Black Davis Polk Lawyer Says ‘Justice’ Backs More Discovery Time

A Black former Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP attorney suing for alleged race bias and retaliation told a federal court the “interests of justice” support his bid for more time to serve discovery requests on the firm even if Covid-19 doesn’t provide good cause for his prior missed deadline, court records show.

Kaloma Cardwell’s Monday filing with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York is a further response to the court’s July 7 order requiring him to justify his failure to serve his discovery demands on Davis Polk by March 2, as set by Judge Gregory H. Woods in a scheduling order.

Cardwell renewed his argument that good cause exists to excuse the missed date and to allow him two weeks to serve document and other requests for information on the firm. He cited a “constellation of factors,” including the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in New York and his resulting relocation to North Carolina.

He personally experienced Covid-19-like symptoms for several weeks and lost a family member to the disease, Cardwell said in his July 13 motion for a modification of Woods’ original scheduling order.

But Davis Polk pushed back on that argument. Cardwell left for North Carolina March 13, more than a week after missing the March 2 deadline, the firm said in its July 16 response to the motion. Cardwell also pointed to his need to draft and file his amended complaint by the same date, but Woods already advised the parties that wouldn’t necessarily be viewed as good cause for altering the scheduling order, the firm said.

Good cause exists because he and his counsel worked diligently and tirelessly on the amended complaint, despite his counsel prosecuting the case “entirely for free,” and the need to brace for “the looming public health crisis,” Cardwell said in his reply brief.

Davis Polk is a legal powerhouse yet is looking to avoid his attempt to rectify institutional racism on “a non-merits-based technicality,” he said.

Justice dictates that he shouldn’t be so severely punished for “a single, unintentional mistake” even if Covid-19 and related circumstances don’t excuse his discovery failure, Cardwell said.

“This case—and all racial discrimination cases, quite frankly—deserves a better outcome than that,” he said.

David Jeffries represents Cardwell. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP represents Davis Polk and eight individual defendants.

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The case is Cardwell v. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:19-cv-10256, reply memo in support of motion to modify scheduling order 7/20/20.