Sessoms v. Thornton et al, No. 3:2013cv00714 - Document 102 (N.D. Cal. 2015)
Court Description: ORDER GRANTING 101 STIPULATION TO EXTEND SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND CASE MANAGEMENT HEARING DATES AND FILING DEADLINES.(whalc2, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 8/11/2015)
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Sessoms v. Thornton et al 1 Doc. 102 6 IVOR SAMSON (State Bar No. 52767) ivor.samson@dentons.com BONNIE LAU (State Bar No. 246188) bonnie.lau@dentons.com JESSICA L. DUGGAN (State Bar No. 271703) jessica.duggan@dentons.com DENTONS US LLP 525 Market Street, 26th Floor San Francisco, California 94105-2708 Telephone: (415) 882-5000 Facsimile: (415) 882-0300 7 Attorneys for Plaintiff TIO DINERO SESSOMS 8 13 KAMALA D. HARRIS Attorney General of California JOHN P. DEVINE Supervising Deputy Attorney General SUSAN J. KAWALA (State Bar No. 178612) Susan.Kawala@doj.ca.gov Deputy Attorney General 455 Golden Gate Avenue, Suite 11000 San Francisco, CA 94102-7004 Telephone: (415) 703-5708 Facsimile: (415) 703-5480 14 Attorneys for Defendant DARRIN BRIGHT 2 3 4 5 DENTONS US LLP 525 MARKET STREET , 26TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO , CALIFORNIA 94105-2708 (415) 882-5000 9 10 11 12 15 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 16 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 17 18 TIO DINERO SESSOMS, 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Case No. CV 13-0714 WHA (PR) Plaintiff, v. R.N. HELEN THORNTON; R.N. FRANCES SSEMPEBWA; DR. EDWARD BIRDSONG; DR. KUMAR; DR. POMPAN; DR. JOHN DOWBAK; DR. ELIZABETH B. SCHNEIDER; DR. T.W. WY; DR. BRIGHT; DR. A. ADAMS; G. ELLIS; RANDY GROUNDS, STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO EXTEND SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND CASE MANAGEMENT HEARING DATES AND FILING DEADLINES Defendants. 26 27 28 CASE NO. CV13-00714 WHA (PR) STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO EXTEND SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND CASE MANAGEMENT DEADLINES Dockets.Justia.com 1 STIPULATION 2 Plaintiff Tio Dinero Sessoms and Defendant Darrin Bright, by and through their 3 undersigned counsel, respectfully request that the Court enter the following stipulation pursuant 4 to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b) and Civil Local Rule 6-2 for a brief extension of (1) the 5 opposition and reply brief deadlines and hearing date for Defendant’s motion for summary 6 judgment; and (2) the case management statement deadline and case management conference. 7 In support of this stipulation, the undersigned parties provide the following facts: 8 1. DENTONS US LLP 525 MARKET STREET , 26TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO , CALIFORNIA 94105-2708 (415) 882-5000 9 On May 5, 2015, this Court issued an order setting Defendants’ deadline to file a supplemental motion for summary judgment on June 4, 2015. Due to the withdrawal of 10 Plaintiff’s former pro bono counsel, the Court referred the case to the Federal Pro Bono Project 11 and granted Plaintiff a four-week extension of the deadline to respond. The order also stated that 12 the Court “would also consider a reasonable motion to extend or to continue deadlines (where 13 good cause is shown) brought by new appointed pro bono counsel.” (Dkt. 91.) 14 2. On June 1, 2015, the Court appointed Ivor Samson, Bonnie Lau and Jessica 15 Duggan, all of Dentons US LLP, as pro bono counsel for Plaintiff pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 16 1915(e)(1) and the Court’s Federal Pro Bono Project guidelines. The Court set a briefing 17 schedule on Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, ordered the parties to file a joint case 18 management statement pursuant to Civil Local Rule 16-9 and also scheduled a case management 19 conference. (Dkt. 96.) 20 21 22 3. Defendant Bright filed a “Supplemental Motion for Summary Judgment” on June 4, 2015. (Dkt. 98.) 4. Pursuant to the parties’ stipulation, this Court granted a brief extension of the 23 summary judgment and case management deadlines as follows: Plaintiff’s opposition brief due on 24 August 17, 2015; Defendant’s reply brief due on August 24, 2015; case management statement 25 due on September 3, 2015; and case management conference and hearing on Defendant Bright’s 26 Supplemental Motion for Summary Judgment to be held on September 10, 2015. (Dkt. 99.) 27 28 CASE NO. CV13-00714 WHA (PR) -1- STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO EXTEND SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND CASE MANAGEMENT DEADLINES 1 5. Since being appointed as Pro Bono Counsel, Plaintiff’s counsel has been 2 diligently investigating the facts, including by propounding discovery requests and deposing 3 Defendant Bright last week, on July 29, 2015. A dispute has arisen between the parties regarding 4 Dr. Bright’s refusal to answer certain deposition questions, which may require motion practice. 5 Defendant’s position: During the deposition, counsel for Defendant Bright asserted objections to certain questions based on her assertions that the questions 7 were manifestly irrelevant or were attempting to illicit improper expert testimony 8 from a percipient witness, and instructed Defendant Bright not to answer those 9 DENTONS US LLP 525 MARKET STREET , 26TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO , CALIFORNIA 94105-2708 (415) 882-5000 6 questions. Defense counsel does not believe the questions are relevant, let alone 10 11 critical, to any issues presently before the Court. Plaintiff’s position: Plaintiff’s deposition questions directly relate to Defendant 12 Bright’s rationale for denying Plaintiff an MRI and are therefore critical to 13 Plaintiff’s opposition to the Supplemental Motion for Summary Judgment. 