Joseph Shelby v. Hinds County, Mississippi, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi denied Joseph Shelby’s motion to compel discovery in his First Amendment retaliation lawsuit against Hinds County and related defendants. The court held that the motion was procedurally deficient and untimely under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and the court’s local rules, and that Shelby had not identified discovery requests requiring production of the requested information.

Holdings

1. A motion to compel must include the certifications required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(1) and Local Rule 37(a); attaching email correspondence between counsel does not satisfy those certification requirements.
2. A discovery motion must be filed sufficiently before the discovery deadline to allow time for a response, court ruling, and implementation of the ruling; filing the motion two days before the deadline was untimely.
3. A court cannot compel production under Rule 37 when the movant fails to identify or quote the interrogatory or request for production that sought the information; a party may move to compel only materials that were requested and not produced.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the motion to compel should be denied for failure to include the good-faith conferral certifications required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(1) and Local Rule 37(a).
2. Whether the motion to compel was untimely under Local Rule 7(b)(2)(C) because it was filed only two days before the discovery deadline.
3. Whether the court could compel production when the motion failed to identify or quote the interrogatory or request for production allegedly requiring the requested information.

Disposition

other