Brunt v. Hunterdon County

183 F.R.D. 181, 42 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1243, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18327, 1998 WL 808414
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedNovember 18, 1998
DocketCIV.A. No. 97-3820(AET)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 183 F.R.D. 181 (Brunt v. Hunterdon County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brunt v. Hunterdon County, 183 F.R.D. 181, 42 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1243, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18327, 1998 WL 808414 (D.N.J. 1998).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

HUGHES, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on motion of non-party movant, Hunterdon County Prosecutor (“Prosecutor”), to quash a subpoena seeking certain records [docket entry 45-1]. Defendants, Hunterdon County, the Hunterdon County Jail (“HCJ”), and the HCJ Warden, George Wagner, submitted a brief in support of the Prosecutor’s motion to quash the subpoena. Plaintiff Walter Brunt opposes the motion and seeks enforcement of the subpoena. At oral argument, Plaintiff agreed to withdraw part of his request, under the subpoena, for the medical records of HCJ inmates. Additionally, Plaintiff submitted “a notice of cross-motion in opposition” to the Prosecutor’s motion to quash [47-1]. The Court has reviewed the written submissions of the parties and non-party movant, and conducted oral argument on November 2,1998.

For the reasons that follow, the Prosecutor’s motion to quash Plaintiffs subpoena is granted in part and denied in part.

I. BACKGROUND

The Complaint in this case, originally filed by inmate Plaintiff Walter Brunt on August 27, 1997 in forma pauperis, asserts a civil rights cause of action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United Stated Constitution. Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that, while incarcerated in the Hunterdon County Jail (“HCJ”), Defendants were deliberately indifferent to his medical condition by failing to provide him with medication that had been prescribed to him by his own physician and [183]*183an HCJ physician to relieve or alleviate chronic back pain.

In the present motion, the Prosecutor urges that the Court quash a subpoena issued by Plaintiff in September of 1998. The subpoena requested information in the Prosecutor’s possession concerning an investigation, conducted by the Prosecutor into the manner in which personnel at the HCJ handled prescription drugs. The subpoena specifically requested a copy of a report of the investigation (“Report”) prepared by the Prosecutor on June 29, 1994 and “the underlying documentation.” (Plaintiffs Brief at 5; see also Defendants’ Brief, Exhibit A at 1). The requested documentation includes statements given by Dorothy Fitzpatrick, Dr. Paul Madura, Dr. Robert Coates, Deborah Macher, and other members of the medical unit and jail staff. (Prosecutor’s Brief at 10 n.3).

■ In an unrelated civil action filed in State Court, the plaintiff, Deborah Macher, a staff nurse at the HCJ, filed suit against both Dorothy Fitzpatrick, individually and in her official capacity as the Medical Unit Supervisor of the HCJ, and Hunterdon County. (Plaintiffs Brief, Exhibit A, (“Macher Complaint”) at HIT 1, 2). The Macher complaint essentially alleges that in November of 1993, the plaintiff suffered from employment discrimination because she notified then Lieutenant (now Warden) Wagner that her immediate supervisor, Ms. Fitzpatrick, was handling inmate prescription medication improperly. (Macher Complaint at 116). Thereafter, in March of 1994, the Prosecutor conducted an investigation of those practices. (Id. at 118). During the course of the investigation, the Prosecutor, pursuant to a Court-authorized subpoena, seized medications of inmates no longer at the jail, conducted interviews of the nursing staff and Dr. Paul Madura, the supervising doctor, and obtained and reviewed protocols from other institutions. (Defendants’ Brief, Exhibit A at 1). In June of 1994, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Sharon Ransavage completed the investigation and produced a three page report. (See Id.). The Report found “no evidence of criminal wrong-doing, [but it disclosed] serious deficiencies in the administration of the medical unit that created a high potential for abuse in the dispensation of medication that were potentially dangerous.” (Id. at 2). The Report recommended “immediate corrective action.” (Id. at 3).

In this case, the Prosecutor did not fully comply with Plaintiffs subpoena, explaining that Plaintiffs request was overbroad, burdensome, and' sought confidential medical records of other inmates. (Plaintiffs Brief at 5). Counsel for HCJ provided a copy of the Report to counsel for Plaintiff pursuant to a confidentiality agreement. (Plaintiffs Brief at 6). Plaintiff now seeks the underlying documentation gathered during the Prosecutor’s investigation of the Macher complaint. Specifically, Plaintiff seeks the statements made by Ms. Macher, Ms. Fitzpatrick, and Dr. Paul Madura.

In the present motion, the Prosecutor argues that office records should not be disclosed because they constitute an internal affairs investigation and, therefore, are protected under the self-critical analysis privilege. Specifically, the Prosecutor contends that the investigation was an “internal affairs investigation” because it involved another public law enforcement agency within the jurisdiction of the Prosecutor’s office. The Prosecutor asserts that internal affairs investigations, by nature, require a free flow of information and must be treated as confidential. Releasing such confidential reports to the public, the Prosecutor contends, would create a chilling effect on potential witnesses in similar investigations. The Prosecutor relies on the self-critical analysis privilege. Moreover, the Prosecutor argues that the requested information is unrelated to Plaintiffs particular claims because it concerns events that occurred eighteen months before Plaintiff was incarcerated in December of 1995. •

Plaintiff argues that the information gathered during the investigation is not part of a confidential internal affairs investigation. Plaintiff further argues that the underlying documentation is relevant to this case even though Mr. Brunt was not incarcerated at the HCJ until eighteen months after the Report was issued because “it contains infor[184]*184mation regarding policies and practices at the Jail which may or may not have involved medicines the plaintiff was prescribed, or similar thereto.” (Plaintiffs Brief at 6). Additionally, Plaintiff argues that obtaining the information in question from Ms. Macher, Ms. Fitzpatrick, and Dr. Madura independently would be unduly burdensome for three reasons: (1) the investigation occurred over four years ago and the parties may have forgotten important details; (2) Ms. Macher is now employed by the HCJ’s current medical service provider (which was not the case at the time of her prior deposition) and may be less inclined to divulge information to Plaintiffs counsel, and (3) the information in question should have been disclosed by Defense Counsel in a privilege log or the initial disclosure statement under Fed.R.Civ.P. 26.

The Prosecutor and Defense Counsel argue that Plaintiff has failed to provide proofs indicating that its particularized need for the Prosecutor’s records outweighs the public interest in maintaining confidentiality. Notably, however, the Prosecutor does not rely on privileges normally asserted with customary prosecutorial functions such as those identified with criminal investigations.

II. DISCUSSION

The principal question presented by the Prosecutor’s motion is whether Plaintiffs subpoena should be quashed because it seeks information protected by the self-critical analysis privilege. Pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P.

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Bluebook (online)
183 F.R.D. 181, 42 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1243, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18327, 1998 WL 808414, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brunt-v-hunterdon-county-njd-1998.