Vallery v. Brown
| Decision Date | 06 October 2011 |
| Docket Number | Civil No. 08cv00095 DMS(RBB) |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of California |
| Parties | RAYNARD VALLERY, Plaintiff, v. J. BROWN, et al., Defendants. |
MOTION TO COMPEL DISCLOSURE AND COOPERATION IN DISCOVERY [ECF NO. 69]
Plaintiff Raynard Vallery, a California prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, filed an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 [ECF Nos. 1, 5, 47], which now proceeds against named Defendants Bell, Bourland, Brown, Dee, and Stratton for First, Fourth, and Eighth Amendment violations.1 The allegations in Vallery's Second Amended Complaint surround Correctional Officer Brown's purported sexual assault of Plaintiff at Calipatria State Prison ("Calipatria"), as well as the other prison officials' endorsement of officer Brown's misconduct. (See Second Am. Compl.10-12, 14, ECF No. 47.)2 Since Defendants Bell, Bourland, Brown, Dee, and Stratton filed an Answer [ECF No. 56], the parties have commenced discovery and have several disputes [ECF Nos. 67, 69, 81].
This Motion to Compel Disclosure and Cooperation in Discovery was filed nunc pro tunc to May 25, 2011 [ECF No. 69]. The Plaintiff seeks further responses to his requests for production of documents, requests for admissions, and interrogatories. (Mot. Compel 4, 15, 24, ECF No. 69.) Defendants' Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion to Compel Disclosure and Cooperation in Discovery was filed on July 19, 2011, along with the Declaration of John P. Walters and exhibits [ECF No. 86]. In addition to raising substantive objections, Defendants Bell, Bourland, Brown, Dee, and Stratton argue that the Motion should be denied because it is untimely, and it seeks responses to discovery that was untimely served. (See Opp'n Mot. Compel 2-8, ECF No. 86.) On August 26, 2011, Plaintiff's Reply to Defendants' Opposition to Motion to Compel was filed [ECF No. 94].
The Court finds the Motion to Compel suitable for resolution on the papers, pursuant to Civil Local Rule 7.1. See S.D. Cal. Civ. R. 7.1(d)(1). The Court has reviewed Vallery's Motion, the Defendants' Opposition, and Plaintiff's Reply. For the reasons stated below, Plaintiff's Motion to Compel Disclosure and Cooperation in Discovery is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part.
The allegations in the Second Amended Complaint surround events that occurred while Vallery was housed at Calipatria. (Second Am. Compl. 1, ECF No. 47.) The Plaintiff contends that on April 15 and 17, 2004, Correctional Officer Brown sexually assaulted Vallery by improperly searching him while Brown's superior, Correctional Sergeant Dee, observed. (Id. at 6-8, 12-13.)
Vallery argues that Defendant Brown violated the Fourth and Eighth Amendments when he improperly searched Plaintiff for sexual gratification. (Id. at 12.) Defendant Dee is alleged to have violated the Eighth Amendment because she was aware of Brown's misconduct but did nothing to prevent it. (Id.) The Plaintiff asserts that Warden Bourland, Correctional Lieutenant Stratton, and Appeals Coordinator Bell violated his Eighth Amendment rights by acting with deliberate indifference to the risk that Brown would assault Vallery. (See id. at 10-12, 14.) Finally, Plaintiff maintains that unnamed mailroom employees violated the First Amendment by preventing the delivery of Plaintiff's letter to the FBI. (Id. at 14.) The mailroom workers also violated the Eighth Amendment by their "actions which resulted from deliberate indifference." (Id.)
It is well established that a party may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any claim or defense. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Relevant information need notbe admissible at trial so long as the discovery appears to be reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. Id. Relevance is construed broadly to include any matter that bears on, or reasonably could lead to other matter that could bear on, any issue that may be in the case. Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. Sanders, 437 U.S. 340, 351 (1978) (citing Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 501 (1947)) (footnote omitted). Rule 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure enables the propounding party to bring a motion to compel responses to discovery. Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a)(3)(B). The party opposing discovery bears the burden of resisting disclosure. Miller v. Pancucci, 141 F.R.D. 292, 299 (C.D. Cal. 1992).
