Update on ACLU v. Sumner County Schools
Here’s the latest update on the ACLU v. Sumner County School Board case I’ve written about here and here. There are two (non-substantive) developments case-watchers should be aware of: (1) The case management order [pdf] has been set for the case, establishing deadlines for the discovery process, pre-trial conference, etc., and (2) The protective order [pdf] (since we’re dealing with minors) has been set for the case. Here are the dates to look forward to:
Amendments to the Pleadings. Any motions to amend the pleadings shall be filed on or before September 30, 2011.
Initial Disclosures. The deadline to exchange the information specified by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a)(1) is July 1, 2011.
Discovery Deadlines. All discovery shall be completed by the close of business on October 17, 2011. All written discovery shall be submitted in sufficient time so that the response shall be in hand by September 30, 2011.
The parties shall declare to opposing parties the identity of their expert witnesses and provide all the information specified in Rule 26(a)(2)(B) by August 15, 2011. Any and all expert depositions shall be completed by October 17, 2011.
Dispositive Motions. The parties propose that all dispositive motions shall be filed by December 22, 2011; any response thereto shall be filed by January 23, 2012. Any reply brief, limited to five pages, shall be filed by February 8, 2012. Briefs shall not exceed 25 pages. If dispositive motions are filed early, the response and reply dates are moved up accordingly.
This is a very quick timeline. ”All discovery” being completed by October 17, 2011 includes fact and expert witness depositions. That’s a lot to cram in. Fact witnesses would be people like the school principals, parents, students, the youth pastor, representatives of the Gideons, teachers, etc. The “all written discovery” refers to interrogatories, requests for production of documents/things, and requests for admission. You have 30 days to respond to those, so if the responses are due on September 30, then the last day you can serve any written discovery is August 31, 2011.
“Dispositive motions” refers to Motions for Summary Judgment generally. The 25-page limit is pretty standard for the Motion and the other side’s Response to the Motion, but a 5-page limit on the moving party’s Reply to the other side’s Response is pretty tight.
All of this rush leads me to believe that Judge Brown is pushing settlement pretty hard (which is how these ACLU cases usually turn out). Even so, there’s some interesting stuff down in the Order:
Prospects for Settlement/Alternative Dispute Resolutions. There are currently no settlement negotiations. Though settlement has been discussed, negotiations have not progressed. The parties are unable to evaluate prospects for Alternative Dispute Resolution until the completion of discovery. A telephone conference to discuss case progress and the possibility of alternative dispute resolution is set for September 8, 2011, at 2:00 p.m. To participate in the conference call, parties shall call 615-695-2851 at the scheduled time.
So, yeah. Even if settlement is being pushed, it looks like it ain’t happening right now.
All the discovery stuff won’t be available to the public, so it looks like it will likely be September before we hear anything more on this. Keep it locked here for updates in the meantime.
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