE NUMBER OF PAGES IN BRIEF
Currently pending before the Court is the Defendants’ motion [Doc. 117] requesting
leave to file a forty-page memorandum supporting a motion for summary judgment. They
assert that they need a memorandum of this length because they will be presenting an
implied immunity defense that requires detailed facts.
A supporting memorandum may not exceed twenty-five pages. N.D.W. Va. L. R.
Civ. P. 7.02(a). “[F]or good cause shown,” a court may allow a supporting memorandum
to exceed this limit. Id. Memoranda exceeding page limits, however, are the exception
rather than the rule. See Dag Petroleum Suppliers, LLC v. BP P.L.C., Civil Action No.
1:05cv1323, 2006 WL 2345908, at *2 (E.D. Va. Aug. 9, 2006) (denying excess pages
because “conclusory references to the complexity of this case [were] an utterly insufficient

basis to waive the page limitations imposed by the local rules”). Indeed, the twenty-five
page limit is “sufficient except in the most extraordinary circumstances.” Surrett v. Consol.
Metco, Inc., Civil Action No. 1:11cv106, 2012 WL 1340548, at *3 (W.D.N.C. Apr. 18, 2012).
Here, the Court does not find good cause to allow the Defendants to exceed the
page limit. The Defendants have only conclusorily asserted that they must present
“detailed facts” to support a defense. They have not shown that this presents extraordinary
circumstances. Accordingly, the Court DENIES the Motion to Increase Number of Pages
in Brief.
It is so ORDERED.
The Clerk is directed to transmit copies of this Order to all counsel of record.
DATED: August 8, 2014

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