"In general, pro se representation does not excuse a party from complying with a court's orders and with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure." Fingerhut Corp. v. Ackra Direct Mktg. Corp., 86 F.3d 852, 856-57 (8th Cir. 1996) (citing Jones v. Phipps, 39 F.3d 158, 163 (7th Cir. 1994); Anderson v. Home Ins. Co., 724 F.2d 82, 84 (8th Cir. 1983)). Above all, plaintiffs who choose to represent themselves must abide by the rules of the court in which they litigate. Carter v. Comm'r, 784 F.2d 1006, 1008-09 (9th Cir. 1986); see also Bias v. Moynihan, 508 F.3d 1212, 1223 (9th Cir. 2007) (). "[W]hile pro se litigants may be entitled to some latitude when dealing with sophisticated legal issues, acknowledging their lack of formal training, there is no cause for extending this margin to straightforward procedural requirements that a layperson can comprehend as easily as a lawyer." Jourdan v. Jabe, 951 F.2d 108, 109 (6th Cir. 1991); Cone v. Rainbow Play Sys., No. CIV 06-4128,2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17489, at *4 (D.S.D. Mar. 5, 2008) ().
A portion of the relief Vallery seeks in this Motion to Compel responses to his document requests duplicates the relief he sought his Motion for Order of Disclosure and In Camera Review. (Compare Mot. Compel 4-12, ECF No. 69, with Mot. Order Disclosure 1-2, ECF No. 67.) The Court issued a separate ruling on the requests for production of documents to which Vallery sought responses in his separate Motion for Order of Disclosure [ECF No. 102]. When analyzing this Motion to Compel, the Court will only consider the document requests that it has not already addressed. At issue in this Motion, then, are Vallery's requests for production of documents 32 and 33 in set one, and requests 2, 3, and 4 in set two.
1. Request for Production of Documents 32: Set One Vallery asks the Defendants to produce "[t]he full names (first, middle, last) of each member of the Calipatria Prison mailroom in July of 2004." (Opp'n Mot. Compel Attach. #2 Ex. A, at 10, ECF No. 86.)3 Defendants object that the request is improper because it asks them to create a list as opposed to produce documents already in existence. (Id.; see also Opp'n Mot. Compel 2, ECF No. 86.) In response, Vallery maintains that request 32 solicits already-generated records reflecting the names of themailroom employees employed in July 2004 and does not require Defendants to create a list or answer an interrogatory. (Mot. Compel 12-13, ECF No. 69; Reply Mot. Compel 2, ECF No. 94.)
A party may serve on another party a request to produce any designated documents that are in the responding party's possession, custody, or control. Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(a)(1). Nonetheless, a party is not required to prepare new documents solely for their own production. Alexander v. FBI, 194 F.R.D. 305, 310 (D.C. Cir. 2000). "Therefore, Rule 34 only requires a party to produce documents that are already in existence." Id.
Defendants maintain that they must create a list of names of the Calipatria mailroom employees in order to respond to the document request. (See Opp'n Mot. Compel 2, ECF No. 86.) If there are no documents that identify individuals working in the Calipatria Prison mailroom in July of 2004, a request for production of documents is not the proper vehicle for obtaining the information. See Alexander, 194 F.R.D. at 310 (); Goolsby v. Carrasco, No. 1:09-cv-01650 JLT(PC), 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71627, at *20-21 (E.D. Cal. July 5, 2011) (); Robinson v. Adams, No. 1:08-cv-01380-AWI-SMS PC, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60370, at *53 (E.D. Cal. May 27, 2011) ().
Defendants are correct that they are not required to create a list of employees in response to a request for documents. Nevertheless, to the extent that there are any documents in Defendants' custody, control, or possession that identify one or more individuals who worked in the Calipatria Prison mailroom in July of 2004, the documents should be produced. Otherwise, Vallery's Motion to Compel a response to request 32 is DENIED.
2. Request for Production of Documents 33: Set One
Next, the Plaintiff requests documents involving any state tort claims actions and § 1983 civil rights actions that have been filed against each Defendant. (Opp'n Mot. Compel Attach. #2 Ex. A, at 10, ECF No. 86.) The Defendants object because Plaintiff asks for public records that are equally available to him and because the request is overly broad. (Id.) Vallery limits the scope of request 33 to include only actions for conduct of the sort alleged in the Second Amended Complaint; Plaintiff narrowed this request on February 9, 2011, yet the Defendants ignore the modification altogether. (Mot. Compel 13, 35, 39, ECF No. 69.) He contends that he lacks access to the documents because he is indigent and incarcerated. (Id. at 13.)...
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