Corporate Teledata, Inc. v. Sullivan

15 Mass. L. Rptr. 457
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedNovember 15, 2002
DocketNo. 010949BLS
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 15 Mass. L. Rptr. 457 (Corporate Teledata, Inc. v. Sullivan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Corporate Teledata, Inc. v. Sullivan, 15 Mass. L. Rptr. 457 (Mass. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

van Gestel, J.

Now for the fifth time since August 2002, this Court is asked to address issues relating to the plaintiffs responses, or lack thereof, to discovery by the defendants. There is a theme that runs through each occasion, with which this Court, until now, has been patient; and now concludes that the theme’s merit, if it ever had any, is not sufficient to save the day for the plaintiff. That theme is that it is not the plaintiffs fault, but rather, it is the fault of the Court and the defendants for sending notices, motions and orders to the wrong attorney for the plaintiff.

BACKGROUND

On August 21, 2002, this Court issued a Memorandum and Order compelling certain discovery by the plaintiff and requiring the plaintiff to supplement certain other discovery. The Order part of the Memorandum and Order reads:

There being no objections filed in response to either motion (Papers #101 and #103), they each are ALLOWED. The documents called for are to be produced and the supplemental answers to interrogatories are to be served no later than 5:00 p.m. on September 6, 2002.
No costs will be assessed with regard to either motion. The plaintiff is advised, however, that if there is a failure to comply with this Order, the Court, on motion by any of the parties to the two motions, will exercise its powers under Mass.R.Civ.P. Rule 37 and dismiss the complaint insofar as the moving defendants, and those who have joined with them, are concerned.

By letter dated September 6, 2002, Attorney Thomas J. Lynch wrote to the Court, complaining that there was an error on the docket such that he, as counsel for the plaintiff, was not listed and therefore failed to receive notice of the August 21, 2002 Order. Instead, Mr. Lynch said that the notice was sent to Attorney Ronald J. Poirier, of Myerow & Poirier, co-counsel for the plaintiff. Mr. Lynch further said: “In order to be entirely accurate, my solo practice shares office space with Attorney Ronald Poirier and the law firm of Myerow & Poirier.” Upon receipt of Mr. Lynch’s letter, the Court caused the docket to be corrected by adding Mr. Lynch’s name as counsel for the plaintiff.

Since the receipt of Mr. Lynch’s September 6, 2002 letter, the docket has reflected the following two attorneys as counsel for the plaintiff:

Ronald J. Poirier

Myerow & Poirier

1000 Franklin Village Drive

Suite 205

Franklin, MA 02038

Phone: 508-528-9900

Fax: 508-528-8692

Thomas J. Lynch

The Court observes the total and complete identity of the addresses, the telephone numbers and the facsimile transmission numbers of Mr. Poirier and Mr. Lynch. The Court further observes the following comment in an affidavit by Mr. Poirier filed in support of the present motions:

Mr. Lynch and I had agreed with Ms. Wallace [chief executive officer of the plaintiff corporation] that Mr. Lynch would act as “lead counsel” in this matter during the written discovery and document production phase which (as this court is well-aware), has been on-going over the past months since we filed our appearances.

Shortly thereafter, discovery compliance by the plaintiff again came before the Court. On September 20, 2002, another memorandum and order was issued. Like the earlier Order, this Order reads:

All documents called for in response to either of the motions (Papers #101 and #103), involved in the August 21, 2002 order, not heretofore produced, are to be produced and the supplemental answers to interrogatories are to be served no later than 5:00 p.m. on September 30, 2002.
A failure to comply with this order will result in the sanctions threatened in the August 21, 2002 order.

On October 3, 2002, this Court issued yet a third discovery Order directed at the plaintiff. Mr. Lynch at this time was excusing his client’s failures on discovery based on his own very busy trial schedule. In response, this Court gave him the following advice in the October 3, 2002 Memorandum and Order: “While this Court respects the fact that, at times, the press of other matters may interfere with the lawyer’s ability to respond to matters of another client, a lawyer should not undertake the representation of a client, particularly in the midst of litigation, if he is not able to attend to essentially all of the client’s needs in that litigation.”

The Order part of the October 3, 2002 Memorandum and Order reads:

[458]*458The plaintiff may have until 5:00 p.m. on October 10, 2002, to fully and completely comply with this Court’s Order of August 21, 2002. As a result thereof, the defendants — but not the plaintiff — may have until November 15, 2002, to complete their discovery. The discovery cut-off date for the plaintiff shall remain October 31, 2002.
Insofar as the plaintiff suggests a misunderstanding of the meaning of the Court’s August 21, 2002 Order, it is advised that the time for objections to production of documents or responding to interrogatories has long passed. Thus, objections for relevance, burdensomeness, time period covered and the like will not be accepted. Only objections “necessary to assert a privilege or protection against disclosure, to enforce a limitation on evidence directed by the Court or stipulated in writing by the parties,” see Mass.R.Civ.P. Rule 30(c), second para., will be accepted.

Yet again, unbelievably, for the fourth time, this Court received, on October 18, 2002, another motion by the defendants seeking the sanction of dismissal for the plaintiffs continued violation of this Court’s several prior discovery orders. This motion contained a Certificate of Service that reads: “I hereby certify that on October 18, 2002, a true copy of this motion was served on all persons on the attached service list by facsimile (without exhibits) and by first-class mail.” Included as the first name on the service list is “Thomas J. Lynch, Myerow & Poirier, 1000 Franklin Village Drive, Suite 205, Franklin, MA 02038, Counsel for plaintiff.”

Given the Court’s history with this matter, and despite the motion’s designation as “emergency,” the Court deliberately held the motion and its supporting papers without action thereon for twelve days to give the plaintiff an opportunity to respond. Then, on October 30, 2002, no response having come in, the Court allowed the motion and dismissed the case as against the moving defendants. This is the action that the plaintiff, with its two motions, now seeks to undo.

DISCUSSION

The plaintiff argues that not all counsel of record for the plaintiff received notice of the defendants’ October 18, 2002 motion and, therefore, there was a valid justification for the plaintiffs lack of response. The proffered support for this contention is contained in the affidavits of Mr. Poirier and Mr. Lynch. Mr. Poirier says that he is counsel of record for the plaintiff, and nothing came to him from the defendants. Mr. Lynch, averring that he also is counsel for the plaintiff, says that he was out of his Franklin, Massachusetts office for essentially the entire month of October 2002, attending to a complex matter being heard before the Board of Bar Overseers in Boston, and therefore he had no notice of the motion, or the Court’s October 30, 2002 dismissal order, until he was contacted by Mr.

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Related

Corporate Teledata, Inc. v. Sullivan
15 Mass. L. Rptr. 765 (Massachusetts Superior Court, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
15 Mass. L. Rptr. 457, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corporate-teledata-inc-v-sullivan-masssuperct-2002.