McDowell v. Smith

No. 1:24-cv-00500-SAB (PC) (E.D. Cal. May 27, 2025) · United States District Court for the Eastern District of California · May 27, 2025 · No. No. 1:24-cv-00500-SAB (PC)

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted defendants’ motion to stay merits-based discovery and vacate discovery and dispositive-motion deadlines. The stay remains in effect until the court rules on defendants’ pending summary-judgment motion concerning exhaustion of administrative remedies.

Holdings

  1. For good cause, the court may stay discovery directed to the merits while a potentially dispositive motion concerning exhaustion is pending, because resolution of that motion may eliminate the need for merits-based discovery.
  2. The court vacated the discovery and dispositive-motion deadlines and authorized resetting them, if necessary, after resolution of the pending summary-judgment motion.

Questions Presented

  1. Whether the court should stay merits-based discovery while Defendants' potentially dispositive exhaustion-based summary-judgment motion was pending.
  2. Whether the court should vacate the existing discovery and dispositive-motion deadlines during the stay.

Disposition

other

Cases Cited (8)

  • Dichter-Mad Family Partners, LLP v. U.S., 709 F.3d 749, 751 (9th Cir. 2013) (per curiam)(followed)
  • Hunt v. County of Orange, 672 F.3d 606, 616 (9th Cir. 2012)(followed)
  • Survivor Media, Inc. v. Survivor Prods., 406 F.3d 625, 635 (9th Cir. 2005)(followed)
  • Hallett v. Morgan, 296 F.3d 732, 751 (9th Cir. 2002)(followed)
  • Little v. City of Seattle, 863 F.2d 681, 685 (9th Cir. 1988)(followed)
  • Albino v. Baca, 747 F.3d 1162, 1166, 1170-71 (9th Cir. 2014) (en banc)(followed)
  • Gibbs v. Carson, No. C-13-0860 THE (PR), 2014 WL 172187, at *2-3 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 15, 2014)(followed)
  • Wyatt v. Terhune, 315 F.3d 1108, 1115 n.7 (9th Cir. 2003)(limited)

Cited In (0)

No citing cases on record yet.

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