Rood v. Secretary of CDCR, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted the defendant’s motion to stay merits-based discovery and vacate the discovery and dispositive-motion deadlines. The court found good cause because the defendant’s pending summary-judgment motion based on failure to exhaust administrative remedies could resolve the action. Discovery concerning exhaustion remained permissible, and the court stated that deadlines could be reset after resolution of the motion.

Holdings

1. For good cause, the court may stay discovery directed to the merits of a prisoner's claims while a potentially dispositive exhaustion issue is pending; here, all discovery unrelated to exhaustion was properly stayed until final resolution of Defendant's summary-judgment motion.
2. The court vacated the discovery and dispositive-motion deadlines and reserved authority to reset them, if necessary, after resolving the exhaustion-based summary-judgment motion.

Questions Presented

1. Whether merits-based discovery should be stayed while Defendant's potentially dispositive summary-judgment motion based on failure to exhaust administrative remedies is pending.
2. Whether the discovery and dispositive-motion deadlines should be vacated pending resolution of the exhaustion motion.

Disposition

other