Saunds v. Washington

Full title: JESSICA M. SAUNDS, Plaintiff, v. RODERICK L. WASHINGTON, et al.…

Court: United States District Court, Southern District of Georgia

Date published: Oct 25, 2023

No. CV423-280 (S.D. Ga. Oct. 25, 2023)

Opinion

CV423-280

10-25-2023

JESSICA M. SAUNDS, Plaintiff, v. RODERICK L. WASHINGTON, et al., Defendants.

CHRISTOPHER L. RAY, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

ORDER

CHRISTOPHER L. RAY, UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Before the Court is the parties' Rule 26(f) Report. Doc. 17. The District Judge requires that parties structure discovery in four sequential stages. Id. at 4-5. This sequence is clearly articulated in Section IV of the required Rule 26(f) Report form, as is the instruction:

Unless the parties show good cause to proceed otherwise, the parties must propose discovery deadlines that follow this sequential course. In other words, absent a specific showing of good cause, the parties should not propose one deadline to accomplish all discovery measures. Rather, the parties must propose sequential deadlines by which they shall successively accomplish each of the above four areas of discovery.

Id. at 5. In the section of the form provided for the parties to state the cause for any deviation from the required sequence, the parties answered: “No party wishes to alter the sequential course of discovery as proposed by the court.” Id.

Despite the clear instructions from the Court, the discovery schedule proposed does not conform to the required sequence, and the parties have failed to show good cause for their deviation. Specifically, Plaintiff's deadline to furnish expert reports falls before the deadline for written discovery, inspections, and examinations and the deadline for depositions of non-expert witnesses. Id. at 5-7. Defendants' deadline to furnish expert reports also falls before the deadline for depositions of nonexpert witnesses. Id. at 6-7. To be clear, it is the Court's expectation that the parties will set sequential deadlines which will allow them to 1) first complete all fact-based written discovery, inspections and examinations; 2) then to conduct the depositions of non-expert witnesses; 3) then to provide expert disclosures; and 4) then to conduct expert witness depositions. Each stage of discovery should be completed before proceeding to the next. To the extent the parties wish to deviate from this sequence (e.g., by altering the general order of events or having special deadlines for the inspection of the accident scenes and vehicles), they must show good cause for such accommodation in their renewed Rule 26(f) Report.

The parties are DIRECTED to file a revised Rule 26(f) Report no later than November 1, 2023. Finally, the parties' initial Rule 26(f) Report is TERMINATED. Doc. 17.

SO ORDERED.