Magistrate Judge Tolliver Issues Order Denying Discovery Extension and Motion to Compel Based on Defendants’ Delay

On December 4, 2015, Magistrate Judge Toliver issued an Order (available here) in the S-Line v. B2B Supply case. Defendants sought an extension of time to complete discovery and also an order compelling plaintiff to respond to discovery. The case serves as a good example as to why a litigant should serve discovery and file any motions to compel in a diligent manner. Here, Defendants (i) served their first set of interrogatories “a mere 30 days before the discovery deadline, leaving no time in the discovery period should a motion to compel become necessary,” (ii) scheduled depositions for the last three days of the discovery period, “leaving no room for timely objection”, and (iii) filed their motion four days after the discovery deadline after waiting more than ten months to seek the Court’s resolution of issues with Plaintiff’s responses and objections to Defendants’ requests for production. Based largely on this delay, the Court rejected Defendants’ requested relief.