Opinion ID: 197455
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Denial of Extension of Discovery Deadline

Text: 17 On April 24, 1995, the court set December 29, 1995 as the deadline for discovery. On December 11 Pilgrim noticed five Tufts employees, including Fischer and Moomaw, for depositions to be taken in mid-January 1996. On January 4, 1996, Tufts objected to the proposed depositions as being after the discovery deadline. On January 9, Pilgrim moved for an extension of the deadline that the court then denied. We will overturn a court's denial of a motion to extend discovery only for abuse of discretion. Coyante v. Puerto Rico Ports Auth., 105 F.3d 17, 22 (1st Cir.1997). There is no such abuse here. Pilgrim acknowledges that his failure to ask for an extension prior to the deadline's expiration was an error in judgment. In the next breath, however, he accuses Tufts of delaying delivery of documents, without which he could not properly depose its employees. 18 We cannot agree. First, Tufts did not, as Pilgrim implies, delay in the delivery of these documents. The record reflects that an overly broad discovery order by Pilgrim resulted in a motion to quash and finally in a protection order. Second, Pilgrim's own brief tells us that these documents were delivered on December 21, 1995, 10 days after he noticed the depositions. We fail to understand how Pilgrim can claim that he scheduled the depositions after receiving the documents and then admit that the documents came later. If there was any error here, it was Pilgrim's own.