Whitley v. Javate
- Beth Freeman
- 5:20-cv-00680
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 4
In Whitley v. Javate, Judge Freeman granted a discovery stay, denied a medical examination, denied a moot timing motion, and struck an unauthorized filing.
The order affected Reginald Whitley and Rosana Javate by pausing discovery, denying Whitley’s requested medical examination and timing request, and removing Whitley’s unauthorized declaration from the record.
What happened
In Whitley v. Javate, a state prisoner representing himself sued prison medical personnel under a federal civil-rights law. The defendant had also filed a motion asking for summary judgment, but that motion was not decided in this order.
The court granted the defendant’s request to pause discovery because no discovery requests remained pending and the summary-judgment motion was fully briefed. It denied the plaintiff’s request for an independent medical examination, denied his request to change the time for an appeal as moot, and granted the defendant’s request to strike a late, unauthorized declaration.
Judge Beth Labson Freeman ordered the declaration removed from the record and terminated the four motions addressed in the order. The order did not decide the pending summary-judgment motion or the underlying civil-rights claims.
The detailed version
- Whitley v. Javate · No. 5:20-cv-00680
- Beth Freeman
- Dec. 13, 2021
Background
Reginald Whitley, a state prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, brought a civil-rights action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against medical personnel at Salinas Valley State Prison. The court had previously found that his first amended complaint stated claims that could proceed and ordered service on Rosana Javate. Javate filed a motion for summary judgment, and the parties completed briefing on that motion. This order addressed four other pending motions; it did not rule on the summary-judgment motion.
Discovery stay
Javate moved to stay, or pause, discovery, arguing that no discovery requests remained pending and that her qualified-immunity argument supported a stay. Whitley opposed the motion and argued that discovery requests were still pending. The court found that no discovery requests were pending and that the summary-judgment motion was fully briefed. It therefore granted Javate’s motion to stay discovery.
Independent medical examination
Whitley moved for an independent medical examination under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 35 to support his deliberate-indifference claim. The court explained that Rule 35 allows an examination when a party’s physical or mental condition is in dispute and good cause is shown. It found that Whitley’s physical or mental condition was not the issue; instead, the dispute concerned the constitutionality of Javate’s medical care. The court therefore found no basis for appointing a medical expert under Rule 35.
The court also considered Federal Rule of Evidence 706, which permits an independent expert when specialized testimony is needed to help understand evidence or decide a fact in issue. It found that no such testimony was necessary. The court further stated that Whitley’s status as a person allowed to proceed without paying filing fees did not entitle him to payment for an expert witness under 28 U.S.C. § 1915. The court denied the motion for an independent medical examination.
Motion to change time
Whitley filed a motion to change the time for a direct appeal. Because the court had not yet issued a decision on the summary-judgment motion, and because the Ninth Circuit had dismissed Whitley’s appeal for lack of jurisdiction, the court denied the motion to change time as moot.
Motion to strike
Whitley filed a third-party declaration by Johndell Henderson after briefing on the summary-judgment motion had closed. Javate argued that the filing was unauthorized under Northern District of California Civil Local Rule 7-3(d), which generally prohibits additional papers after a reply is filed without prior court approval. The court agreed that Whitley had not obtained approval before filing the declaration. It granted Javate’s motion to strike and ordered the filing at Docket No. 53 stricken.
Disposition
Judge Beth Labson Freeman’s order granted the motion to stay discovery, denied the motion for an independent medical examination, denied the motion to change time as moot, and granted the motion to strike the unauthorized filing. The order terminated Docket Nos. 33, 34, 52, and 55. It did not decide the pending summary-judgment motion or the merits of Whitley’s civil-rights claims.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.