Opinion
Civil Action 21-725-SDD-SDJ
08-26-2022
EDWARD CAULKING v. WALMART INC.
ORDER
SCOTT D. JOHNSON UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE.
Before the Court is a Motion to Compel Responses to Discovery (R. Doc. 10) filed by Defendant Walmart Inc. on August 4, 2022. Plaintiff Edward Caulking has not responded to the Motion to Compel, and the deadline for filing an opposition has passed. See LR 7(f) (responses to motions are due within 21 days). As such, the Court considers Defendant's Motion unopposed.
In its Motion, Defendant seeks an order compelling Plaintiff “to produce his answers to Defendant's Interrogatories and Request for Production of Documents” propounded to Plaintiff on March 18, 2022. “[A] party served with written discovery must fully answer each interrogatory or document request to the full extent that it is not objectionable and affirmatively explain what portion of an interrogatory or document request is objectionable and why, affirmatively explain what portion of the interrogatory or document request is not objectionable and the subject of the answer or response, and affirmatively explain whether any responsive information or documents have been withheld.” Lopez v. Don Herring Ltd., 327 F.R.D. 567, 580 (N.D. Tex. 2018) (internal quotations and citation omitted). If a party fails to respond fully to discovery requests in the time allowed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the party seeking discovery may move to compel responses and for appropriate sanctions under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37. See, e.g., Lauter v. SZR Second Baton Rouge Assisted Living, LLC, No. 20-813, 2021 WL 2006297 (M.D. La. May 19, 2021).
R. Doc. 10 at 1.
Here, as alleged by Defendant, it propounded written discovery requests on Plaintiff on March 18, 2022. After receiving no responses from Plaintiff, Defendant sent an email to Plaintiff's counsel on June 14, 2022, setting a telephone conference “to discuss Plaintiff's failure to respond to Defendant's discovery in a timely manner.” During the June 22, 2022 conference, “Plaintiff's counsel agreed to produce the discovery responses within thirty days.” No responses have yet been received.
R. Doc. 10-1 at 1.
Id.
Id.
As stated above, Plaintiff has not filed an opposition to this Motion to Compel, and the deadline for doing so has passed. As such, the Court considers this Motion unopposed. In addition, Defendant represents in its Motion to Compel that Plaintiff's counsel previously agreed to respond to Defendant's discovery requests “within thirty days” of the July 22, 2022 Rule 37 conference.As such, the Court will grant Defendant's request and order Plaintiff to respond fully to Defendant's discovery requests within 15 days of the date of this Order.
Id.
Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that the Motion to Compel Responses to Discovery (R. Doc. 10) filed by Defendant Walmart Inc. is GRANTED. Within 15 days of the date of this Order, Plaintiff Edward Caulking is ordered to provide complete written responses to the Interrogatories and Requests for Production of Documents propounded to him on March 18, 2022.