MEMORANDUM OPINION
This matter is before the Court on defendant’s motion for sanctions, to dismiss, or for summary judgment. For the reasons discussed below, the motion for summary judgment will be granted.
I. BACKGROUND
Plaintiff and co-borrower Doris Muellner obtained a TERI Graduate Loan in August 2005 from Bank of America, N.A. while plaintiff was attending Suffolk University Law School. See Am. Compl. ¶ 2; Defendant’s Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Motion for Sanctions[ ] Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative Motion for Summary Judgment (“AES Mem.”) at 6; see also Memorandum of Law in Support of the Motion to Dismiss Submitted by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency/Ameriean Education Services [Dkt. #4-1], Ex. A (Cosigned Loan Request/Credit Agreement — Information Page). Defendant American Education Services (“AES”) serviced the loan. 1 Am. Compl. ¶ 3; AES Mem. at 7.
A. Plaintiff’s Allegations
According to plaintiff, AES erroneously reported the loan delinquent to three credit reporting agencies, see Am. Compl. ¶¶ 13-14, and thus is responsible for the publication of “factually inconsistent statements ... on or around the period of August, 2009 through December, 2009,” id. ¶ 37, which have “injured and continue to injure [him],” id. ¶ 49. Plaintiff further *31 has alleged that, “[t]o the extent that AES knew or should have known the harm its action would cause ... [its] actions are malicious.” Id. ¶ 48. He demands damages of $100,000 “for defаmatory statements for each publication,” id. at 15, and injunctive relief calling for “[r]emoval of all delinquencies previously reported,” id. at 16.
B. Defendant’s Representations
Plaintiff had been granted a forbearance which was to expire on May 30, 2009. AES Mem., Affidavit of Shelly K. Bowman in Support of [Defendant’s] Motion for Summary Judgment (“Bowman Aff.”) ¶ 2. On or about April 16, 2009, AES notified plaintiff of the impending end of the forbearance period. Id., Bowman Aff., Ex. 6 (Letter to plaintiff from AES dated April 16, 2009). On June 1, 2009, plaintiff requested a hardship forbearance. Id., Bowman Aff. ¶ 3; see id., Bowman Aff., Ex. 7 (Hardship Forbearance Form for Federal Family Education Loan Programs Stafford/SLS/PLUS/Consolidation Loans dated June 1, 2009). AES denied the request because plaintiff had submitted it on the incorrect form, id., Bowman Aff. ¶ 4, and sent plaintiff a blank copy of the correct form, id., Bowman Aff., Ex. 9 (Letter from AES to plaintiff dated June 20, 2009 with attachments). Its notice to plaintiff included the following statement:
It is important to continue to make payments until your alternative repayment option has been approved.... If your loan[ ] becomes delinquent, collection activities will continue until the account is brought current either by payment or a retroactively applied forbearance. Any forbearance retroactively applied will not result in the retraction of any negative reports on your credit file.
Id., Bowman Aff., Ex. 9 (emphasis added). Plaintiffs second request for a hardship forbearance on July 8, 2009, again submitted on the incorrect form, was denied. Id., Bowman Aff. ¶¶ 6-7; see id., Bowman Aff., Ex. 11 (Letter from AES to plaintiff dated July 14, 2009). “As of July 31, 2009, [ ]plaintiff had made no payments to the account,” id., Bowman Aff. ¶ 8, and as a result, “[p]laintiff was reported to the national credit reporting agencies as thirty (30) days delinquent,” id., Bowman Aff. ¶ 9. After having made no payment by the end of August 2009, “[p]laintiff was reported to the national credit reporting agencies as sixty (60) days delinquent.” Id., Bowman Aff. ¶ 10.
Plaintiffs third request for a forbearanсe was submitted on the proper form. Id., Bowman Aff., Ex. 13 (Letter from plaintiff to AES dated September 3, 2009, and Privately Insured Loan Repayment Option Form). On September 11, 2009, AES “granted the forbearance request and retroactively applied the forbearance to June 1, 2009 ending on November 30, 2009. ” Id., Bowman Aff. ¶ 12; see id., Bowman Aff., Ex. 14 (Deferment/Forbearance Loan Declaration dated Seрtember 11, 2009).
