Free Notice (Other) - District Court of Delaware - Delaware

Case 1:04-cv-00921-SLR

Document 120

Filed 08/21/2007

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF DELAWARE VURNIS GILLIS, Plaintiff, v. STAN TAYLOR, ET AL., Defendant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

Civil Action No. 04-921-***

PLAINTIFF'S STATUS REPORT

Counsel for the parties in this matter cannot agree on the language to be contained in a joint status report. Therefore, the Plaintiff and Defendants submit separate status reports. Pursuant to the Court's May 21, 2007 Scheduling Order, counsel for the Plaintiff submits this Plaintiff's Status Report. 1. Discovery. The parties have pursued limited discovery as permitted by the

Court's Telephone Conference, held on April 18, 2007. The discovery cut-off date is January 21, 2008. As of this date, discovery can be synopsized as follows: a. On May 22, 2007, the Plaintiff took the (30)(b)(6) deposition of Mr. John Oldigs, the State's medical records custodian. Mr. Oldigs informed Plaintiff that the State has a policy that prisoner's medical records are kept for 60 years from the date of release or death of the prisoner. Additionally, after the deposition, The State Defendants supplied Plaintiff with a list of the current and past medical providers dating back to 1985;

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Case 1:04-cv-00921-SLR

Document 120

Filed 08/21/2007

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b.

On July 5, 2007, the State Defendants submitted a second set of medical records to the Plaintiff. The second set of records contains about 186 pages more than the first set of medical records produced in August, 2006. The earliest date contained in the second set of medical records is still in late 1995. The second set of medical records is largely duplicative of the first set of medical records produced in August, 2006. The Plaintiff has not yet received any documents from the Defendants that cover the period of 1986 to 1995;

c. On or about July 26, 2007, based on the medical provider list from the State, Plaintiff subpoenaed the medical providers for the medical records relevant to the period of 1986 to 1995. As of this date, only the current medical provider, Correctional Medical Services ("CMS"), has responded to the Plaintiff's subpoena; d. Ms. Chelle Mawhinney, Contract Specialist for CMS, responded to Plaintiff's subpoena in a letter dated July 31, 2007. In the letter, Ms. Mawhinney indicated that the CMS is not in possession of medical records pertaining to Mr. Gillis for any time prior to 2001. This is in direct contradiction to the first production of medical records by the Defendants as held by CMS which includes records prior to 2001. Plaintiff plans to correspond with Mr. Mawhinney regarding this discrepancy; e. On August 14, 2007, the State filed its first set of Interrogatories and Request for Production. Plaintiff is in the process of preparing for Plaintiff's responses regarding the same;

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Case 1:04-cv-00921-SLR

Document 120

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f. On August 20, 2007, Plaintiff took the deposition of Ms. Latisha Johnson of CMS, who signed an affidavit for the State stating that she "found no records dating from 1986 to the mid 1990s." Ms. Johnson testified that she and her colleagues looked for the records and produced all the records they could find. They could not find the medical records pertaining to Mr. Gillis for the period from 1986 to 1995. g. Plaintiff wishes to point out to the Court that the deadline to add any additional parties is today, August 21, 2007. The Plaintiff is not able to decide whether to add additional parties due to the lack of information from the documents discovered. As a result, Plaintiff intends to file a motion to reserve the right to amend the complaint and add parties when reasonable discovery is completed. h. Plaintiff has requested the Court hold a conference call to decide discovery disputes with Defendants. The Court has scheduled a conference call for August 23, 2007. 2. At this time, there are no other matters that counsel consider conducive to the just,

speedy and inexpensive determination of this action.

Dated: August 21, 2007

/s/ Zhun Lu Zhun Lu (#4427) Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz LLP The Nemours Building 1007 N. Orange Street Wilmington, DE 19899 Phone (302) 658-9141 Attorneys for Plaintiff

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