Buchanan, Terrence et al v. Dane County Sheriff Dept. et al

Filing 55

ORDER that plaintiff Terrance Buchanan may have until February 22, 2019, to file a response to defendants' motion for summary judgment and return a signed medical records release to defendants' attorney. Defendants' expert disclosure deadline is now April 1, 2019, and the dispositive motion deadline is now April 15, 2019. Signed by District Judge William M. Conley on 2/5/2019. (jef),(ps)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
TERRENCE BUCHANAN and
ISAAC TORRES,
ORDER
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No. 16-cv-572-wmc

SHERIFF DAVE MAHONEY, ET AL.,

Defendants.

Pro se plaintiffs Isaac Torres and Terrance Buchanan are proceeding in this lawsuit
against defendants, various Dane County Jail employees, related to the conditions at the
Dane County Jail. On February 4, 2019, defendants filed a motion to dismiss plaintiff
Terrance Buchanan's claims, or to compel discovery (dkt. #49) along with supporting
documents (dkt. ##50, 51). According to defendants, Buchanan has neither responded
to their motion for summary judgment on exhaustion grounds, nor has he responded to
their July, August and October 2018 communications asking him to sign medical record
authorization forms. Given that Buchanan claims that the conditions at the jail have had
an adverse impact on his health, defendants’ discovery request is reasonable. His failure
to respond to defendants’ discovery requests, coupled with his continued failure to respond
to defendants’ motion or submit any other filings indicating that he intends to actually
oppose it, suggest that he may have abandoned this lawsuit. Indeed, while Torres may be
actively responding to defendants’ discovery requests, Buchanan is still obligated to
prosecute his claims and respond to defendants' reasonable discovery requests.

Accordingly, the court will give Buchanan one chance to keep his claims alive: not
later than February 22, 2019, Buchanan must (1) respond to defendants’ motion for
summary judgment (dkt. #32), and (2) return a signed medical records release to
defendants’ attorney. Buchanan’s failure to follow these directives will likely cause the
court to dismiss his claims from his lawsuit for failure to prosecute pursuant to Federal
Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b). Finally, to accommodate the delay caused by Buchanan’s
failure to respond to defendants, the court is extending defendants’ expert disclosure
deadline to April 1, 2019, and the dispositive motion deadline to April 15, 2019.

ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. Plaintiff Terrance Buchanan may have until February 22, 2019, to file a
response to defendants’ motion for summary judgment and return a signed
medical records release to defendants’ attorney.

If Buchanan does not

respond by that date, the court will dismiss Buchanan’s claims with
prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b) for Buchanan’s
failure to prosecute it.
2. Defendants' expert disclosure deadline is now April 1, 2019, and the dispositive
motion deadline is now April 15, 2019.
Dated this 5th day of February, 2019.
BY THE COURT:
/s/
WILLIAM M. CONLEY
District Judge
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