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Davidson v. Citizens Gas & Coke Utility
Citations: 238 F.R.D. 234; 2006 WL 3193840Docket: No. 1:03-cv-01882-SEB-JPG
Court: District Court, S.D. Indiana; April 27, 2006; Federal District Court
Plaintiffs' objections to the February 9, 2006 ruling by Magistrate Judge John Paul Godich, which denied their Motion to Compel and Motion for Leave to Submit Supplemental Evidence, have been overruled. The District Judge evaluated the objections under the clear error standard outlined in Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(a), determining that a ruling may only be overturned if there is a definite conviction of a mistake. The Magistrate's denial of the Motion to Compel was based on two primary reasons: (1) the motion was filed fourteen months after the allegedly inadequate discovery responses were provided, and (2) the lack of relevance of the requested information regarding individuals who took the WCA test for non-bargaining unit positions, as none of the named plaintiffs had taken this test for that purpose. Although plaintiffs did not dispute the timing of their motion, they provided excuses for the delay and claimed that the Magistrate Judge prejudged the class certification issue. Following the Magistrate’s ruling, the District Court denied class certification on grounds unrelated to the non-bargaining unit issue, citing the inadequacy of the named plaintiffs and counsel as class representatives. The District Judge affirmed the Magistrate's ruling, emphasizing that the delay alone justified the denial of the motion to compel and noting that the issues in the case had been significantly defined by that time, with no representation for non-bargaining unit employees among the plaintiffs. Consequently, the objections have been overruled, and the ruling stands.