Campbell v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Full title: PHYLLIS CAMPBELL, Plaintiff, v. WAL-MART STORES, INC., and WANDA NIXON…

Court: United States District Court, N.D. Oklahoma

Date published: Jul 19, 2003

Case No. 01-CV-866-H(J) (N.D. Okla. Jul. 19, 2003)

Opinion

Case No. 01-CV-866-H(J)

July 19, 2003

ORDER

SVEN ERIC HOLMES, District Judge

This matter comes before the Court on the Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge Sam A. Joyner (Docket No. 70), which recommends that the Court deny Defendants' motion for summary judgment (Docket No. 39). On July 10, 2003, Defendants filed Defendants' Motion To Set Aside Report and Recommendation Of Magistrate, And To Grant Defendants' Motion For Summary Judgment (Docket No. 76), which the Court construes as an objection to the report and recommendation pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b).¹ Plaintiff submitted a brief in support of the report and recommendation (Docket No. 76).²

1 Defendant cites to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(a), which applies to non-dispositive motions. Because the report and recommendation addresses a dispositive motion, objections are properly made pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b).

2 At the hearing held July 2, 2003, the parties agreed to an expedited briefing schedule with respect to the report and recommendation. Thus, Plaintiffs submitted a brief in support of the report and recommendation, rather than a response to Defendants' objection.

When a party objects to the report and recommendation of a Magistrate Judge, Rule 72(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides in pertinent part that:

[t]he district judge to whom the case is assigned shall make a de novo determination upon the record, or after additional evidence, of any portion of the magistrate judge's disposition to which specific written objection has been made in accordance with this rule. The district judge may accept, reject, or modify the recommendation decision, receive further evidence, or recommit the matter to the magistrate judge with instructions.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b).

The Court has carefully reviewed the Report and Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge, the objection by the Defendants, and the record. The Court finds that the Report and Recommendation denying Defendants' motion for summary judgment should be, and is hereby, adopted. Accordingly, the Motion for Summary Judgment of Defendants Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and Wanda Nixon (Docket No. 39) is "hereby denied, and Defendant's objection to the Report and Recommendation (Docket No. 76) is hereby overruled.

IT IS SO ORDERED.