Lee v. Wal-Mart, Inc.

Full title: LARRY D. LEE, Plaintiff, v. WAL-MART, INC., Defendant

Court: United States District Court, S.D. Texas, Houston Division

Date published: Jul 28, 2006

Civil Action No. H-05-3406 (S.D. Tex. Jul. 28, 2006)

Opinion

Civil Action No. H-05-3406.

July 28, 2006

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NANCY ATLAS, District Judge

This is an employment discrimination case brought by pro se Plaintiff Larry D. Lee ("Plaintiff") against Defendant Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ("Wal-Mart").¹ Pending before the Court is Wal-Mart's Motion to Strike Plaintiff's Interrogatories [Doc. # 38]. On July 19, 2006, Plaintiff filed and served interrogatories ("Plaintiff's Interrogatories") [Doc. # 37] directed to Brad Ulmer ("Ulmer") and Roderick Toston ("Totson"). Ulmer and Toston, who work as management employees for Wal-Mart, are not parties to this case. Wal-Mart moves to strike Plaintiff's Interrogatories, correctly noting that interrogatories may only be directed to parties. See FED. R. CIV. P. 33.

1 Wal-Mart contends that Plaintiff improperly identified "Wal-Mart Stores, Inc." and that the appropriate defendant is "Wal-Mart Stores Texas, L.P."

Pro se pleadings are entitled to a liberal construction that includes all reasonable inferences which can be drawn from them. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 521 (1972); see also United States v. Pena, 122 F.3d 3, 4 (5th Cir. 1997). Mindful of this liberal standard, the Court will construe Plaintiff's Interrogatories as directed to Wal-Mart, not non-parties Ulmer and Totson. Wal-Mart's responses to Plaintiff's Interrogatories are due August 20, 2006.

Interrogatories may not be directed to non-parties. See FED. R. CIV. P. 33. Should Plaintiff desire discovery from a non-party, such as Ulmer and Totson, Plaintiff may notice the individual's oral deposition, see FED. R. CIV. P. 30, or he may serve on the non-party a notice for a deposition upon written questions (with the questions attached). See FED. R. CIV. P. 31. Discovery requests are not to be filed with the Court. See S.D. TEX. R. 5.4.

For the reasons stated above, the Court denies Wal-Mart's Motion to Strike Plaintiff's Interrogatories. It is therefore

ORDERED that Wal-Mart's Motion to Strike Plaintiff's Interrogatories [Doc. # 38] is DENIED. Wal-Mart's responses to Plaintiff's Interrogatories are due August 20, 2006.