Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_14-cv-00954/USCOURTS-cand-3_14-cv-00954-13/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 555
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Prison Condition
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Prisoner Civil Rights

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

BRANLETT EUGENE KIMMONS,

Plaintiff,

v.

A. AVILAR,

Defendant.

Case No. 14-cv-00954-JD 

ORDER

Re: Dkt. Nos. 112, 113

Plaintiff proceeds with a pro se civil rights action. Plaintiff has filed two motions that 

contain discovery requests. Plaintiff is informed that the Court generally is not involved in the 

discovery process and only becomes involved when there is a dispute between the parties about 

discovery responses. Discovery requests and responses normally are exchanged between the 

parties without any copy sent to the court. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 5(d) (listing discovery requests and 

responses that “must not” be filed with the court until they are used in the proceeding or the court 

orders otherwise). Only when the parties have a discovery dispute that they cannot resolve among 

themselves should the parties even consider asking the court to intervene in the discovery process. 

The Court does not have the resources to oversee all discovery, and so requires that the parties 

present to it only their very specific disagreements. To promote the goal of addressing only very 

specific disagreements (rather than becoming an overseer of all discovery), the Court requires that 

the parties meet and confer to try to resolve their disagreements before seeking court intervention. 

See Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(a); N.D. Cal. Local Rule 37. Where, as here, one of the parties is a 

prisoner, the Court does not require in-person meetings and instead allows the prisoner and 

defense counsel to meet and confer by telephone or exchange of letters. Although the format of 

the meet-and-confer process changes, the substance of the rule remains the same: the parties must 

Case 3:14-cv-00954-JD Document 114 Filed 03/28/19 Page 1 of 4
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United States District Court

Northern District of California

engage in a good faith effort to meet and confer before seeking court intervention in any discovery 

dispute. Plaintiff’s motions (Docket Nos. 112, 113) are DENIED and plaintiff should seek this 

discovery from defendants.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: March 28, 2019

JAMES DONATO

United States District Judge

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

BRANLETT EUGENE KIMMONS,

Plaintiff,

v.

A. AVILAR,

Defendant.

Case No. 14-cv-00954-JD 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am an employee in the Office of the Clerk, U.S. 

District Court, Northern District of California.

That on March 28, 2019, I SERVED a true and correct copy(ies) of the attached, by 

placing said copy(ies) in a postage paid envelope addressed to the person(s) hereinafter listed, by 

depositing said envelope in the U.S. Mail, or by placing said copy(ies) into an inter-office delivery 

receptacle located in the Clerk's office.

Branlett Eugene Kimmons ID: BG3842

44750 60th Street West

Lancaster, CA 93536 

Dated: March 28, 2019

Susan Y. Soong

Clerk, United States District Court

By:________________________

Case 3:14-cv-00954-JD Document 114 Filed 03/28/19 Page 3 of 4
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United States District Court

Northern District of California

LISA R. CLARK, Deputy Clerk to the 

Honorable JAMES DONATO

Case 3:14-cv-00954-JD Document 114 Filed 03/28/19 Page 4 of 4