Opinion ID: 199029
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Stay of Discovery.

Text: 13 The plaintiffs asseverate that the district court erred in denying them the opportunity to conduct discovery before it adjudicated the government's motion for brevis disposition. Trial courts have broad discretion in determining the timing of pretrial discovery, and appellate courts are reluctant to interfere unless it clearly appears that a discovery order was plainly wrong and resulted in substantial prejudice to the aggrieved party. Mack v.Great Atl. & Pac. Tea Co., 871 F.2d 179, 186 (1st Cir. 1989). This discretion obtains where, as here, the question is whether to permit discovery before deciding jurisdictional issues. SeeCrocker v. Hilton Int'l Barbados, Ltd., 976 F.2d 797, 801 (1st Cir. 1992). 14 Here, the plaintiffs' denial of discovery claim fails for two reasons. First, they raise it too late. When the government moved to stay discovery in the district court, the plaintiffs did not file an opposition. See D.P.R. Local Rule 311.5 (stating that [i]f the respondent opposes a motion, he or she shall file a response within ten (10) days after service of the motion). Nor did they present in their opposition to the dismissal motion any developed argumentation as to how additional discovery might advance their cause. Consequently, they forfeited the point. See United States v. Slade, 980 F.2d 27, 30 (1st Cir. 1992) (It is a bedrock rule that when a party has not presented an argument to the district court, she may not unveil it in the court of appeals.); see also Sunview Condo. Ass'n v. Flexel Int'l, Ltd., 116 F.3d 962, 964 (1st Cir. 1997) (holding that plaintiffs who fail to preserve their rights below cannot appeal on the ground that they were denied jurisdictional discovery). 15 In all events, the plaintiffs have not shown an entitlement to pretrial discovery. Where, as here, a defendant challenges a court's jurisdiction, the court has broad discretion to defer pretrial discovery if the record indicates that discovery is unnecessary (or, at least, is unlikely to be useful) in regard to establishing the essential jurisdictional facts. See Noonan v.Winston Co., 135 F.3d 85, 94 (1st Cir. 1998); St. Clair v. City of Chico, 880 F.2d 199, 201-02 (9th Cir. 1989). Orders staying discovery are particularly difficult to set aside in actions against the federal government, where uncontrolled discovery poses a special threat and compelling public policy reasons support stringent limitations on discovery pending the resolution of threshold jurisdictional questions. See 6 James Wm. Moore et al.,Moore's Federal Practice § 26.105[3][c], at 26-269 (3d ed. 2000);cf. Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818 (1982) (suggesting that, until threshold question of qualified immunity is settled in a suit against a public official, unrestricted discovery should not be permitted). 16 In this instance, the plaintiffs never asked for jurisdictional discovery, nor have they explained (even at this late date) how discovery, if allowed, would bear on the narrow jurisdictional issue that lies on the doorstep of this case. On this austere record, the district court did not abuse its discretion in staying discovery pending a resolution of the jurisdictional question. 17