Court Opinion

ID: 9488143
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:37:31.096405+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:43.217279
License: Public Domain

CANBY, Circuit Judge,
joined by D.W. NELSON, Circuit Judge, concurring in the judgment:
I concur in the result reached by the majority, but like Judge Kleinfeld, I take issue with the majority’s formulation of the requisite showing of “actual and substantial prejudice.”
Judge Kleinfeld is quite correct in stating that Martel cannot be expected to show what facts he would have discovered if he had been given time to depose the defendant deputies. As its name implies, “discovery” is the process of learning that which is previously un*998known. It is therefore unrealistic for the majority opinion to require Martel to show “what, if any, facts would have been gained from additional discovery.” I also share Judge Kleinfeld’s concerns with the “rocket docket.”
On the other hand, I agree with Judge Beezer that we cannot assess the denial of an opportunity for discovery in a total vacuum. We must pay some attention to the possible effect on the outcome of the trial. See Martel v. County of Los Angeles, 34 F.3d 731, 739 (9th Cir.1994) (Norris, J., dissenting). Thus, I would require Martel to show that the denial of an opportunity to depose the defendant deputies might reasonably have had an effect on the outcome of his trial. When the denial of discovery is potentially as central as the denial of an opportunity to depose the defendant deputies in this ease, that burden should not be difficult to bear.
Martel, however, has given us nothing. We have no way of knowing the content of the deputies’ testimony, or whether that testimony loomed large in the trial. We do not know whether Martel’s own witnesses destroyed his case. Basking in total ignorance of events at the trial, I am unable to say that the denial of a continuance caused Martel actual and substantial prejudice. I therefore concur in the result reached by the majority.