Collopy v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, D. New Mexico
DecidedFebruary 1, 2024
Docket2:23-cv-00143
StatusUnknown

This text of Collopy v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc. (Collopy v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Mexico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collopy v. Wexford Health Sources, Inc., (D.N.M. 2024).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW MEXICO

EMILY COLLOPY, individually and for others similarly situated,

Plaintiff,

v. No. 2:23-cv-00143-KG-JHR

WEXFORD HEALTH SOURCES, INC.,

Defendant.

MEMORANDUM ORDER AND OPINION GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL DISCOVERY RESPONSES

THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Wexford’s Discovery Responses, [Doc. 27] (“the Motion”). Having considered the parties’ filings and the relevant law, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART the Motion. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND This case was filed on February 16, 2023, by Plaintiff Emily Collopy as a putative class action against Collopy’s employer, Wexford Health Sources, Inc. [Doc. 1, p. 1]. Collopy alleged that Wexford violated the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act by failing to pay her and other hourly employees for work performed during meal breaks and for time spent in daily security screenings, resulting in lost wages and unpaid overtime. Id. at 4. Because Collopy, as with all class action representatives in federal court, must prove that she can represent a certifiable class of plaintiffs under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23, the Court divided discovery into two phases. See [Doc. 15, p. 1]. In the first phase, the parties “may seek and shall produce discoverable information necessary to determine whether the Court should certify the alleged class of plaintiffs[.]” Id. A second “merits” phase will follow if Collopy’s putative class is certified. Id. The parties thus proceeded with certification-phase discovery – and, naturally, discovery disputes. The Motion addresses three categories of information and documents requested by Collopy: (1) class-wide records of working hours and compensation; (2) past claims and complaints against Wexford; and (3) emails between Wexford’s executive-level employees. See [Doc. 28, pp. 5–11]. Wexford objected to requests and interrogatories in the first two categories

arguing they were outside the scope of certification-phase discovery, overbroad, and unduly burdensome, and thus withheld responsive documents and information subject to its objections.1 [Doc. 28-3, pp. 6–7, 9–10, 26].2 Wexford also objected to, but ultimately agreed to produce, the requested emails. Id. at 15–16; [Doc. 28-4, pp. 3–4]; [Doc. 31, pp. 7–8]. However, Collopy has not received the emails as of September 2023. See [Doc. 34, pp. 6–7]. After an unsuccessful status conference to try to resolve the dispute, the Court gave leave for Collopy to move to compel production of the documents and information. [Doc. 25].3 Collopy filed the Motion and a memorandum in support in August 2023. [Docs. 27, 28]. Wexford responded in opposition on September 11, [Doc. 31], and Collopy replied on September

25, completing briefing. [Docs. 34, 35]. The matter is thus ripe for decision. II. RELEVANT LAW Under the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act, employers must pay employees hourly wages no less than the amounts set by the Act. See N.M.S.A. 1978 § 50-4-22(A). Employers must also pay “one and one-half times the employee’s regular hourly rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of forty hours” in a week. Id. at § 50-4-22(D). The Act also lets employees

1 As to Requests for Production 3 and 5, Wexford directed Collopy to some “responsive documents” “[s]ubject to, and without waiving the foregoing [objections.]” [Doc. 28-3, pp. 6–7]. Wexford also provided some information apparently responsive to Interrogatory 5. Id. at 26. 2 Many exhibits to the parties’ filings contain both CM/ECF-generated pagination and internal pagination. For consistency, whenever this Order cites an exhibit, it uses the pagination generated by CM/ECF, which is displayed at the top of each page of the documents. 3 Document 25 is a text-only docket entry viewable on the Court’s CM/ECF system. sue their employers for failure to pay, or underpayment of, such wages. Id. at § 50-4-26(C). Employees seeking recovery for unpaid overtime must prove (1) they worked more than forty hours in a week; (2) management knew or should have known that this was the case; and (3) the employees were not compensated for their overtime work. Self v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 1998-NMSC-046 ¶ 15, 970 P.2d 582, 589.

Employees who wish to sue on behalf of a class of their fellow employees in federal court must present evidence which satisfies the class-certification requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. See Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. 338, 350 (2011). Among other things, they must show that (1) the class is so numerous that joinder of all members is impracticable; (2) there are questions of law or fact common to the class; (3) the claims or defenses of the representative parties are typical of the claims or defenses of the class; and (4) the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a) (underlining added). To show commonality, the named plaintiff must “demonstrate that the class members ‘have suffered the same injury,’” not “merely that they have all suffered a violation of the same provision of law.” Dukes, 564 U.S. at 349–50 (quoting Gen. Tele. Co. of Sw. v. Falcon, 457 U.S. 147, 157 (1982)). The existence of “a single question of law or fact common to the entire class” can be enough prove commonality. Menocal v. GEO Grp., Inc., 882 F.3d 905, 914 (10th Cir. 2018) (quoting DG ex rel. Stricklin v. Devaughn, 594 F.3d 1188, 1195 (10th Cir. 2010)). Typicality, meanwhile, “requires only that the claims of the class representative and class members are based on the same legal or remedial theory.” Menocal, 882 F.3d at 924 (quoting Colo. Cross Disability Coal. v. Abercrombie & Fitch Co., 765 F.3d 1205, 1216 (10th Cir. 2014)). Discovery is often necessary to uncover evidence to satisfy these requirements. For information to be discoverable, it must be “relevant to [a] party’s claim[s] or defense[s] and proportional to the needs of the case[.]” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Information is relevant when it tends to make a fact more or less probable and when that fact is of consequence in determining the action.4 Fed. R. Evid. 401. Though the Rules of Evidence provide this definition, “relevance” is construed somewhat more broadly in the discovery context than it is for admissibility at trial. See Deakin v. Magellan Health, Inc., 340 F.R.D. 424, 431 (D.N.M. 2022).

Whether a request is proportional depends on “the importance of the issues at stake in the action, the amount in controversy, the parties’ relative access to relevant information, the parties’ resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). The certification-phase limitations on discovery in this case also narrow what is currently discoverable. See [Doc.

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Related

Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. Sanders
437 U.S. 340 (Supreme Court, 1978)
General Telephone Co. of Southwest v. Falcon
457 U.S. 147 (Supreme Court, 1982)
Reich v. Monfort, Inc.
144 F.3d 1329 (Tenth Circuit, 1998)
DG Ex Rel. Stricklin v. DeVaughn
594 F.3d 1188 (Tenth Circuit, 2010)
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes
131 S. Ct. 2541 (Supreme Court, 2011)
Self v. United Parcel Service, Inc.
1998 NMSC 046 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1998)
Menocal v. GEO Grp., Inc.
882 F.3d 905 (Tenth Circuit, 2018)
Tracy v. Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc.
185 F.R.D. 303 (D. Colorado, 1998)

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