Opinion
2:90-cv-0520 KJM DB P
10-23-2023
RALPH COLEMAN, et al., Plaintiffs, v. GAVIN NEWSOM, et al., Defendants.
ORDER
On October 20, 2023, defendants filed a request for leave to file an ex parte application to extend the deadline to file objections to five proposed data remediation dispute resolutions provided by the Special Master to the parties on October 18, 2023, together with the proposed request for extension of time. ECF No. 8024. Good cause appearing, defendants' request for leave to file the ex parte application to extend the deadline will be granted. For the reasons explained in this order, defendants will be granted an additional period of two days to file their objections. Going forward, no extensions of time to file objections to the Special Master's proposed data remediation dispute resolutions will be granted except on a showing of substantial cause.
By way of background, on October 11, 2023, this court modified the data remediation dispute resolution process that had been in effect for the ongoing data remediation project since May 2022, ECF No. 7556-2. October 11, 2023 Order, ECF No. 8008. The court determined it necessary to modify the original data remediation dispute resolution process to ensure timely dispute resolution and substantial completion of the data remediation project by the end of this year. Id. at 2. In relevant part, under the modified dispute resolution process, which “applies to all future disputes and all disputes that are currently moving through the dispute resolution process,” the Special Master is required to, within seven days, present a proposed written resolution of any dispute that remains unresolved after a two-week discussion period in the Business Rules and Methodology Review (BRMR) meetings. Id. Thereafter, his resolution becomes final unless within seven days of delivery of his proposed resolution a party files “an objection with the court seeking an alternative resolution.” Id. at 2-3.
On October 18, 2023, the Special Master provided the parties with written reports proposing resolution of five pending data remediation disputes. ECF No. 8024-2 at 2-3. Defendants' objections, if any, to those reports are due October 25, 2023. ECF No. 8008 at 2. Defendants seek an extension of that deadline that would allow them to file objections one at a time on October 25, 2023, October 30, 2023, November 3, 2023, November 8, 2023, and November 13, 2023. ECF No. 8024-2 at 4. Defendants contend they have “multiple team members who must weigh in and approve the objections before they may be filed” and that their lead staff member on data remediation issues is on vacation through October 23, 2023. Id. at 3. They also point to several other upcoming deadlines in this action. Id.
The original data remediation process had three steps: (1) discussion at the BRMR meetings; (2)(a) first level review by a team including the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Mental Health Program Deputy Director and Undersecretary of Health Care Services, the Special Master and/or his designated experts, plaintiffs' counsel, and “the minimal number of subject matter experts necessary,” ECF No. 7556-2 at 2; (2)(b) second level review by the CDCR Secretary, the Special Master, and “whomever else either deems necessary,” id. at 3; and (3) report and recommendation by the Special Master to the court. Id.
The Special Master has informed the court that four of the disputes that are the subject of defendants' pending request had proceeded all the way through second level review by himself and CDCR Secretary Macomber (step (2(b) above) at the time the Special Master issued the proposed resolutions. The Special Master also has informed the court he has required and received statements from the parties setting out their positions on each dispute that reaches second level review, including the four that are the subject of defendants' motion. In other words, defendants' position with respect to four of the disputes has been presented to the Special Master first by Deputy Director Mehta and Undersecretary Toche and then by CDCR Secretary Macomber. Defendants present no explanation why “multiple team members . . . must weigh in and approve the objections before they may be filed” under these circumstances, where defendants' position with respect to each of these disputes has been well-known to, and presumably approved by, all relevant team members for as long as it has taken the disputes to proceed through the prior dispute resolution process.
The court notes the Special Master and his team were able to meet the new deadline set by the October 11, 2023 order for all five disputes.
The Special Master also has informed the court that the other dispute, medical hold exceptions for transfer to the Correctional Clinical Case Management System (CCCMS) or Enhanced Outpatient Programs (EOP), is similar to the dispute over medical hold exceptions to the STRH/LTRH transfer timeline indicator that was the subject of a report and recommendation he made, and that all stakeholders had agreed to defer further consideration of the CCCMS/EOP transfer timeline dispute until the court resolved the dispute over medical hold exceptions to the STRH/LTRH transfer timeline indicator. The court resolved the latter dispute in its October 11, 2023 order, ECF No. 8010. Under these circumstances, too, the defendants have not shown why defendants require input from multiple team members before determining whether to object to a proposed resolution on an issue all agree is similar to one that has been thoroughly briefed before and now resolved by this court.
The court will grant a short two-day extension of time to file objections to take into account the time for resolution of the pending request brought under the now operative procedure. Going forward, the court will not grant any extension of time to object absent a showing of exceptional cause. The court takes this opportunity to remind the parties they must send persons with full decision-making authority and required subject matter expertise to all BRMR meetings. ECF No. 8008 at 2.
In accordance with the above, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
1. Defendants' October 20, 2023 request for leave to file an ex parte application to extend the deadline to file objections, ECF No. 8024, is GRANTED;
2. Defendants' October 20, 2023 ex parte application to extend the deadline to file objections, ECF No. 8024-2, GRANTED IN LIMITED PART;
3. Defendants are granted an extension of time to and including October 27, 2023 to file objections, if any, to the five written proposed data remediation dispute resolutions provided by the Special Master on October 18, 2023;
4. Plaintiffs' response to objections, if any, shall be filed on or before November 3, 2023; and
5. No further extensions of time to file objections to proposed written data remediation dispute resolutions provided by the Special Master will be granted except on a showing of exceptional cause.