Evans v. Joseph et al

Filing 44

ORDER signed by Judge Pamela Pepper on 11/19/2018. 38 Defendants Joseph's and Lutsey's motion to stay dispositive motions deadline GRANTED; current dispositive motions deadline of 11/26/2018 VACATED; the court will set new discovery and d ispositive motions deadlines after ruling on the pending summary judgment motions. 33 Defendant's motion for extension of discovery and dispositive motions deadlines DENIED as moot. Plaintiff's response to defendants Joseph's and Lutsey's motion for summary judgment due 12/3/2018. (cc: all counsel, via mail to Michael Evans at Green Bay Correctional Institution)(cb)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
______________________________________________________________________________
MICHAEL L. EVANS,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No. 17-cv-983-pp

MANUEL JOSEPH, et al.,
Defendants.
______________________________________________________________________________
ORDER DENYING AS MOOT PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR AN EXTENSION OF
TIME (DKT. NO. 33) AND GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO STAY THE
DISPOSITIVE MOTION DEADLINE (DKT. NO. 38)
______________________________________________________________________________
The plaintiff filed a motion asking the court to extend the discovery and
dispositive motion deadlines. Dkt. No. 33. The plaintiff explains that he
recently received interrogatories from the defendants, that he is unable to
afford an attorney, that his access to the library is limited, and that he is not
receiving legal help from other prisoners. Id.
On the same day it received the plaintiff’s motion for an extension of
time, defendants Manuel Joseph and Jean Lutsey filed a motion for partial
summary judgment on exhaustion grounds. Dkt. No. 34. The motion sought
dismissal of the plaintiff’s claims against Lutsey only. Id. On October 31, 2018,
defendant Susan Peters filed a separate motion for summary judgment on
exhaustion grounds. Dkt. No. 39. Finally, a couple of days before Peters’
motion, Joseph and Lutsey filed a motion asking to extend the dispositive
motion deadline to February 26, 2019, to give the court adequate time to rule
on their motion for partial summary judgment. Dkt. No. 38. They explained
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that it would be a waste of the parties’ and the court’s time and resources to
litigate the plaintiff’s claims on the merits if the court ultimately grants their
motion for partial summary judgment on exhaustion grounds. Id.
The court agrees with Joseph and Lutsey that the most efficient use of
resources is to vacate the dispositive motion deadline until the court rules on
their and Peters’ motions for summary judgment on exhaustion grounds. The
court will grant their motion. Joseph’s and Lutsey’s summary judgment
materials were due November 5, 2018; however, the court will extend that
deadline to December 3, 2018, to coincide with the date his materials in
response to Peters’s motion are due.
As a reminder, the plaintiff must respond to each of the defendants’
proposed facts (by agreeing with the proposed fact or explaining why he
disagrees with the proposed fact; if the plaintiff does not indicate one way or
the other, the court will assume that he agrees with the proposed fact), and he
must respond to the legal arguments in the defendants’ briefs. The plaintiff
must support his facts or his disagreement with the defendants’ facts with
evidence. He can do that by relying on documents in his possession or by
telling the court his version of what happened in an affidavit or an unsworn
declaration under 28 U.S.C. §17461. An unsworn declaration is a way for the
plaintiff to tell his side of the story while declaring to the court that everything
he has written down is true and correct.
At the bottom of her declaration she should state: “I declare under penalty of
perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on [date]. [Signature].”
28 U.S.C. §1746(2).
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The court DENIES as moot the plaintiff’s motion for an extension of the
discovery and dispositive motion deadlines. Dkt. No. 33.
The court GRANTS defendants Joseph’s and Lutsey’s motion to stay the
dispositive motion deadline. Dkt. No. 38. The court VACATES the current
dispositive motion deadline of November 26, 2018. The court will set new
discovery and dispositive motion deadlines after it rules on the motions for
summary judgment on exhaustion grounds.
The court EXTENDS the plaintiff’s deadline to file his materials in
response to Joseph’s and Lutsey’s motion for summary judgment to December
3, 2018 (the same day his response to defendant Peters’s motion for summary
judgment is due). If the plaintiff fails to respond to the motions for summary
judgment on exhaustion grounds by December 3, 2018 (or fails to explain why
he is unable to do so), the court will conclude that he no longer wishes to purse
his claims against the defendants, and it will dismiss them as defendants
based on his failure to diligently prosecute his case. See Civil L.R. 41(c).
Dated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this 19th day of November, 2018.
BY THE COURT:
__________________________________________
HON. PAMELA PEPPER
United States District Judge

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