Disidore v. Mail Contractors of America, Inc.

196 F.R.D. 410, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16107, 2000 WL 1375261
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedAugust 18, 2000
DocketNo. CIV.A. 99-2486-GTV
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 196 F.R.D. 410 (Disidore v. Mail Contractors of America, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Disidore v. Mail Contractors of America, Inc., 196 F.R.D. 410, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16107, 2000 WL 1375261 (D. Kan. 2000).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

WAXSE, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter is before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion to Compel Disclosure and Discovery (doc. 68). The Parties indicated at the July 13, 2000 telephone status conference that Part I of the Motion, which deals with Plaintiffs First Interrogatories No. 7 and 8 and Plaintiffs Fourth Interrogatories, is moot. The Parties also indicated that Part II is moot except for the issues involving Plaintiffs Request for Production Nos. 15 and 16 and Privilege Log Items 2, 21 and 23. The Court therefore denied those portions of the Motion to Compel as moot. The Court will now proceed to rule on the remaining issues.

I. Background Information

This action arises out of a motor vehicle accident that occurred on February 9, 1999. Plaintiff was driving behind a tractor-double trailer driven by an employee of Defendant, when the rear trailer become disengaged [412]*412from the tractor trailer unit. The rear trailer collided with Plaintiffs automobile, resulting in injuries to Plaintiff.

The tractor trailer unit consisted of a power unit (tractor) and two trailers connected by a convertor dolly and fifth wheel assembly. Plaintiff is suing Defendant Mail Contractors of America, Inc., who had leased the trailers and convertor dolly/fifth wheel assembly from another entity. Complaint, II17. Plaintiffs Complaint alleges that “[t]railer # 2 was intended to be attached to trailer # 1 by sliding the king pin from trailer # 2 into a locking mechanism of the fifth wheel mounted on trailer # 1, causing the locking mechanism to close automatically and retracting the release handle to the closed position.” Id., II16. Plaintiff contends that trailer #2 separated because the locking mechanism of the fifth wheel was in the open position. Id., f 23. She states in her Motion to Compel that she plans to rely upon the inspections and testimony of various members of the Kansas Highway Patrol and the designer/manufacturer of the fifth wheel assembly, all of whom have determined “that the mechanism was operating properly, and that the trailer separation occurred because of Defendant’s failure to conduct the required pretrip inspection, which would have detected that the king pin of the trailer was not locked into the jaws of the fifth wheel.” Sug. in Sup. of Motion to Compel (doc. 69) at 3.

Following the accident, the convertor dolly and fifth wheel were inspected at the scene by numerous individuals, including Bill Jones, an employee of Defendant, and Charles Shofner, an engineer who Defendant has identified as a non-testifying consulting expert. Issues involving both Jones and Shofner are the subject of Plaintiffs Motion to Compel.

II. Plaintiffs Request for Production Nos. 15 and 16 and Privilege Log Items 2, 21, and 23

A. The Discovery at Issue

Plaintiffs Request No. 15 seeks “[a]ll written reports or other records made by Allen Bridges, Billy Roberts or Bill Jones pertaining to the accident of February 9, 1999.” Plaintiffs Request No. 16 seeks “[a]ll notes of conversations of interviews with Bill Jones regarding the events of February 9, 1999.” Defendant objected to each request on the ground that each “seeks information protected by the attorney-work product doctrine and attorney-client privilege.”1 It submitted a Privilege Log identifying various documents that it alleged were privileged and/or protected by the work product doctrine.

Plaintiff claims that documents numbered 2, 21, and 23 from the Privilege Log should have been produced because they do not qualify as protected work product. Even if they do qualify as work product, Plaintiff contends that she has substantial need for the documents and is unable to obtain the substantial equivalent of the materials by other means. The Privilege Log identifies the three documents as follows:

No. 2 “Memo of telephone conference with Bill Jones containing privileged information regarding accident investigation and further inspection of convertor.” [These were undated notes made by James Higgins of the telephone conference he had with Jones on February 11, 1999. Higgins and Jones were employees of Defendant.]

No. 21 “Notes of telephone conference with Bill Jones containing privileged information regarding investigation of trailer and convertor gear.”

[These were also notes made by James Higgins of another telephone conference he had with Jones on February 11, 1999. The notes were dated that same day.]

No. 23 “Notes of telephone conference with David Dinwiddie, James Higgins and Francene Pierce containing privileged information regarding accident investigation.” [These were notes made by Marlena Eden, Defendant’s office manager, of a February 11, 1999 telephone conference with the iden[413]*413tified individuals. The notes were dated that same day.]

B. Request No. 15

The Court does not find that any of the three documents listed in Defendant’s Privilege Log are even responsive to this request. The requests seeks only those “written reports or other records made by ... Bill Jones pertaining to the accident.” (Emphasis added.) The claimed protected documents are either notes made by James Higgins or Marlena Eden. The Motion to Compel is therefore denied with respect to Request No. 15.

C. Request No. 16

Request No. 16 requests “[a]ll notes of all conversations or interviews with Bill Jones regarding the events of February 9, 1999.” The Court finds that the three documents at issue are responsive to Request No. 16. The Court will thus proceed to determine whether they are protected by the work product doctrine, as Defendant asserts.

1. Standards for determining work product protection

As the party asserting work product protection, Defendant has the burden of establishing that the work product doctrine applies. See McCoo v. Denny’s, Inc., 192 F.R.D. 675, 683 (D.Kan.2000); Boyer v. Board of County Comm’rs, 162 F.R.D. 687, 688 (D.Kan.1995). To carry that burden, Defendant must make a “clear showing” that the asserted objection applies. See McCoo, 192 F.R.D. at 683; Ali v. Douglas Cable Communications, Ltd. Partnership, 890 F.Supp. 993, 994 (D.Kan.1995). A “blanket claim” as to the applicability of the work product doctrine does not satisfy the burden of proof. McCoo, 192 F.R.D. at 680. It is well settled that the party seeking to invoke work product immunity has the burden to establish all elements of the immunity and that this burden can be met only by an evidentiary showing based on competent evidence. Id. “That burden cannot be discharged by mere conclusory or ipse dixit assertions.” Id. (quotations and citations omitted). A party’s failure to meet this burden when the trial court is asked to rule upon the existence of the work product immunity is not excused because the document is later shown to be one that would have been privileged if a timely showing had been made. Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. v. West, 748 F.2d 540, 542 (10th Cir.1984); McCoo, 192 F.R.D. at 680.

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

Related

Ewing v. Colonel Biggs Water Ski Show Team
135 So. 3d 247 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2013)
Parker v. Mobile Gas Service Corp.
123 So. 3d 499 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2013)
Kannaday v. Ball
292 F.R.D. 640 (D. Kansas, 2013)
Ex Parte Meadowbrook Ins. Group, Inc.
987 So. 2d 540 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 2007)
Green v. Baca
226 F.R.D. 624 (C.D. California, 2005)
Wells Dairy, Inc. v. American Industrial Refrigeration, Inc.
690 N.W.2d 38 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2004)
Spearman Industries, Inc. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance
128 F. Supp. 2d 1148 (N.D. Illinois, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
196 F.R.D. 410, 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16107, 2000 WL 1375261, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/disidore-v-mail-contractors-of-america-inc-ksd-2000.