UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

FORT WORTH DIVISION

SHELLEY GIPSON,

Plaintiff,

v. No. 4:22-cv-0730-P

WEATHERFORD COLLEGE,

Defendant.

ORDER

Before the Court is Defendant’s Motion for Protective Order 

(“Motion”). ECF No. 59. After consideration of the filing, the Court is 

deeply disturbed by the substance and number of discovery motions filed 

in this case. Such conduct appears to conflict with the Court’s scheduling 

order, which requires Counsel to “abide by the standards of litigation 

conduct for attorneys appearing in civil actions in the Northern District 

of Texas, as outlined in Dondi Properties Corp. v. Commerce Savings & 

Loan, 121 F.R.D. 284 (N.D. Tex. 1988) (en banc).” ECF No. 14. 

Specifically, Dondi requires that “[a] lawyer should not use any form of 

discovery, or the scheduling of discovery, as a means of harassing 

opposing counsel or counsel’s client.” Id. at 288. But “the spirit of Dondi

is completely absent from this latest round of discovery motions.” See 

Ramirez v. Abreo, No. 5:09-CV-189-C, 2010 WL 11565387, at *1 (N.D. 

Tex. Sept. 16, 2010). 

The Court thus ORDERS that all Counsel of record for all Parties 

shall each read: (1) Dondi Properties Corp. v. Commerce Savings & Loan 

Assoc., 121 F.R.D. 284 (N.D. Tex. 1988); (2) the Texas Lawyer’s Creed; 

and (3) the Texas Rules of Professional Conduct. It is further 

ORDERED that all Counsel of record for all Parties shall each certify 

to the Court via an affidavit filed by 5:00 p.m. on February 3, 2023, 

that they have read, understand, and will comply with these three

documents throughout the remainder of this litigation. 

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Failure to comply with this Order will result in monetary sanctions 

being imposed against individual Counsel, the Parties, or both. The 

Court, however, is “confident that, with a renewed sense of the 

professional courtesy expected by the Court, counsel ‘should have little 

difficulty conducting themselves as members of a learned profession 

whose unswerving duty is to the public they serve and to the system of 

justice in which they practice.’” See Ramirez, 2010 WL 11565387, at *1

(quoting Dondi Properties Corp., 121 F.R.D. at 288).

In addition, all Counsel of record and the Parties are ORDERED to 

confer in a face-to-face conference to be held at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, 

February 6, 2023, in the Fourth Floor Jury Room of the Eldon B. 

Mahon United States Courthouse, located at 501 W. 10th Street, Fort 

Worth, Texas 76102. At that time, all Counsel of record and the Parties 

should be prepared to discuss the Motion and the possibility of 

settlement in this case. It is required that this conference be 

conducted in person, as it is the Court’s belief that a personal 

face-to-face meeting is the most productive type of conference. 

The Parties are ORDERED to then prepare and submit a joint 

status report regarding the outcome of the conference on or before 

February 10, 2023. 

SO ORDERED on this 31st day of January 2023.

Mark T. Pittman

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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