Jackson v. Minnesota Department of Human Services

Background

Pro se plaintiff Deidre Sherell Jackson submitted two letter requests asking for an additional 15 to 30 days to complete her discovery requests and respond to discovery requests served by the Minnesota Department of Human Services. She said she needed more time to research and understand how to complete the documents properly.

The Department responded that it had already told Jackson by email that it agreed to a two-week extension, until July 19, 2021, for her to respond to the Department’s discovery requests.

Court’s Analysis

The court addressed the two requests separately. As to Jackson’s request for more time to respond to the Department’s discovery, the court noted that the Department had already agreed to the two-week extension.

As to Jackson’s request for more time to serve discovery on the Department, the court relied on the pretrial scheduling order, which required fact discovery to be completed by November 1, 2021. The court found that Jackson had well beyond 30 days to serve her own discovery requests and had not shown “good cause”—a legally sufficient reason—to extend the existing deadline under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(b)(4).

The court also explained that November 1 was the deadline for completing fact discovery, not merely for starting it. A discovery request must be served far enough in advance for the responding party’s response to be due before the discovery deadline.

Disposition

Magistrate Judge Tony N. Leung ordered that Jackson’s two letter requests, ECF Nos. 81 and 85, were denied without prejudice.