| In Cases
Against NYPD Crackdowns on Protests End of
Deposition Dispute Amid Rocket Docket
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
March 2 – Amid protests in New
York City after the killing of
George Floyd, in Mott Haven in
The Bronx on June 4, 2020
police officers stood on top
of a car and smashed trapped
people in the head, while
pepper spraying them.
On January
14, 2021, New York State
Attorney General Letitia James
sued New York City and Mayor
Bill De Blasio, Police
Commissioner Dermot Shea and
Chief of Department Terence
Monahan, who has personally
present for the Mott Haven
beat down.
On
February 22 in in a rare
in-person proceeding in the
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York,
SDNY Chief Judge Colleen
McMahon held a proceeding.
Inner City Press covered it,
also in-person, below.
Now on
March 2, the State and City
have agreed on most deadlines,
except for the end of
depositions: "March 18, 2021:
Initial Disclosures Due
March 25, 2021: First Request
for Documents and First Set of
Interrogatories Due
April 8, 2021: Defendants to
provide proposed date for
completion of document
production April 26, 2021:
Objections and Responses due;
Rolling production begins
July 1, 2021: Deadline to
depose class plaintiffs:
September 1, 2021: Expert
reports must be exchanged
September 10, 2021: Class
Certification Motions Due
December 31, 2021: Deadline
for all fact and expert
discovery The only matter upon
which the parties could not
agree was whether a deadline
should be imposed for
depositions. Plaintiffs
maintain that a November 30
deadline to conclude
depositions will aid the
parties in resolving any
disputes and completing
discovery on time. Defendants
believe that depositions
should be allowed up until the
end of discovery on December
31. Counsel welcome a
conference with Your Honor."
If and when Chief
Magistrate Judge Gabriel W.
Gorenstein holds this
conference, Inner City Press
will report on it.
The lawyers
were spread out, with the
City's Corporation Counsel in
the jury box, and one of AG
James' lawyers in the gallery
with Inner City Press.
Judge
McMahon said she did not want
these cases to hang around,
and would put them on a
"rocket docket." She said
amended pleaders are due March
5, with motions to dismiss
three weeks after that. All
discovery must be completed by
the end of the year. There are
political and electoral
ramifications.
One of the City's
lawyers began to ask for a
stay, saying getting Civilian
Complaint Review Board
documents will not be
possible. Judge McMahon cut in
and said no, she would write
"Denied" on any such motion,
that other documents can
surely be produced.
Chief
Magistrate Judge Gabriel W.
Gorenstein will handle
discovery disputes.
In the
docket is a letter from the
Detectives Endowment
Association; Judge McMahon
surmised they may feel that
the City will not adequately
represent their interests.
Judge McMahon
said this was her first time
on the bench in her 24th floor
courtroom since a trial in
Fall 2020. She added that
there will be no more masks or
plexiglass when she next meets
the parties.
What will be the
political situation by then,
for the state Attorney General
and the Governor?
The lead case is
People of the State of New
York v. City Of New York et
al., 21-cv-322 (McMahon /
Gorenstein)
***
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