Deere v. American Water Works Co.

306 F.R.D. 208, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31534, 2015 WL 1188793
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Indiana
DecidedMarch 16, 2015
DocketNo. 1:14-cv-01077-WTL-MJD
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 306 F.R.D. 208 (Deere v. American Water Works Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Deere v. American Water Works Co., 306 F.R.D. 208, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31534, 2015 WL 1188793 (S.D. Ind. 2015).

Opinion

ORDER ON PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION TO COMPEL AND FOR SANCTIONS

MARK J. DINSMORE, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiffs’ Motion to Compel and for Sanctions. [Dkt. 86.] For the following reasons, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART Plaintiffs’ Motion.

I. Background

On June 26, 2014, Gregory and Gina Deere (“Plaintiffs”), sued American Water Works Company, Inc., d/b/a Indiana American Water Co., Inc. (“Defendant” or “American Water”). [Dkt. 1.] Plaintiffs allege that Defendant was responsible for providing water services on Plaintiffs’ property, but that Defendant negligently failed to maintain Plaintiffs’ water meter. [Id. ¶¶ 30, 33, 60.] This failure allegedly caused the ground around the water meter to collapse, which in ton caused injuries to Gregory Deere. [Id. ¶¶ 34, 48, 49.] Plaintiffs now assert claims for negligence and loss of consortium. [Id. ¶¶ 60-69.]

On September 4, 2014, Defendant filed an “Amended Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction.” [Dkt. 36.] Defendant asserted two grounds for dismissal: 1) lack of diversity jurisdiction and 2) the presence of a pending state case involving the same matter. [Id.]

Defendant’s first argument was based on the premise that “American Water Works Company” was not the proper entity for Plaintiffs to sue. [Dkt. 37 at 1.] Defendant argued that American Water was merely a “holding company” that was “not responsible in any way for the allegations of negligence” in Plaintiffs’ complaint. [Id. at 1-2.] Instead, Defendant maintained that the proper party was “Indiana American Water Company, Inc.” (“Indiana Water”), which Defendant alleged was a citizen of Indiana. [Id. at 2.] Because Plaintiffs are also citizens of Indiana, naming Indiana Water as a Defendant would have eliminated diversity of citizenship, thereby depriving this Court of jurisdiction. [See id. at 2.]

Defendant’s second argument for dismissal was based on Plaintiffs’ August 5, 2014 filing of a state court action against Indiana Water in the Tippecanoe County Circuit Court. [Id. at 3.] Defendant claimed that the allegations in the state case were substantially identical to the allegations in Plaintiffs’ complaint in this ease, such that “there is no basis for this court to exercise or maintain jurisdiction over this cause.” [Id.]

On September 29, 2014, Defendant filed a “Second Amended Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction.” [Dkt. 45.] This time, Defendant asserted that the Court should dismiss the case under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(7) because Plaintiffs had failed to join a party— Indiana Water—as required by Rule 19. [/&] Defendant withdrew its first “Amended Motion to Dismiss for lack of Jurisdiction,” [id.], but the Second Amended Motion to Dismiss remains pending.

On November 21, 2014, Plaintiffs served their First Set of Interrogatories on Defendant. [See Dkt. 86 ¶ 1.] Defendant’s responses were due on December 22, 2014, see Fed. [214]*214R.Civ.P. 33(b)(2), but Defendant did not respond by that date. [See Dkt. 86 ¶ 1.] On December 29, 2014, Defendant then filed a motion for an extension of time to respond. [Dkt. 77.] The Court granted that motion and gave Defendant until January 20, 2015 to respond. [Dkt. 79.]

Instead of responding, Defendant on January 20, 2015 filed a motion to stay discovery. [Dkt. 82.] One week later, the Court denied that motion, [Dkt. 83], and the next day, the parties conferred before the Court to try to resolve their dispute. [Dkt. 84.] They were unable to do so. [Id,.] The Court accordingly ordered Defendant to serve its responses to Plaintiffs’ interrogatories by January 29, 2015 and authorized Plaintiffs to file a motion to compel if the responses were not served by that time. [Dkt. 84.]

Defendant met the January 29 deadline, [see Dkt. 85], but Plaintiffs considered Defendant’s responses to be “evasive and incomplete.” [Dkt. 86 ¶ 10.] Plaintiffs conferred with Defendant to try to resolve this issue, but the parties were unable to reach an agreement, and on February 10, 2015, Plaintiffs filed the currently pending Motion to Compel and for Sanctions. [Dkt. 86.] Plaintiffs ask the Court to 1) compel Defendant to respond to interrogatories two through twenty-five in Plaintiffs’ First Set of Interrogatories; and 2) award Plaintiffs their attorney’s fees and enter sanctions against Defendant for their alleged failure to comply with the Court’s orders. [Id. at 4.] On March 12, 2015, the Court held a hearing to address Plaintiffs’ motion.

II. Discussion

The Court first considers Plaintiffs’ motion to compel and then considers Plaintiffs’ request for attorney’s fees and sanctions.

A. Motion to Compel

A party seeking discovery “may move for an order compelling an answer” to an interrogatory if the pai’ty to whom the interrogatory is directed “fails to answer[.]” Fed. R.Civ.P. 37(a)(3)(B). For the purposes of such motions, an “evasive or incomplete” answer is treated as a failure to answer. Fed. R.Civ.P. 37(a)(4). Plaintiffs in this case contend that Defendant’s answers to interrogatories two through twenty-five were in fact “evasive or incomplete,” such that the Court may appropriately order a more extensive response. [Dkt. 87 at 14-15.]

Plaintiffs’ main argument is that Defendant’s “purported responses were not its own.” [Id. at 15.] Instead, Defendant responded to each interrogatory by stating “[a]ll information [American Water] has regarding the incident comes from [Indiana Water.] [Indiana Water] is a wholly-owned subsidiary corporation of [American Water.] [American Water] provides herewith the text of the answers to these identical interrogatories provided by [Indiana Water] on January 16, 2015, in Gregory and Gina Deere v. Indiana American Water Company, Inc., Tippecanoe County Circuit Court, Cause No. 79C01-1408-CT-00020” (hereinafter the “Qualifying Paragraph”). [See Dkt. 87-3 (Def.’s Resps. to Pis.’ Interrogs.).] Defendant then reproduced the response that its subsidiary, Indiana Water, had provided for each of Plaintiffs’ interrogatories. [See id.]

Plaintiffs assert that these answers are insufficient because they “fail to indicate what information Defendant actually has itself.” [Dkt. 87 at 15.] They may indicate what Indiana Water knew, and they may indicate that all of American Water’s information did in fact come from Indiana Water, but Plaintiffs believe the answers do not unequivocally establish the knowledge that American Water had. [See id.] Plaintiffs therefore contend that the responses “unfairly inhibit Plaintiffs from establishing their case.” [Id] Whether this argument has any merit depends on the specific interrogatory at issue, and the Court will thus address Plaintiffs’ contention when ruling on each interrogatory.

In addition to the Qualifying Paragraph, Defendant’s answers to Plaintiffs’ interrogatories included a “general objection” that the interrogatories were “improper given the pending motion to dismiss.” [Dkt.

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Bluebook (online)
306 F.R.D. 208, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31534, 2015 WL 1188793, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deere-v-american-water-works-co-insd-2015.