Burkett v. AIG Claim Services, Inc.

244 F.R.D. 328, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45391
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. West Virginia
DecidedMay 3, 2005
DocketCiv.A. No. 3:03-CV-1
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 244 F.R.D. 328 (Burkett v. AIG Claim Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burkett v. AIG Claim Services, Inc., 244 F.R.D. 328, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45391 (N.D.W. Va. 2005).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM, OPINION, and ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT REASONABLE EXPENSES

SEIBERT, United States Magistrate Judge.

On April 28, 2005 came Plaintiff, John L. Burkett, Jr., by Rebecca L. Donnellan by telephone, and Defendant AIG Claim Services, Inc., by Clifford F. Kinney, Jr. by telephone, for Plaintiffs opportunity to be heard regarding reasonable expenses. Testimony was not taken, and no other evidence was introduced.

[330]*330 I. Introduction

The parties engaged in discovery and a dispute arose. The Defendants filed a Motion to Compel Discovery on March 14, 2005. The matter was referred to me by the Honorable W. Craig Broadwater on March 15, 2005. On March 28, 2005 Plaintiff filed his memorandum in opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Compel. On April 1, 2005 Defendant filed its Reply to Plaintiffs opposition to Motion to Compel. A hearing on the Motion to Compel was held on April 6, 2005. Defendant’s Motion to Compel was granted on April 7, 2005.1 Defendant filed his Affidavit of costs and expenses on April 13, 2005.2 On April 28, 2005 Plaintiff was given an opportunity to be heard as to why reasonable expenses should not be awarded under prevailing Federal Law.

A. The Standards

1). Discovery — Sanctions—Rule 37(a) — Successfully Bring a Motion to Compel. Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(4)(A) addresses the remedies available when a party successfully brings a motion to compel the production of discovery. The Rule states:

If the motion is granted or if the disclosure or requested discovery is provided after the motion was filed, the court shall, after affording an opportunity to be heard, require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion or the party or attorney advising such conduct or both of them to pay to the moving party the reasonable expenses incurred in making the motion, including attorney’s fees, unless the court finds that the motion was filed without the movant’s first making a good faith effort to obtain the disclosure or discovery, without court action, or that the opposing party’s nondisclosure, response, or objection was substantially justified, or that other circumstances make an award of expenses unjust.

A court is required to award reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, against the party being required to produce discovery unless that party can demonstrate that it was “substantially justified” in withholding the requested information. See Rickels v. City of South Bend, 33 F.3d 785, 787 (7th Cir.1994) (stating that Rule 34(a)(4) is a “fee shifting rule. The winner is entitled to fees unless the opponent establishes that his position was ‘substantially justified’ ”); Cannon v. Cherry Hill Toyota, Inc., 190 F.R.D. 147, 157 (D.N.J.1999) (holding “Rule 37(a)(4) grants the Court authority to impose sanctions against a party who is compelled to make disclosures as a result of the motion”). When a motion to compel is granted, the burden is on the opposing party to show that an award of costs would be unjust or that the opposing party’s position was substantially justified. Rickels, 33 F.3d at 787.

2). Discovery — Sanctions—Rule 37(a) — Successfully BHng a Motion to Compel — Substantially Justified. The Supreme Court, in interpreting the meaning of “substantially justified” in connection with the Equal Access to Justice Act, found the phrase to mean “ ‘justified in substance or in the main’ — that is, justified to a degree that could satisfy a reasonable person.” 487 U.S. 552, 566, 108 S.Ct. 2541, 101 L.Ed.2d 490 (1988). An individual’s conduct is found to be “substantially justified” if it is a response to a “genuine dispute, or if reasonable people could differ as to the appropriateness of the contested action.” Id. at 565, 108 S.Ct. 2541; see also Wright, Miller & Marcus, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil 2d § 2288 (1994) (“Making a motion, or opposing a motion, is ‘substantially justified’ if the motion raised an issue about which reasonable people could genuinely differ on whether a party was bound to comply with a discovery rule.”).

3). Discovery — Sanctions—Rule 37(a)— Successfully Bring a Motion to Compel— Reasonable Costs. Concerning rates charged by attorneys in calculating attorney’s fees, our Court of Appeals has held that “the community in which the court sits is the appropriate starting point for selecting the proper rate.” Nat’l Wildlife Federation v. Hanson, 859 F.2d 313, 317 (4th Cir.1988).

B. Discussion

1. Substantially Justified

If a Motion to Compel is granted “the court shall, after affording an opportunity to [331]*331be heard, require the party or deponent whose conduct necessitated the motion or the party or attorney advising such conduct or both of them to pay to the moving party the reasonable expenses incurred in making the motion, including attorney’s fees, unless the court finds that ... objection was substantially justified....” Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a)(4)(A). Defendant’s Motion to compel was granted on April 7, 2005.3 Plaintiff was afforded an opportunity to be heard on April 28, 2005.

A court is required to award reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, against the party being required to produce discovery unless that party can demonstrate that it was “substantially justified” in withholding the requested information. See Rickels v. City of South Bend, 33 F.3d 785, 787 (7th Cir.1994). When a motion to compel is granted, the burden is on the opposing party to show that an award of costs would be unjust or that the opposing party’s position was substantially justified. Rickels, 33 F.3d at 787. The Supreme Court, in interpreting the meaning of “substantially justified” in connection with the Equal Access to Justice Act, found the phrase to mean “ ‘justified in substance or in the main’ — that is, justified to a degree that could satisfy a reasonable person.” 487 U.S. 552, 566, 108 S.Ct. 2541, 101 L.Ed.2d 490 (1988). An individual’s conduct is found to be “substantially justified” if it is a response to a “genuine dispute, or if reasonable people could differ as to the appropriateness of the contested action.” Id. at 565, 108 S.Ct. 2541. See also Wright, Miller & Marcus, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil 2d § 2288 (1994) (“Making a motion, or opposing a motion, is ‘substantially justified’ if the motion raised an issue about which reasonable people could genuinely differ on whether a party was bound to comply with a discovery rule.”).

Plaintiff was not substantially justified in objecting to respond to Defendant’s Interrogatories.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hirsch v. Will County
N.D. Illinois, 2023
Petro-Hunt, L.L.C. v. United States
113 Fed. Cl. 80 (Federal Claims, 2013)
COSTAR REALTY INFORMATION, INC. v. Field
737 F. Supp. 2d 496 (D. Maryland, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
244 F.R.D. 328, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burkett-v-aig-claim-services-inc-wvnd-2005.