Benham v. Rice

238 F.R.D. 15, 66 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 292, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65482, 2006 WL 2640268
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedSeptember 14, 2006
DocketCA No. 03-1127 (HHK/JMF)
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 238 F.R.D. 15 (Benham v. Rice) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Benham v. Rice, 238 F.R.D. 15, 66 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 292, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65482, 2006 WL 2640268 (D.D.C. 2006).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

FACCIOLA, United States Magistrate Judge.

This case was referred to me for discovery. Currently pending and ready for resolution are six motions. Each will be considered in turn.

I. Plaintiffs Motion to Strike Defendant’s Defenses for Failure to Provide Discovery, to Compel Defendant’s Responsive Answers to Plaintiffs Discovery Demands, and to Extend Plaintiffs Discovery Period, and to Bar Witnesses Not Named in Defendant’s 26(a) Discovery and Points and Authorities Thereof [# 43]

In two memorandum opinions, Judge Kennedy has set forth the fundamental facts of this case and the procedural history. See Benham v. Rice, No. 03-CV-1127, 2005 WL 691871 (D.D.C. March 24, 2005); Benham v. [19]*19Powell, Civ. No. 00-2466 (D.D.C. April 13, 2004). Suffice it to say here that one case, 00-2466, involves plaintiffs being transferred by the State Department, at the risk of losing her job, from Seattle to Washington, D.C. The second, 03-1127, is based on the acts of an Assistant United States Attorney who, while representing the government in CO-2466, faxed a certain document to plaintiff at plaintiffs place of employment.

By this motion, plaintiff seeks to compel the defendant’s responses to her discovery requests and to bar them from presenting certain defenses or witnesses. As will now be established, however, plaintiffs discovery requests are nearly all overbroad or otherwise objectionable.

Since plaintiff complains about the defendant’s responses to nearly every document request she made and every interrogatory she propounded, I have used the following chart to identify plaintiffs request or interrogatory, the government’s objection, my ruling, and the reason for it. Furthermore, as noted at the hearing, it is not the court’s function to modify plaintiffs demands so that, as revised, they are reasonable and legitimate.

# Summary of Document Request

Summary of Objection

Court’s Ruling_

1. All trial exhibits.

Defendant has not yet decided which exhibits it intends to use but will disclose them once a decision has been made.

Sustained. Under Rule 26(a)(3), defendant must provide plaintiff with certain pretrial disclosures, including a list of the specific exhibits it intends to use at trial. As I explained at the hearing held on plaintiffs motions, she will certainly be provided with a copy of the defendant’s exhibits, pursuant to this Rule and to Judge Kennedy’s pre-trial order, well in advance of trial. Her demand is therefore premature._

2. All documents to be used in the defense.

Request is vague and overbroad. Responsive documents are in the ROIs and in the records from the administrative proceed-

Sustained. See Court’s Ruling as to # 1.

3. All documents provided to consultants or experts who will testify at trial.

Defendant has not employed any experts.

Sustained. Obviously, defendant cannot be compelled to produce anything it gave to experts if it does not intend to call experts._

4. All documents generated by consultants or experts that will be _used at trial.

Defendant has not employed any consultants

Sustained. See Court’s Ruling as to # 3.

5. All documents identified in response to plaintiffs first set of interrogatories.

Responsive documents are in the ROIs and in the records from the administrative proceedings.

Sustained. If, as defendant represents, the documents it referred to in its response to the first set of interrogatories are [20]*20in these documents, its answer is sufficient._

6. All documents relating to the incidents alleged in the complaint,

Relevance. Request is vague, overbroad, and unduly burdensome. Responsive documents are in the ROIs.

Sustained. Again, if, as defendant represents, all the documents relating to the incidents alleged in the complaint are in the ROIs, defendant has answered the request. Of course, defendant would be precluded from relying on a document that is not in the ROI if it does not make it available to the plaintiff forthwith.

7. From 1/1/87-present, all documents relating to complaints made by passport services employees.

Relevance. Request is vague, overbroad, and unduly burdensome. Responsive documents contain information protected by the Privacy Act.

Sustained. As Judge Kennedy indicated, plaintiff was employed by the State Department in 1992 and her transfer occurred in 1995. Memorandum Opinion at 2. The activities of the Assistant United States Attorney about which she complains in 03-1127 occurred in 2002. Complaints made about any topic under the sun five years before she began working for the State Department have nothing to do with her case._

8. From 1/1/90-present, all documents relating to employment decisions made as to all passport services employees.

Relevance. Request is vague, overbroad, and unduly burdensome. Responsive documents contain information protected by the Privacy Act.

Sustained. On its face, this would call for the production of every piece of paper in every personnel file of any passport office in the United States insofar as that piece of paper related to any employment decision. This request is patently overbroad._

9. All documents relating to the employment of all Seattle passport agency employees, including those documents relating to specified employees, from their date of hire to the present.

Relevance. Request is vague, overbroad, and unduly burdensome. Responsive documents contain information protected by the Privacy Act._

Sustained for the same reasons as # 8. Indeed, this one is broader; it requires all documents relating to every employee’s employment.

10. From 1/1/87-present, all documents relating to grievance information about State Department employees, including documents relating to specified employees.

Relevance. Request is vague, overbroad, and unduly burdensome. Responsive documents contain information protected by the Privacy Act.

Sustained. Again, the request seeks documents created before plaintiff even went to work at the State Department to the present day (19 years later), irrespective of the nature of the grievance. The request is patently overbroad.

[21]*21li. From 1/1/87-present, all documents relating to mobility information about all Consular Affairs employees.

Relevance. Request is overbroad and unduly burdensome. Responsive documents contain information protected by the Privacy Act.

Sustained. Again, the period of time for which the documents is sought is 19 years. At the hearing, plaintiff indicated that “mobility agreements” came into existence in 2000 and that the fact that defendants required such agreements (by which an employee agreed to move at the government’s discretion) was relevant to her ease in that it represented a change of policy. Transcript of hearing of July 10, 2006 at 50-52. But, what little probative value that evidence might have is overwhelmed by the burden it would impose on the defendants.

12. From 1/1/87 — to present, all visit, investigation, and report information relating to specified offices within the State Department.

Relevance.

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Bluebook (online)
238 F.R.D. 15, 66 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 292, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65482, 2006 WL 2640268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/benham-v-rice-dcd-2006.