C. Discovery and Court Proceedings
The Court granted in part and denied in part defendant’s first motion to dismiss,
see generally Edmond v. Am. Educ. Servs.,
No. 10-0578,
*32 Defendant’s counsel served initial disclosures on plaintiff on January 21, 2011, see AES Mem., Ex. 3 (Defendant’s Initial Disclosures), and requests for written discovery on February 2, 2011, id., Ex. 4 (Certificate of Discovery). Counsel sent these documents to plaintiff by first-class mail and he represents that the mail had not been returned as undeliverable. AES Mem. at 2. When he did not receive a timely response, counsel contacted plaintiff, who stated that he had not received the materials. Id. Plaintiff asked defendant’s counsel to send duplicates to another address that plaintiff provided and counsel complied. Id.; see id. Ex. 5 (email exchange). According to defendant’s counsel, plaintiff requested additional time to respond to the discovery requests, and counsel asked that plaintiff respond by March 31, 2011. AES Mem. at 2. Plaintiff countered that “no such [discovery] materials are in [his] possession,” and he remarked that “[defendant offered [no] proof said materials were mailed or received.” Memorandum of Law in Support of Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss or in the Aternative for Summary Judgment (“Pl.’s Opp’n”) at 2.
Plaintiff did not appear for the post-discovery status hearing on April 4, 2011. He neither notified the Court of his expected absence, sought to reschedule the hearing nor otherwise explained his failure to appear. The Court continued the matter to April 14, 2011 at 9:00 a.m., and in addition to electronic notice of the new hearing date, the deputy Clerk of Court mailed a copy of the docket entry to plaintiff at his address of record. 2 Plaintiff did not appear on April 14, 2011, and the Court issued an Order setting deadlines for dispositive motions. 3 In addition to electronic notice, the deputy Clerk of Court sent a coрy of the April 14, 2011 Order to plaintiff by certified mail.
According to defendant’s counsel, as of May 6, 2011, the date on which the instant motion was filed, plaintiff had not responded to AES’s discovery requests. AES Mem. at 2. “[0]ther than [AES’s] initial disclosures ..., no discovery has taken place in this case.” Id. at 6. Plaintiff reports that he now “is prepared to fully comply with an amended discovery process,” PL’s Opp’n at 2, and he requests additional time for the completion of discovery, see id. at 5, 8.
II. DISCUSSION
A. Defendant’s Motion for Sanctions and Motion to Dismiss
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide for the imposition of sanctions on “a party ... [who] fails to obey an order to provide or permit discovery.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(b)(2)(A). Such sanctions include “dismissing the action ... in whole or in part,” Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(b)(2)(A)(v), and “prohibiting the disobedient party from supporting ... [a] designated claim[ ] ..., or from introducing designated matters in evidence,” Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(b)(2)(A)(ii).
AES first argues that it is prejudiced by plaintiffs failure to supply timely responses to its discovery requests. See AES Mem. at 2-3. Faced with only “the bald allégations of the Amended Complaint,” the absence of any evidence to support *33 plaintiffs allegations is “putting [AES] at a severe disadvantage and prejudicing the defense.” Id. at 2. Next, AES asserts that, by failing to appear for the post-discovery status hearings, plaintiffs “misconduct ... has burdened the judicial process,” and any extension of time for plaintiffs discovery responses serves only to “cause even further delay.” Id. at 4. Lastly, AES argues that the imposition of discovery sanctions would deter such conduct in the future. Id. For these reasons, AES asks that the Court either dismiss the Amended Complaint or “prohibid plaintiff] from the introduction of any evidence not previously provided to [AES].” Id. at 5. In the alternative, AES moves to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(b) for plaintiffs failure to comply with court orders and otherwise to prosecute this case. See AES Mem. at 5-6. “This is an uncomplicated case and at a certain point, [AES] ought to be freed of the anxiety of litigation that ... plaintiff has failed to diligently pursue.” Id. at 6.
Plaintiff generally denies having committed any act of misconduct, see Pl.’s Opp’n at 3-4, and attributes his failure to engage in discovery to “severe economic hardship resulting from the unexpected and dire circumstances faced by [plaintiff]” from October 2010 through April 2011, id. at 3; see id. at 2 n. 1. 4 These circumstances, he claims, rendered him completely unable “to access vital basic resources to continue litigation,” id. at 4, and thus “adversely affected this case leading to delays and unforeseen inabilities to complete the discovery process as scheduled,” id. at 2. Any delay, plaintiff argues, was “the direct result of abhorrent circumstances,” and was not of such duratiоn that it has prejudiced AES. Id. at 4. He claims that he “is now in a position to resume full complianee and diligence” if the Court were to “extend discovery ... and allow this case to move forward.” Id. at 5.
The Court “has broad discretion to impose sanctions for discovery violations.”
Bonds v. District of Columbia,
The Court deems dismissal too severe a discovery sanction in this сase. Plaintiffs discovery failures have caused *34 AES inconvenience and the' unnecessary expenditure of resources, but are not of such magnitude as to have caused it actual prejudice. Plaintiffs failure to appear for court hearings has not gone unnoticed; nevertheless, the Court is not convinced that a discovery sanction is useful either to address any prejudice to the judicial system or to deter similar conduct in the future. AES’s motion to dismiss and for sanctions under Rules 37(b)(2)(A)(v) and 41(b) will be denied.
