Bring discovery motions within 30 days in Kansas Federal Court

The United States District Court for the District of Kansas Local Rule 37.1 limits the time for bringing discovery motions to 30 days. It states:

Any motion to compel discovery in compliance with D. Kan. Rules 7.1 and 37.1 must be filed and served within 30 days of the default or service of the response, answer, or objection that is the subject of the motion, unless the court extends the time for filing such motion for good cause. Otherwise, the objection to the default, response, answer, or objection is waived.

D. Kan. Rule 37.1(b).

The trigger for the 30-day period is the date a party serves, or was required to serve, its discovery responses, and it is not tolled to account for the time parties spend engaged in efforts to resolve a discovery dispute. The parties themselves may not agree to extend the 30-day deadline; they must move the court for an extension for good cause or risk waiving any discovery objections[1].

The reported and unreported caselaw are replete with holdings striking untimely motions to compel to arguably inadequate discovery responses. In one recent case, the responding party, in response to a request for production, objected to the production of documents that both parties knew existed and were in defendant’s possession. Instead of moving to compel, pursuant to Local Rule 37.1, the propounding party moved for sanctions. That motion was denied. More than 30 days later, the propounding party moved to compel production of those same documents, and the court denied the motion as untimely.

In The United States District Court for the District of Kansas, a party has only 30 days to compel discovery responses or forever waive any objecti