Ravenwood-Alexander v. Beahm et al
Filing
33
ORDER signed by Judge Pamela Pepper on 8/14/2017. Defendants to respond to plaintiff's motion to compel by 9/1/2017. If plaintiff does not receive access to his health records by that time, he may file a reply in support of his motion by 9/15/2017. Dispositive motions deadline STAYED. (cc: all counsel, via mail to Shaun-Thorskrieger Ravenwood-Alexander at Green Bay Correctional Institution)(cb)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
______________________________________________________________________________
SHAUN-THORSKRIEGER RAVENWOOD-ALEXANDER,
Plaintiff,
v.
Case No. 17-cv-7-pp
JOSEPH BEAHM, et al.,
Defendants.
______________________________________________________________________________
ORDER REQUIRING DEFENDANTS TO RESPOND TO PLAINTIFF’S MOTION
TO COMPEL AND STAYING THE DISPOSITIVE MOTION DEADLINE
______________________________________________________________________________
The plaintiff is a Wisconsin state prisoner representing himself. He has
filed a motion to compel discovery. Dkt. No. 30. Specifically, the plaintiff asks
the court (1) to order the defendants to provide him with his health services,
psychological services and other medical files; (2) to deem his request for
admission #10 as admitted; and (3) to award the plaintiff costs and fees. The
court will order the defendants to respond to the plaintiff’s motion to compel,
and will stay the dispositive motion deadline pending its decision on the
plaintiff’s motion.
With regard to the plaintiff’s request that the defendants provide him
with copies of his heath records, the court notes that, as advised by the
defendants, he submitted multiple requests to the relevant department at his
institution in an attempt to access those records. Dkt. No. 32, ¶7. The plaintiff
explains that he received no response to his requests, so he notified the
defendants’ counsel, and narrowed his request to “those portion(s) of [his] HSU,
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PSU, and other medical files that [the defendants] intend to use as evidence or
that are relevant to the claims of this lawsuit.” Id. The plaintiff states that the
defendants’ counsel did not respond. Id.
The court generally does not, as a first step, order defendants to produce
documents to plaintiffs that plaintiffs can obtain from other sources (i.e., from
the staff at their institution). Instead, it encourages plaintiffs to comply with
whatever institution policies allow for the review of their health records. That,
however, assumes that an institution will allow a plaintiff access to his health
records upon a plaintiff’s compliance with the relevant policies. If a plaintiff
complies with the policy requirements, yet is unable to gain access to his files,
the court looks to the defendants either to ensure the plaintiff has access at his
institution or to provide copies of the relevant records to the plaintiff.
Although the court does not have enough information right now to take
that second step, it encourages the defendants to look into the plaintiff’s
representations regarding his inability to access his health records despite his
compliance with institution policies regarding such access.
Finally, the court notes that it has set a deadline of August 21, 2017 for
the filing of dispositive motions. It is likely that the plaintiff will require access
to his health records in the event he wants to file a dispositive motion or must
respond to a dispositive motion filed by the defendants. The court will stay the
dispositive motion deadline pending a decision on the plaintiff’s motion to
compel.
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The court GRANTS the plaintiff’s motion to compel, to the extent that it
ORDERS the defendants to respond to the plaintiff’s motion to compel by
September 1, 2017. Dkt. No. 30. If the plaintiff does not receive access to his
health records by that time, he may file a reply in support of his motion (letting
the court know that he did not receive access to the documents). If the plaintiff
decides to file a reply, he must do so by September 15, 2017.
The court STAYS the dispositive motion deadline.
Dated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this 14th day of August, 2017.
BY THE COURT:
________________________________________
HON. PAMELA PEPPER
United States District Judge
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