Notes from a rules conference on a federal civil complaint initiated by the owner of a former classic car and auto repair shop in Roanoke Rapids show the parties were unable to agree on a joint discovery plan and therefore there would be two proposed plans — one from the plaintiff and one from the defendants which includes the city of Roanoke Rapids and two of its current police officers.

A former Roanoke Rapids police officer, Jamie Hardy, took no position on which plan the court should adopt, a report on the conference filed Tuesday shows.

The notes also show that the collection of discovery in the case will take months.

 In addition to the city and officers Antonio Seward and Jayme Shelburne, Vivian Pompliano, the owner of the former Pomp Boys Motors, is suing customers or representatives of the customers — Vickie Evans, Dennis Harvey, Rose Beacham and L&R Motor Company.

Before discovery can commence, however, a pending motion on behalf of Harvey and Evans must be considered by the court, one in which they have asked for dismissal or to stay the pending arbitration. “The motion asks that the entire case be sent to AAA Arbitration and commencing discovery before that motion is decided is counter to public policy underlying arbitration.”

The notes say, “Discovery has, for the most part, completed in the arbitration and discovery in this action would allow (the) plaintiffs to reopen discovery.”

Therefore, the parties ask that discovery commence after the various arbitration motions are decided.

Discovery plan 

The parties propose the following discovery plan:

Discovery will be needed on these topics:

All factual allegations, claims, and alleged damages asserted in plaintiff’s complaint against all defendants and all defenses raised by all defendants.

Expert discovery

Discovery may commence immediately after the court rules on the pending Harvey and Evans motion.

It will be completed by nine months after the court rules on the pending Harvey and Evans motion.

The dispositive motions deadline will be 10 months after the court rules on the pending Harvey and Evans motion.

The deadline for motions to join additional parties or for the plaintiff and defendants to otherwise amend the pleadings is three months after the court rules on the pending motion.

Unless a party agrees to a different limit, the following discovery limits shall apply:

A maximum of 25 questions for the plaintiff per defendant and a maximum of 25 per defendant.

A maximum of 25 requests for inspection for the plaintiff per defendant and a maximum of 25 requests per defendant.

A maximum of 15 requests for admission for the plaintiff per defendant and a maximum of 15 per defendant.

Because this lawsuit involves a municipal defendant and law enforcement functions, the parties agree that they will propose a mutually agreeable protective order to the court prior to the production or disclosure of any discoverable sensitive law enforcement information, including any such information that may be stored electronically.

At issue is Pompliano’s argument is that harassment by the police department led to the demise of her business.