Breon v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co.

232 F.R.D. 49, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27917
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedNovember 4, 2005
DocketNo. CIV. 3:04-CV-00374 (CFD)(TPS)
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 232 F.R.D. 49 (Breon v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Breon v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co., 232 F.R.D. 49, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27917 (D. Conn. 2005).

Opinion

RULING ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL AND MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER

SMITH, United States Magistrate Judge.

The plaintiff brings this action under the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq., the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq, and parallel Connecticut statutes. Pending before the court is the plaintiffs Motion to Compel [Dkt. # 29] and Motion for a Protective Order [Dkt. #30]. For the reasons stated below, plaintiffs Motion to Compel [Dkt. # 29] is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. Plaintiffs Motion for a Protective Order [Dkt. # 30] is GRANTED.

I. Facts

The facts as alleged in the complaint are as follows. Plaintiff, a 56-year old male, has been blind in his left eye since birth. Since 1984 he has worked as a truck driver for the defendant or defendant’s predecessors. According to the complaint, plaintiffs eyesight falls below the applicable federal standards for operators of commercial vehicles in interstate travel. However, plaintiff alleges that the federal regulations do not apply to drivers who operate solely in intrastate commerce. In this case, plaintiff operated trucks for defendant exclusively within the State of Connecticut.

In order to obtain authorization for intrastate operation of a commercial vehicle, plaintiff obtained medical waivers from the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Employers are required to consent to these medical waivers. Plaintiff alleges that from 1984 to 2003 the defendant or its predecessors signed plaintiffs medical waivers. However, in 2003 defendant refused to sign the waiver and the plaintiff was demoted to a non-driving position. Plaintiffs new position paid significantly less than his job as a truck driver. To justify the demotion defendant cited a company policy which stated that defendant would not approve or authorize requests for state medical waivers. It is the demotion that plaintiff contends violates federal and state employment discrimination laws.

II. Discussion

Throughout the course of discovery plaintiff served defendant with multiple interrogatories and requests for production. For [52]*52various reasons, the defendant objected to plaintiffs discovery requests. Plaintiff now brings this motion to compel discovery pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(2).

A. Relevance Claims

Defendant objects to several of plaintiffs interrogatories and production requests on the grounds of relevance.1 “Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, that is relevant to the claim or defense of any party.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1). Relevance is not defined in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. However, the Federal Rules of Evidence defines “relevant evidence” as “evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” Fed.R.Evid. 401. By necessary implication, the definition of relevance in the universe of discovery is broader than that in evidence. Under the evidence regime, evidence is admissible only if it is relevant. Fed.R.Evid. 402. However, discovery has no such constraint, “Relevant information need not be admissible at the trial if the discovery appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1). With this in mind, courts have taken the position that relevance, in the realm of discovery, ought to be broadly and liberally construed. See Herbert v. Lando, 441 U.S. 153, 177, 99 S.Ct. 1635, 60 L.Ed.2d 115 (1979).

The definition of relevance continues to be liberally interpreted even after changes to Rule 26 in 2000. Relevance, as it stands after the 2000 amendments, “requires the courts and the parties to focus on the actual claims and defenses involved in the action.” 6 Moore’s Federal Practice § 26.43 (Matthew Bender 3d ed.) (citing Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1) advisory committee’s note (2000)). Prior to 2000, Rule 26 merely required that discovery be relevant to the “subject matter involved in the pending action.” (Id. 26.41 [2][a] (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1) (1983))). However, there is no indication that the change in focus from relevance in relation to the subject matter, to relevance in relation to claims and defenses, “marks a substantial departure from the traditional liberal construction of the term, which is designed to assure access to the information necessary for the achievement of justice and fair trials.” Id. § 26.41[3][c]. Relevancy continues to be “broadly construed, and a request for discovery should be considered relevant if there is any possibility that the information sought may be relevant to the claim or defense of any party.” Favale v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport, No. 3:04CV1220(DJS), 2005 WL 3017959 at *3, 2005 U.S. Dist., LEXIS 27154 at *8-9 (D.Conn. Nov. 8, 2005) (quoting Merrill v. Waffle House, Inc., 227 F.R.D. 467, 470 (N.D.Tex.2005)) (emphasis added).

For the foregoing reasons the court finds that interrogatories and production requests objected to on the grounds of relevance are, in fact, relevant or will reasonably lead to the discovery of relevant information.

Interrogatory 8(e) asks defendant to “[ijdentify each year the company refused to hire any individuals possessing state-granted Medical waivers for Commercial Drivers.” (See Defs. Resp. Ex. A at 8.) Defendant’s admit that the adverse employment decision made in this case was prompted by a company policy. (Compl. at 5; Answer at 6.) This policy presumably requires both that current employees not be granted medical waivers and that new drivers requiring such waivers not be hired. What interrogatory 8(e) seeks is proof, or lack thereof, of this policy at work before plaintiffs demotion. Defendant voluntarily asserted its policy as a defense to the alleged discrimination. As such, it cannot now claim that historical examples of that policy in action are not relevant.

Interrogatory 18 requests information on defendant’s insurance coverage for disability claims. (Defs. Resp. Ex. A at 15.) Plaintiff correctly cites Fed.R.Civ.P. 26 to support this interrogatory.

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Bluebook (online)
232 F.R.D. 49, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27917, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/breon-v-coca-cola-bottling-co-ctd-2005.