AKH Co. v. Universal Underwriters Insurance

300 F.R.D. 684, 88 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1326, 2014 WL 2760860, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82775
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJune 18, 2014
DocketNo. 13-2003-JAR-KGG
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 300 F.R.D. 684 (AKH Co. v. Universal Underwriters Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
AKH Co. v. Universal Underwriters Insurance, 300 F.R.D. 684, 88 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1326, 2014 WL 2760860, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82775 (D. Kan. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL

KENNETH G. GALE, United States Magistrate Judge.

Now before the Court is Plaintiff’s “Motion to Compel Production of Documents.” (Doc. [687]*687117.) For the reasons set forth below, the Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part this motion.

BACKGROUND

The above-captioned matter is a declaratory judgment action based on a dispute concerning insurance coverage and the settlement of a trademark dispute involving Plaintiff and a third party. (See Doc. 1; Doc. 75, sealed, at 5-6 (underlying litigation hereinafter referred to as “RT litigation” or “RT case”).) The facts of the case were summarized by District Court in its Order (Doc. 75, sealed) denying Plaintiffs Motion for Partial Summary Judgment (Doc. 7) and Defendant’s Motion to Bifurcate (Doc. 68). The Court incorporates that factual summary herein. (See Doc. 75, sealed, at 4-7.)

The present motion involves Plaintiffs request for an order compelling Defendant to produce documents responsive to certain of Plaintiffs second, third, and fourth sets of Requests for Production of Documents.1 Plaintiff contends Defendant’s responses to the second and third sets were untimely (resulting in a waiver of any objections) and incomplete. Plaintiff further contends that no responses were given to the fourth set. (Doc. 118, at 8.) Plaintiff also disputes certain objections raised by Defendant in response to the discovery requests. Each issue will be addressed in turn.

DISCUSSION

A. Timeliness.

Plaintiff contends that Defendant waived its objections to Plaintiffs second and third document requests by failing to respond within the thirty days allotted by Fed. R.Civ.P. 34. (Doe. 118, at 11-13.) Plaintiff continues that although Defendant sought an extension to respond to the second set, the responses were still late and that no extension was requested or received for the third set. (Id.) Plaintiff also contends that Defendant did not respond to Plaintiffs Fourth Requests in a timely fashion, thus waiving all objections. (Doc. 118, at 36-37.) Defendant responds that its discovery responses and privilege log were timed according to agreements between the parties. Thus, the responses were not “late” and no objections have been waived. (Doc. 129, at 15-17.) These issues are not addressed in Plaintiffs reply. (Doc. 135.) As such, the Court will accept Defendant’s representations as true and decide the issues between the parties on the merits.

B. Standards for Discovery.

Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b) states that “[p]arties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, that is relevant to the claim or defense of any party ... Relevant information need not be admissible at the trial if the discovery appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” As such, the requested information must be both nonprivileged and relevant to be discoverable.

“ ‘Discovery relevance is minimal relevance,’ which means it is possible and reasonably calculated that the request will lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” Teichgraeber v. Memorial Union Corp. of Emporia State University, 932 F.Supp. 1263, 1265 (D.Kan.1996) (internal citation omitted). “Relevance is broadly construed at the discovery stage of the litigation and a request for discovery should be considered relevant if there is any possibility the information sought may be relevant to the subject matter of the action.” Smith v. MCI Telecommunications Corp., 137 F.R.D. 25, 27 (D.Kan.1991). Stated another way, “discovery should ordinarily be allowed unless it is clear that the information sought can have no possible bearing on the subject matter of the action.” Snowden By and Through Victor v. Connaught Lab., 137 F.R.D. 325, 329 (D.Kan.1991), appeal denied, 1991 WL 60514 (D.Kan. Mar. 29, 1991).

The scope of discovery is broad, but not unlimited. If the proponent has failed to [688]*688specify how the information is relevant, the Court will not require the respondent to produce the evidence. Gheesling v. Chater, 162 F.R.D. 649 (D.Kan.1995). In this context, the Court will address the various objections raised document requests at issue.

C. Specific Requests.

1. Claims file.

Plaintiff argues that it “needs the entire claims file to establish its rights” but that Defendant has failed to produce it in its entirety “relying on unsupported claims of privilege.” (Doc. 118, at 14.) Plaintiff continues that Defendant has “withheld thousands of pages of claims file documents based on claims of privilege and has provided other documents with extensive redactions.” (Id.) Plaintiff argues that these documents are not privileged because “decisions on claims handling are part of the insurance company’s everyday business.” (Id.) Plaintiff also argues that “communications explaining, justifying and acting on decisions about defense and settlement are not only highly relevant to proving [Plaintiffs] claims of a duty to defend and settle, but are essential to claims of bad faith.”2 (Id., at 15.) “There is no substitute and no alternative,” according to Plaintiff. (Id.)

Defendant responds that it “did not withhold any documents that pertained to the ordinary course of handling [Plaintiffs] claim.” (Doc. 129, at 17-18.) Defendant argues that it a) “withheld a small volume of documents” encompassing communications between its claim professional and in-house counsel “providing legal advice about coverage issues” and b) documents created within 2 months of the filing of the present action “concern[ing] communications involving legal advice about settlement of the RT Lawsuit and responding to this coverage action.” (Id., at 18.)

The crux of the issue between the parties relates to the point at which Defendant was reasonably anticipating litigation, thus creating a privilege for the documents at issue based on the work product doctrine. The work product doctrine is contained in Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(3)(A) and

protects from discovery all documents and materials prepared by an attorney, a party, or an agent of either, in anticipation of litigation. To establish work product protection, the party seeking to invoke work product immunity must show that (1) the materials sought to be protected are documents or tangible things; (2) they were prepared in anticipation of litigation or for trial; and (3) they were prepared by or for a party or a representative of that party. The party invoking work product immunity for a document has the burden to establish all the elements of the immunity, and a mere allegation that the work product privilege applies is insufficient to prove applicability.

McNabb v. City of Overland Park, No. 12-2331-CM-TJJ, 2014 WL 1152958, at *8 (D.Kan. March 21, 2014) (citations omitted).

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300 F.R.D. 684, 88 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1326, 2014 WL 2760860, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82775, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/akh-co-v-universal-underwriters-insurance-ksd-2014.