Stevo v. Frasor

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendants-City officials' motion for summary judgment in action alleging that defendant denied plaintiff due process by shutting off his water due to his failure to install outside meter. While defendants had failed to strictly comply with Local Rule 56.1 by including legal arguments in summary judgment motion itself rather than in separate memorandum and had failed to separately number paragraphs, Dist. Ct. did not abuse its discretion by ignoring said violations and giving plaintiff extra time to file substantive response to defendant's factual statement. Moreover, no prejudice arose out of instant violations where plaintiff had failed to supply sufficient evidence to support his underlying claim. Additionally, successor Magistrate Judge had jurisdiction to enter order on instant summary judgment motion where consent to have original Magistrate Judge resolve case contained notice of right to refuse consent for any successor Magistrate Judge to resolve case, and where neither party registered objection to successor Magistrate Judge within applicable 30-day period.