UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK --------------------------------------------------------------- X
JERRY TOTH, individually and on behalf of T.T.,
Plaintiff, : MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER – against – : 21-CV-4245 (AMD) (JAM)
NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION,
Defendant.
--------------------------------------------------------------- X ANN M. DONNELLY, United States District Judge:
On September 14, 2023, then-Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes 1 granted a stay of
discovery pending resolution of the plaintiff’s motion to amend and the defendant’s cross-motion
for partial dismissal on the pleadings. Before the Court are the plaintiff’s objections to that
decision, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(a). For the reasons explained below,
the Court finds no basis on which to set aside Judge Reyes’s order, and the plaintiff’s objections
are overruled.
BACKGROUND
Familiarity with the facts is assumed. (See generally ECF No. 27 at 1–5 (detailing the
factual background of this case).) The plaintiff commenced this action individually and on
behalf of his minor child, T.T., against the New York City Department of Education, alleging
violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”), 20 U.S.C. §§ 1400 et
seq. (See ECF No. 1.) The Court granted the plaintiff leave to amend the complaint to allege
1 Judge Reyes was sworn in as a United States District Judge on November 14, 2023, and the case was reassigned to Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo.
violations of due process under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”),
42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq., Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 794a, the New
York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”), N.Y. Exec. Law §§ 290 et seq., and the New York
City Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”), N.Y.C. Admin. Code §§ 8-101 et seq., as well as a
violation of a prior pendency order. (See ECF No. 11-1; ECF Order dated Mar. 21, 2022.) On
January 5, 2023, the Court denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss the amended complaint for
failure to state a claim. (See ECF No. 27.)
On July 1, 2023, the plaintiff moved for leave to amend the complaint again; he seeks to
add nine plaintiffs and a proposed class claim under the NYCHRL. (ECF No. 44.) The plaintiff
also filed a proposed Second Amended Complaint. (Id.)
While the motion to amend was pending, the plaintiff filed a motion for discovery related
to the proposed class claim. (See ECF No. 54.) The defendant opposed, because it planned to
file a cross-motion for partial judgment on the pleadings as part of its opposition to the motion to
amend. (ECF No. 57.) The defendant requested that discovery be stayed pending decisions on
the motion to amend and anticipated cross-motion for partial judgment on the pleadings. (Id.)
In a September 14, 2023 Minute Order and Entry, 2 Judge Reyes ordered that discovery
could proceed “solely on [T.T.’s] individual claims,” but that “class discovery is stayed pending
resolution of [the] plaintiff’s motion to amend the first amended complaint to add additional
plaintiff[s] and class claims.” (See ECF Minute Order and Entry dated Sept. 14, 2023.)
The plaintiff filed Rule 72(a) objections on September 18, 2023. (ECF No. 60.) The
defendant opposes. (ECF No. 65.) 3
2 Judge Reyes had a conference with the parties on September 13, 2024. 3 On October 2, 2023, the defendant filed its opposition to the motion to amend and a cross-motion for partial judgment on the pleadings. The defendant asked the Court to dismiss all of the plaintiff’s claims
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LEGAL STANDARD
Rule 72(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which governs a district judge’s
review of a magistrate judge’s non-dispositive pretrial rulings, provides that “[t]he district judge
. . . must consider timely objections and modify or set aside any part of the order that is clearly
erroneous or is contrary to law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(a); see also 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A) (“A
judge of the court may reconsider any pretrial matter . . . where it has been shown that the
magistrate judge’s order is clearly erroneous or contrary to law.”). An order is “clearly
erroneous if, based on all the evidence, a reviewing court ‘is left with the definite and firm
conviction that a mistake has been committed, and “is ‘contrary to law’ when it fails to apply or
misapplies relevant statutes, case law, or rules of procedure.” Storms v. United States, No. 13-
CV-0811, 2014 WL 3547016, at *4 (E.D.N.Y. July 16, 2014) (quoting United States v. Murphy,
703 F.3d 182, 188 (2d Cir. 2012)); Weiner v. McKeefery, No. 11-CV-2254, 2014 WL 2048381,
at *3 (E.D.N.Y. May 19, 2014) (citation and quotation omitted). “This standard is highly
deferential, imposes a heavy burden on the objecting party, and only permits reversal where the
magistrate judge abused his discretion.” Ahmed v. T.J. Maxx Corp., 103 F. Supp. 3d 343, 350
(E.D.N.Y. 2015) (quotations and citations omitted). “Matters concerning discovery generally are
considered ‘nondispositive’ of the litigation.” Thomas E. Hoar, Inc. v. Sara Lee Corp., 900 F.2d
522, 525 (2d Cir. 1990).
DISCUSSION
Judge Reyes’s decision to stay discovery pending resolution of the motion to amend and
the cross-motion for partial judgment on the pleadings was not erroneous or contrary to law. A
except for the IDEA claims. (ECF Nos. 63, 64.) The Court referred the cross-motion to Judge Reyes. (ECF Order dated Oct. 18, 2023.)