Additionally, because the Court is wholly unpersuaded by arguments put forth in plaintiffs opposition to AES’s motion for sanctions, the request for additional time to complete discovery will be denied. Plaintiff is not the typical
pro se
litigant, and “this is not a case of an unwitting litigant made to suffer for the sins of [his] attorney.”
Bristol Petroleum,
B. Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment
1. Summary Judgment Standard
The Court may grant summary judgment “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and [that it] is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). The moving party bears the “initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for [its] motion, and identifying those portions of the pleadings, depositions, answеrs to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits which [it] believe[s] demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.”
Celotex Corp. v. Catrett,
In considering whether there is a triable issue of fact, a court must draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party.
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.,
2. Plaintiff Does Not Show that the Report of Delinquency is False
Under District of Columbia law, a plaintiff making a claim of defamation must show:
(1) that the defendant made a false and defamatory statement concerning the plaintiff; (2) that the defendant published the statement without privilege to a third party; (3) that the defendant’s fault in publishing the statement amounted to at least negligence; and (4) either that the statement was actionable as a matter of law irrespective of special harm or that its publication caused the plaintiff special harm.
Beeton v. District of Columbia,
“A statement is ‘defamatory’ if it tends to injure the plaintiff in his ... trade, profession or community standing, or lоwer him ... in the estimation of the community.”
Moss v. Stockard,
AES argues that plaintiff “has not and cannot offer any evidence to support any of the elements to support a claim for defamation.” AES Mem. at 9. Specifically, AES asserts thаt plaintiffs “account was in fact delinquent” because, when reports to the credit agencies were made, “the forbearance had not been granted and no payments had been made on the account.” Id. Further, AES argues that plaintiff provides “no evidence to demonstrate that he has suffered any damages as a result of the alleged defamation.” Id. at 10.
At this stage of the proceedings, it is plaintiffs burden to establish the existence of a genuine issue of material fact in dis
*36
pute — here, it is expected that he would point to materials in the record, such as depositions, documents, or interrogatory answers, to challenge AES’s assertion that his loan was delinquent at the time AES submitted its reports to the credit reporting agencies. Instead, plaintiff merely claims to have “physical evidence that is likely corroborated by the discovery materials defendant has yet to provide” him, from which he apparently intends to show that “the alleged publication was false.” Pl.’s Opp’n at 7;
see also
Addendum to Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss or in the Alternative Summary Judgment (“PL’s Addendum”) at 4. He neither describes the physical evidence in his possession nor indicates what corroborating discovery materials AES may have. Plaintiffs opportunity to obtain information through discovery has passed, leaving him with an opposition resting solely on the allegations of his Amended Complaint.
See
PL’s Opp’n at 6-7. Plaintiff does not “come forward with specific facts showing that therе is a genuine issue for trial,”
Matsushita Elec. Indus.,
III. CONCLUSION
The Cоurt concludes that, although discovery sanctions are not warranted, plaintiff has not shown good cause to extend the time for discovery. AES has met its burden on summary judgment by showing that the reports of delinquency of plaintiffs student loan in 2009 were not false, and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Accordingly, AES’s motion for sanctions and to dismiss will be denied, and its motion for summary judgment will be granted. An Order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.
Notes
. "[T]he Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency ... operates commercially under the fictitious name ‘American Education Services’ (’AES’).” AES Mem., Bowman Aff. ¶ 1.
. Plaintiff had been granted a CM/ECF password on or about June 22, 2010, and thereby "consented] to electronic service of all documents,” and became "rеsponsible for monitoring [his] e-mail account[], and, upon receipt of notice of an electronic filing, for retrieving the noticed filing.” LCvR 5.4(b)(6).
. Plaintiff left a voicemail message with a court reporter explaining that his car broke down en route from North Carolina to Washington, DC, and that he would not arrive on time for the hearing.
. Plaintiffs opposition provides no еxplanation whatsoever as to the hardship he allegedly suffered during this period of time; instead he directs the Court's attention to filings made in a related case. See Edmond v. Rogers, No. 10-0495 (D.D.C. filed Mar. 26, 2010).
. Plaintiff's failure to make out a defamation claim also dooms any recovery under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, see 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681—1681x, which allows a consumer to bring a defamation suit "with respect to the reporting of information ... to a consumer reporting agency” if such information is "false [and] furnished with malice or willful intent to injure such consumer.” 15 U.S.C. § 1681h(e).