Opinion
20-cv-08659-JSC
06-05-2022
SYDNEY SKOCHKO, Plaintiff, v. MERCY HOUSING, INC., et al., Defendants.
ORDER RE: APPLICATION FOR ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE RE: DKT. NO. 54
JACQUELINE SCOTT CORLEY UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Before the Court is Plaintiff's application for an order to show cause regarding contempt under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45(g) or, in the alternative, to produce documents. (Dkt. No. 54.)
According to the complaint, Defendant arranged for Plaintiff to stay at Extended Stay America, Inc. (“ESA”) while Defendant made repairs to Plaintiff's apartment building. Plaintiff seeks information about how non-party ESA handled Plaintiff's request for a hospital bed as a reasonable accommodation. Plaintiff contacted ESA in November 2021 and served a subpoena on January 6, 2022; after discussion, Plaintiff served a narrowed, superseding subpoena on February 16 with a return date of March 9, 2022. (Dkt. No. 54-1 at 1-2, 8-15; Dkt. No. 56 ¶ 4.) ESA agreed that responsive documents exist but stated that the request was still too broad. (Dkt. No. 54-1 at 2; Dkt. No. 56 ¶ 5.) On May 2, 2022, Plaintiff issued another subpoena that partially supplemented and partially superseded the February 16 subpoena; the return date was May 13, 2022. (Dkt. No. 54-1 at 2, 17-25; Dkt. No. 56 ¶ 6.)
ESA has not produced any responsive documents, (Dkt. No. 54-1 at 2), and has not provided any good reason for not doing so. (Dkt. No. 62.) If ESA had a good faith basis to resist production as overbroad or unduly burdensome, it should have filed a motion to quash or modify 1 instead of allowing the production deadline to pass. Nor will the Court extend the already extended deadline to depose an ESA representative. (See Dkt. No. 58.)
ESA is ORDERED to produce documents responsive to the February 16 and May 2, 2022 subpoenas no later than June 8, 2022. See Gordy v. Granlund, No. 19-mc-80180-JSC, 2019 WL 3753184, at *1-2 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 8, 2019) (explaining that although Rule 45(g) authorizes a court to hold in contempt a person who fails to obey a subpoena, many courts opt to first compel compliance). Plaintiff may depose an ESA representative on or before June 10, 2022. (Dkt. Nos. 58, 61.)
This Order disposes of Docket No. 54.
IT IS SO ORDERED. 2