UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 06-1149
JAMES B. LLOYD, JR.; KIMBERLY LLOYD,
Plaintiffs - Appellants,
versus
GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION,
Defendant - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Rock Hill. Cameron McGowan Currie, District
Judge. (0:05-cv-01495-CMC)
Submitted: September 11, 2006 Decided: September 28, 2006
Before WILKINSON and KING, Circuit Judges, and HAMILTON, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Mandy D. Powers-Norrell, NORRELL & POWERS-NORRELL, LLC, Lancaster,
South Carolina, for Appellants. Robert D. Hays, Franklin P.
Brannen, Jr., Jennifer A. Simon, KING & SPALDING, LLP, Atlanta,
Georgia, for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
See Local Rule 36(c).
PER CURIAM:
James B. Lloyd, Jr., and Kimberly Lloyd appeal a district
court order granting summary judgment to General Motors Corporation
(“GMC”), dismissing their products liability claim and denying
their motion for an extension of time to supplement the expert’s
disclosures. On appeal, the Lloyds assert there was a genuine
issue of material fact with respect to their claim. The Lloyds
further assert the district court’s order granting summary judgment
was premature and the order denying their motion for an extension
of time to supplement the expert’s disclosure was an abuse of
discretion. Finding no error, we affirm.
The grant or denial of summary judgment is reviewed de
novo. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242 (1986).
Summary judgment is appropriate when there is no genuine issue of
material fact, given the parties’ burdens of proof. Fed. R. Civ.
P. 56(c); Anderson, 477 U.S. at 247-49. In determining whether the
moving party has shown that there is no genuine issue of material
fact, a court must assess the factual evidence and all inferences
to be drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the non-moving
party. Id., 477 U.S. at 255.
We find the Lloyds failed to contradict in any fashion
GMC’s expert opinion that the air bag functioned properly. The
Lloyds’ evidence regarding the speed of the vehicle at time of
impact was tenuous at best.
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We further find the district court’s order granting
summary judgment was not premature. The Lloyds should have filed
an affidavit under Rule 56(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure stating the reasons why they had not had a chance to
complete discovery. Harrods v. Sixty Internet Domain Names, 302
F.3d 214, 244-45 (4th Cir. 2002).
We further find the district court did not abuse its
discretion in denying the Lloyds’ motion for an extension of time
in which to supplement the expert’s disclosures. See Carefirst of
Md., Inc. v. Carefirst Pregnancy Ctrs., Inc., 334 F.3d 390, 396
(4th Cir. 2003) (stating standard of review). The Lloyds waited
for nearly six weeks after the report was due to seek an extension
of time. Absent extraordinary circumstances, the district court
properly denied the motion.
Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order. We
dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions
are adequately presented in the materials before the court and
argument would not aid the decisional process.
AFFIRMED
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