Opinion
No. CIV S-05-2522 LKK CMK P.
October 3, 2008
ORDER
Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, brings this civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending before the court is plaintiff's request for a "preliminary meeting" (Doc. 80).
Plaintiff's request indicates he is having trouble obtaining photocopies of his discovery responses from the law library at Avenal State Prison. Plaintiff previously requested and was granted a 30-day extension of time to provide defendants his discovery responses due to some missing pages in the requests. According to his latest filing, plaintiff has attempted to comply with the previous deadline, but has not been successful in obtaining copies of the documents he needs to respond to the discovery requests.
Plaintiff states in his request that he has obtained a written denial from the law library, denying his request for copies. However, he has not provided a copy of that denial to the court. Nor has plaintiff informed the court why he was denied the ability to obtain copies. Without the knowledge of the reason for the denial, the court is not in the position to effect any remedy for the plaintiff. His request will therefore be denied without prejudice to renewal, if necessary, with sufficient information for the court to make a determination as to the proper remedy.
However, plaintiff has expressed his attempt to comply with defendants' discovery requests. In order to timely resolve this discovery issue, to the extent possible defense counsel is encouraged to do what they can to facilitate plaintiff's ability to obtain copies of his documents in response to their discovery requests. To the extent plaintiff is requesting additional time to respond to defendants' discovery requests, that request will be granted. Plaintiff will be allowed an additional 30 days from the date of this order to respond to the outstanding discovery requests, which are the subject of plaintiff's motion.
Pursuant to this court's August 7, 2008, order, the current discovery cut-off date is October 15, 2008. Because discovery requests are required to be served 60 days prior to the discovery cut-off date, no new discovery requests can be served at this time. With the exception of the outstanding discovery requests, which are the subject of plaintiff's motion, and plaintiff's deposition, the discovery cut-off date remains October 15, 2008.
With respect to the outstanding discovery requests and plaintiff's deposition, the court will extend the cut-off date to December 15, 2008. The dispositive motion cut-off date will therefore be extended to February 13, 2009. This should provide plaintiff sufficient time to obtain the copies he needs to respond to defendants' discovery requests, and for the defendants to schedule and take plaintiff's deposition. This should also provide the parties sufficient time to file any necessary motions to compel, which shall likewise be filed by December 15, 2008. Requests for further extensions of time are discouraged.
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:
1. Plaintiff's request for a preliminary meeting (Doc. 80) is denied without prejudice;
2. Defense counsel is encouraged to do what they can to facilitate plaintiff's ability to obtain copies of documents in response to their discovery requests;
3. To the extent plaintiff is requesting additional time to respond to defendants' discovery requests, plaintiff is granted an additional 30 days from the date of service of this order in which to provide his responses thereto;
4. The discovery cut-off deadline shall remain October 15, 2008 for all discovery not related to plaintiff's request for additional time and plaintiff's deposition;
5. As to the outstanding discovery requests for which plaintiff has requested additional time to respond, and as to plaintiff's deposition, the discovery deadline is extended to December 15, 2008; and
6. The dispositive motion deadline is extended to February 13, 2009.