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district court has discretion under Rule 26(c) to stay discovery pending the determination of
dispositive motions. See Levy v. BASF Metals Ltd., 755 F. App’x 29, 31 (2d Cir. 2018), cert.
denied, 140 S. Ct. 536 (2019) (holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in
staying discovery pending a motion to dismiss). In evaluating whether to grant a stay, courts
consider (1) the breadth of discovery sought (and the burden of responding to it), (2) the strength
of the underlying motion, and (3) the risk of prejudice to the party opposing the stay. Hong
Leong Fin. Ltd. (Sing.) v. Pinnacle Performance Ltd., 297 F.R.D. 69, 72 (S.D.N.Y. 2013); see
also Ema Fin., LLC v. Vystar Corp., 336 F.R.D. 75, 79 (S.D.N.Y. 2020).
When Judge Reyes granted the stay, there was a pending motion to amend, and the
defendant told him that it planned to file a cross-motion for partial judgment on the pleadings. 4
A motion to amend can be dispositive if a court denies it. See AT&T Corp. v. Atos IT Sols. &
Servs., Inc., No. 21-CV-4550, 2024 WL 379952, at *1 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 1, 2024); see also Ashford
Locke Builders v. GM Contractors Plus Corp., No. 17-CV-3439, 2020 WL 6200169, at *1
(E.D.N.Y. Oct. 22, 2020). 5 And a motion for judgment on the pleadings is always dispositive.
See Jean-Laurent v. Wilkerson, 461 F. App’x 18, 25 (2d Cir. 2012) (citations omitted).
Accordingly, when Judge Reyes granted the stay, the defendant’s dispositive motion was
imminent, and there was a pending motion that could be dispositive depending on its outcome.
In addition, the strength of the anticipated cross-motion weighed in favor of granting a
stay. Pinnacle Performance Ltd., 297 F.R.D. at 72. The defendant argued persuasively that the
plaintiffs’ class claims were unlikely to survive the cross-motion for judgment on the pleadings.
4 The defendant filed the cross-motion a little over two weeks after Judge Reyes ordered that discovery be stayed. (See ECF No. 63.) 5 For this reason, the plaintiff’s claim that a motion to amend is “not a dispositive motion” is not correct. (ECF No. 60-1 at 11.)
4
For example, the defendant argued that the proposed Second Amended Complaint did not allege
specific facts sufficient to state a claim, and that, in any event, the plaintiff’s proposed NYCHRL
class claims were likely time-barred. (See ECF No. 57 at 1–4.)
Moreover, the breadth of the discovery the plaintiff sought and the burden of responding
to it supported granting a stay. As the defendant explained in its letter requesting the stay, the
plaintiff’s “requests for class discovery . . . would be expensive [and] burdensome.” (ECF No.
57 at 3.) This was especially significant because the plaintiff’s class claims had not yet been
“tested by dispositive motions.” (ECF No. 57 at 3.)
In addition, the risk of prejudice to the plaintiff was minimal at best. (See ECF Nos. 8,
60-1.) As the defendants point out, if the Court grants the plaintiff’s motion and denies the
defendants’ cross-motion, discovery would “be no different after the motion to dismiss is
decided than it would be today” because “[i]n the brief amount of time [needed to rule on the
underlying motions], no files will be lost, and memories are not likely to fade as a result.” (Id. at
3.)
The plaintiff’s objections to Judge Reyes’s ruling are unpersuasive. Judge Reyes did not,
as the plaintiff asserts, “litigate the issue of class certification” or “implicitly approve[]” the
defendant’s arguments. (See ECF No. 60-1 at 10.) Nor did Judge Reyes “rule on whether DOE
stated a meritorious claim to dismiss the class action,” or “exceed[ ] his authority” by “crediting
baseless arguments” about the “statute of limitations defense.” (Id. at 11, 13.) Rather, Judge
Reyes evaluated the relevant factors — the nature of the proposed discovery, the burden of
responding to it, the merits of the underlying motion, and the risk of prejudice to the party
opposing the stay — and correctly determined that a stay was warranted.
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The plaintiff’s next objection — that Judge Reyes “stated [that the] plaintiffs moved to
‘add . . . class claims,’” when the plaintiffs “moved to add additional plaintiffs” — does not
identify any error. (ECF No. 60-1 at 8.) Judge Reyes ordered that “class discovery is stayed
pending resolution of plaintiffs motion to amend the first amended complaint to add additional
plaintiff[s] and class claims.” (See ECF Minute Order and Entry dated Sept. 14, 2023.)
Finally, Judge Reyes did not “prevent[ a] deposition.” (ECF No. 60-1 at 14.) He denied
a stay with respect to the claims specific to T.T. and granted a stay with respect to class
discovery pending resolution of the motion and cross-motion.
Accordingly, there was no error, much less a clear error, in Judge Reyes’s decision to
grant a stay of discovery pending resolution of the motion and cross-motion.
CONCLUSION
For these reasons, the Court finds no basis on which to set aside Judge Reyes’s decision
to grant a stay of class discovery pending resolution of the motion to amend and cross-motion for
judgment on the pleadings in this matter. The plaintiff’s objections are overruled.
SO ORDERED.
s/Ann M. Donnelly
ANN M. DONNELLY United States District Judge
Dated: Brooklyn, New York July 26, 2024
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