14 Plaintiff’s questions, which Defendant Bright refused to answer, regarding 15 Defendant’s understanding of Plaintiff’s history of his knee condition, the 16 circumstances in which a person would or would not receive an MRI for a 17 suspected torn meniscus and his understanding of the prison policies and 18 procedures are directly relevant to Defendant Bright’s decision to deny Plaintiff’s 19 MRI. In addition, Defendant’s counsel improperly instructed Defendant Bright 20 not to answer certain questions because they purportedly elicited “expert 21 testimony,” even though Defendant has admittedly previously relied on Defendant 22 Bright’s expert opinion regarding Plaintiff’s medical care. Plaintiff’s counsel has 23 prepared a motion to compel responses to those questions. 24 25 The parties are currently in the process of meeting and conferring to potentially resolve this discovery dispute without motion practice. 26 27 28 CASE NO. CV13-00714 WHA (PR) -2- STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO EXTEND SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND CASE MANAGEMENT DEADLINES 1 6. In addition, on the day of his deposition, Defendant Bright provided two additional 2 InterQual printouts documenting additional bases for Defendant Bright’s denial of the MRI, the 3 fundamental issue in this case. Plaintiff’s counsel promptly requested production of all InterQual 4 records pertaining to Plaintiff, which have not yet been produced by Defendant. 5 Plaintiff’s Position: Defendant Bright has testified that the InterQual records form the basis for his denial of Plaintiff’s MRI; accordingly, the other InterQual 7 records relating to Plaintiff may be equally relevant to the denial of the MRI and to 8 resolution of the pending summary judgment motion. Plaintiff’s document request 9 DENTONS US LLP 525 MARKET STREET , 26TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO , CALIFORNIA 94105-2708 (415) 882-5000 6 is neither overbroad nor irrelevant, given that the InterQual criteria is now the 10 claimed lynchpin of Defendant’s entire defense, and there is no question that the 11 request is reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. 12 Defendant’s Position: Defendant’s counsel is currently working on producing 13 relevant documents responsive to Plaintiff’s request, with the understanding that 14 counsel may object to this request as being overbroad and manifestly irrelevant if 15 the documents pertain to conditions unrelated to the one issue remaining in this 16 case after the initial summary judgment motion: whether Dr. Bright was 17 deliberately indifferent to Plaintiff’s medical needs when Dr. Bright denied an 18 MRI of Plaintiff’s right knee because it did not meet the criteria to be considered 19 medically necessary as set forth in Title 15 and InterQual. 20 7. The parties are currently diligently working together to resolve their discovery 21 disputes regarding testimony and documents that go to the heart of the pending summary 22 judgment motion. Resolving these issues necessitate a brief continuance of the summary 23 judgment deadlines to accommodate the additional discovery and a potential motion to compel. 24 Good cause therefore exists to extend the opposition and reply deadlines and hearing date for 25 Defendant Bright’s Supplemental Motion for Summary Judgment, as well as the case 26 management statement deadline and case management conference. 27 28 CASE NO. CV13-00714 WHA (PR) -3- STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO EXTEND SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND CASE MANAGEMENT DEADLINES 1 In light of the above facts, the parties jointly request that the Court briefly extend the 2 summary judgment and case management deadlines, and enter the following stipulation as an 3 Order of the Court: 4 A. Plaintiff shall file his opposition brief by October 19, 2015. 5 B. Defendant shall file his reply brief by October 26, 2015. 6 C. The hearing on Defendant Bright’s Supplemental Motion for Summary Judgment 7 shall be on November 19, 2015 at 8:00 a.m. D. The case management conference shall be on November 19, 2015 at 8:00 a.m. 9 DENTONS US LLP 525 MARKET STREET , 26TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO , CALIFORNIA 94105-2708 (415) 882-5000 8 E. The parties shall file a joint case management statement no later than November 10 12, 2015. 11 Dated: August 7, 2015 12 Respectfully submitted, DENTONS US LLP 13 14 BY: 15 /s/ Bonnie Lau Bonnie Lau Attorneys for Plaintiff TIO DINERO SESSOMS 16 17 18 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 19 20 BY: 21 /s/ Susan J. Kawala Susan J. Kawala Attorneys for Defendant DARREN BRIGHT 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 CASE NO. CV13-00714 WHA (PR) -4- STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO EXTEND SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND CASE MANAGEMENT DEADLINES 1 PROPOSED ORDER 2 Pursuant to Stipulation and for good cause shown, 3 IT IS SO ORDERED. 4 5 Dated: August 11, 2015. 6 BY: Hon. William Alsup United States District Judge 7 8 DENTONS US LLP 525 MARKET STREET , 26TH FLOOR SAN FRANCISCO , CALIFORNIA 94105-2708 (415) 882-5000 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 CASE NO. CV13-00714 WHA (PR) -5- STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO EXTEND SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND CASE MANAGEMENT DEADLINES
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