Clark v. Department of Corrections
- Paul Gardephe
- 1:20-cv-09419
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Clark v. Department of Corrections, Magistrate Judge Cave ordered discovery steps and arranged Clark’s telephone conference.
James Clark, the defendants, defense counsel, and the officials responsible for the Vernon C. Bain Center were affected by the discovery, document-production, and telephone-conference directives.
What happened
In Clark v. Department of Corrections, the court addressed discovery in James Clark’s lawsuit against New York City Department of Correction officials. Defendants reported producing about 1,000 pages from related severed actions, and the court ordered Clark to continue reviewing them.
The court ordered defendants to produce deposition transcripts by January 25, 2022, and directed Clark to request any additional documents under the federal discovery rules by January 28, 2022. It also scheduled a telephone discovery conference for February 14, 2022.
Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave ordered the official in charge of the Vernon C. Bain Center to make Clark available by telephone for that conference and directed defense counsel to send the order to the facility and arrange the call. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Clark v. Department of Corrections · No. 1:20-cv-09419
- Paul Gardephe
- Jan. 4, 2022
Nature of the Order
This was a discovery-status order, not a decision on the merits of Clark’s claims. The court issued it after a discovery status conference.
Discovery Directives
Defendants reported that they had produced approximately 1,000 pages of documents from actions severed from Clark’s lawsuit. The court directed Clark to continue reviewing those documents.
The court ordered defendants to produce, by January 25, 2022, transcripts of any depositions of defendants or City employees taken in the severed actions. It directed Clark, by January 28, 2022, to request any additional documents in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34(b)(1), which governs requests for documents.
Telephone Conference and Production of Clark
The court scheduled a telephone discovery-status conference for February 14, 2022, at 3:00 p.m. The parties were instructed to be prepared to discuss any remaining fact discovery and the next steps in the case.
The court ordered the warden or other official in charge of the Vernon C. Bain Center to produce Clark, identified by Book and Case No. 1411709283, to a suitable telephone-equipped location by 2:45 p.m. on February 14, 2022, so he could participate in the conference. If the date or time created a hardship, the warden or designee was directed to promptly notify the court. Defense counsel was ordered to transmit the order to the warden immediately and contact the facility to arrange the call. The clerk was directed to mail Clark a copy of the order.
Disposition
The court entered discovery and scheduling directives. It did not rule on the parties’ underlying claims or defenses.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.