Magee v. The Walt Disney Company
- Stewart Aaron
- 1:19-cv-10274
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Magee v. The Walt Disney Company, Judge Aaron accelerated briefing and set deadlines for discovery-stay and judgment-on-the-pleadings motions.
The defendants and Quincy Magee, because the order changed the briefing schedule and set deadlines for the anticipated motion for judgment on the pleadings.
What happened
In Magee v. The Walt Disney Company, the defendants asked to pause discovery while they pursued a challenge to the complaint. The plaintiff responded before his deadline.
The court accelerated the deadline for the defendants’ reply on the discovery-stay motion and ordered them to file a motion for judgment on the pleadings by June 5, 2020. It also set deadlines for the plaintiff’s opposition and the defendants’ reply.
Judge Aaron did not decide whether to stay discovery or whether the complaint should be dismissed; this order only set briefing deadlines and required the defendants to file the motion for judgment on the pleadings.
The detailed version
- Magee v. The Walt Disney Company · No. 1:19-cv-10274
- Stewart Aaron
- May 21, 2020
Background
The defendants filed a memorandum supporting their motion to stay discovery. Their response to that motion was originally due later, but Plaintiff Quincy Magee filed his response on May 14, 2020, before the deadline.
The defendants said the requested stay was based on an anticipated motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), which concerns whether a complaint states a legally sufficient claim. The court noted that the defendants had already filed an answer, so the expected motion would actually be a motion for judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(c). The court also noted that Rule 12(c) uses the same standard as a Rule 12(b)(6) motion.
Court’s Action
The court rejected the defendants’ position that evaluating the anticipated motion would be premature. It stated that the strength of the motion underlying a request to stay discovery is a factor the court must consider and therefore directed the defendants to file the motion.
The court ordered:
- The defendants’ reply, if any, on their pending motion to stay discovery must be filed by June 5,
- - The defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings under Rule 12(c) must be filed by June 5,
- - Magee’s opposition to that motion must be filed by June 19,
- - The defendants’ reply, if any, on the motion for judgment on the pleadings must be filed by June 26, 2020.
Disposition and Effect
This order did not grant or deny the motion to stay discovery and did not decide the motion for judgment on the pleadings. It accelerated the briefing schedule for the discovery-stay motion and established deadlines for the anticipated Rule 12(c) motion and the parties’ briefs. Judge Stewart D. Aaron issued the order on May 21, 2020.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.