Burton v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

167 F.R.D. 134, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7757, 1996 WL 303557
District Court, D. Kansas·Decided May 1, 1996·No. No. 94-2202-JWL·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

LUNGSTRUM, District Judge.

I. Introduction

This case comes before the court on the plaintiffs motion (Doc. # 214) to compel the defendants to produce certain Council for Tobacco Research (“CTR”) special project documents (“Documents”) and plaintiffs motion for extension of time to complete discovery (Doe. #215). The parties have thoroughly briefed the issues and have made evidentiary submissions to support their positions. The court conducted a telephone hearing on the motion to compel on April 19, 1996. For the reasons discussed below, the court denies the motion as to the defendant American Tobacco Co. (“American”), orders an in camera review pursuant to the crime-fraud exception to the attorney client privilege and the work product doctrine of the S3 allegedly privileged documents identified by defendant R.J. Reynolds Co. (“Reynolds”), refers the motion to compel concerning those documents to United States Magistrate Judge Ronald C. Newman to conduct the review and determine whether the documents shall be produced, and grants in part the plaintiffs motion for extension of time to complete discovery.

II. Facts.

The Tobacco Industry Research Committee (“TIRC”) was formed in 1954 by members of the tobacco industry, including the defendants, to provide funding for research on the effects of tobacco use. In 1958, the TIRC changed its name to the CTR. The CTR’s Scientific Advisory Board (“SAB”), which is composed of scientists, reviews grant proposals and provides funding to research projects they deem worthy. Between 1965 and 1990, the CTR began conducting its own scientific projects separate from the SAB’s grant program under the name special projects.

On September 9, 1995, the plaintiff served the defendants with its Third Request for Documents. Request No. 1 sought all documents relating to the CTR special projects division or program. In their response dated October 11, 1995, the defendants objected to this request because it sought privileged or protected documents and because it sought documents relating to subjects other than those matters at issue here, peripheral vascular disease and the alleged addictive nature of cigarettes. Subject to their objections, both defendants produced what they believe are non-privileged CTR Documents in then-possession relating to the conditions they believe are at issue in this case. Defendant American did not withhold any documents because it believes that it does not possess any relevant, privileged CTR documents. Defendant Reynolds provided the plaintiff with a log indicating that it believes 24 CTR Documents were privileged and that nine CTR Documents were partially privileged. Defendant Reynolds provided the plaintiff with redacted copies of the nine allegedly [138]*138partially privileged Documents. Defendant Reynolds represents that these Documents are privileged because they consist of communications between Reynolds and its counsel, communications between its counsel and counsel for other tobacco companies, and internal company communications reflecting privileged information. On March 1, 1996, the plaintiff filed a motion to compel the defendants to produce the CTR Documents relevant to his claims. The plaintiff asserts that the impetus for its motion to compel arose from admissions made by another tobacco company's lawyer during a hearing in a separate ease.1

III. Discussion.

A Motion to compel.

1. Timeliness of plaintiff’s motion.

Defendant Reynolds opposes the plaintiffs motion on procedural as well as substantive grounds. In this case’s Scheduling Order dated September 26, 1994, the court stated that

“Motions to compel discovery with accompanying memoranda and in compliance with D.Kan.Rule 206 and 219 shall be filed and served within 30 days of the default or service of response, answer, or objection which is the subject of the motions, unless the time for the filing of such motions is extended for good cause shown, or the objection to the default, response, answer, or objection shall be waived.”

Without question, the plaintiffs motion to compel is out of time under that order, and Defendant Reynolds asks that it be denied on that basis.

The district court has wide discretion in its regulation of pretrial matters. SIL-FLO, Inc. v. SFHC, Inc., 917 F.2d 1507, 1514 (10th Cir.1990) (citing Doelle v. Mountain States Tel. & Tel., 872 F.2d 942, 947 (10th Cir.1989)). Although the plaintiffs motion to compel is clearly beyond the 30 day limit prescribed in the Scheduling Order, the court concludes that it should exercise its discretion in this instance, in the interests of justice, to permit the plaintiff to bring this motion. The litigation here involves a still evolving area of the law and the plaintiff raises serious substantive legal issues which the court is extremely reluctant to truncate based solely on its own procedural requirement designed primarily to expedite the orderly progress of garden variety lawsuits. Moreover, the court has been provided no showing that the defendants would be prejudiced by the plaintiffs delay and, in the event the plaintiffs allegations of fraud concerning the CTR Documents should have merit, the likelihood that the discovery would lead to relevant evidence is high. Thus, the plaintiffs motion to compel shall not be deemed to be time barred.

2. Relevance.

The next hurdle for the plaintiff to clear is a showing that the material he seeks is relevant. The plaintiffs claims are based on his assertions that the defendants knew and had a duty to disclose to the public that the nicotine in their cigarettes was addictive, that the defendants knew and had a duty to disclose to the public that their cigarettes are a vasoconstrictor, and that the defendants knew and had a duty to disclose to the public that their cigarettes contributed to the development of peripheral vascular diseases including atherosclerotic peripheral arterial occlusive. Thus, the relevance analysis must focus on whether the information sought bears on whether the defendants knew during the relevant time period what the plaintiff alleges they knew.

The court believes that the 33 CTR Documents withheld by Defendant Reynolds would be relevant to this ease to the extent the plaintiff could link the documents to a showing that the Defendant Reynolds knew during the relevant time period that nicotine is addictive, that its cigarettes are a vasoconstrictor, or that its cigarettes caused peripheral vascular diseases. See Jones v. Boeing Co., 163 F.R.D. 15, 16 (D.Kan.1995) (“A request for discovery should be considered rel[139]*139evant if there is any possibility that the information sought may be relevant to the subject matter of this action.”). By contrast, Defendant American has not withheld any documents as privileged because it claims that it does not possess any CTR Documents which are relevant to the plaintiffs claim. Because the plaintiff has failed to show that Defendant American does possess CTR Documents relevant to his claims, the court denies the plaintiffs motion to compel with respect to Defendant American.

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Burton v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 167 F.R.D. 134, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7757, 1996 WL 303557 (D. Kan. 1996).

167 F.R.D. 134 (Burton v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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