Felicia v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc.

286 F.R.D. 667, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 184865, 2012 WL 6869846
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedNovember 9, 2012
DocketNo. 12-20477-CIV
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 286 F.R.D. 667 (Felicia v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Felicia v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc., 286 F.R.D. 667, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 184865, 2012 WL 6869846 (S.D. Fla. 2012).

Opinion

ORDER

LURANA S. SNOW, United States Magistrate Judge.

THIS CAUSE is before the Court on the Plaintiffs Motion to Compel Better Responses to Request for Production to Defendant Celebrity Cruises, Inc. Re: Injury Investigation Policies and Procedures (DE 49), and Plaintiffs Request for Oral Argument on Plaintiffs Motion to Compel Better Response to Request for Production to Defendant Celebrity Cruises, Inc. Re: Injury Investigation Policies and Procedures (DE 50), which were referred to United States Magistrate Judge, Lurana S. Snow.

The Plaintiff filed a Complaint on February 7, 2012 alleging that owing to the Defendant’s negligence, she sustained injuries during a slip and fall which occurred while she was vacationing on the cruise ship Celebrity Century. (DE 1) In particular, the Complaint alleges that the Defendant failed to maintain the premises properly, and failed to wipe down and reasonably warn of dampness on the flooring of the Island Cafe on Deck 11. Id. at ¶ 10. The damp flooring caused the Plaintiff to fall, resulting in her injury. Id.

The Plaintiffs motion relates to production requests she served on the Defendant on August 1, 2012. The requests reflect the Plaintiffs efforts to determine what steps are taken by the Defendant to investigate injuries to its passengers. The Defendant objected to all fourteen requests.1

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure set forth the scope and limits of discovery. Under Rule 26(b),

“Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense ... [that] is relevant to the subject matter involved in the action. Relevant information need not be admissible at the trial if the discovery appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence ..., [however] the court must limit the [670]*670frequency or extent of discovery otherwise allowed by these rules ... if it determines that: (i) the discovery sought is unreasonably cumulative or duplicative, or can be obtained from some other source that is more convenient, less burdensome, or less expensive; (ii) the party seeking discovery has had ample opportunity to obtain the information by discovery in the action; or (iii) the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit, considering the needs of the case, the amount in controversy, the parties resources, the importance of the issues at stake in the action, and the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues.... ”

Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b). The Advisory Committee notes to Rule 26 are instructive. They make clear that a broad search for facts, and indeed “fishing” for evidence is permitted. Adv. Com. Notes, 1946 Amendment, Rule 26, Fed.R.Civ.P. “Of course, matters entirely without bearing either as direct evidence or as leads to evidence are not within the scope of inquiry, but to the extent that the examination develops useful information, it functions successfully as an instrument of discovery, even if it produces no testimony directly admissible.” Id. (citations omitted).

Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a) permits parties to move for an order compelling discovery. Motions to compel are committed to the sound discretion of the court. Commercial Union Ins. Co. v. Westrope, 730 F.2d 729, 731 (11th Cir.1984) Broad generalized objections unsupported by memorandum of law or other document are impermissible. White v. Beloginis, 53 F.R.D. 480 (S.D.N.Y.1971). The burden of persuasion is on the party objecting to the discovery. U.S. v. 58.16 Acres of Land, 66 F.R.D. 570, 573 (E.D.Ill. 1975); Eglin Federal Credit Union v. Cantor, Fitzgerald Securities Corp., 91 F.R.D. 414 (N.D.Ga.1981). The undersigned will discuss each disputed discovery request in turn. The Court has omitted the citations contained in the Defendant’s responses for the sake of brevity.

Request No. 1. Information regarding injury investigation and reporting found in the QESMS Manual/Database

Response. Objected to on the basis that this request is overbroad, burdensome, harassing, ambiguous, vague, insufficiently limited in scope of timeframe and subject matter inquiry, and extends to matters which are immaterial and irrelevant to the subject cause. Defendant’s post-incident investigation of Plaintiffs incident is irrelevant to the ultimate issues in the case: whether Defendant exercised reasonable care under the circumstances and whether Defendant was on notice of dangerous condition alleged by Plaintiff. Moreover, the incident alleged occurred in April 2011. It is also unclear which specific documents Plaintiff is requesting. Plaintiffs request is not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence, and is not pertinent to any allegation alleged in Plaintiffs Complaint.

The Plaintiff contends that in response to one of the interrogatories she propounded on April 30, 2012, the Defendant indicated that as part of its investigation, a photograph was taken of the area where the incident took place.2 The Defendant has since advised the Plaintiff that the photograph does not exist. The Plaintiff asserts that if there was a photograph taken of the area, it is not privileged and would assist the jury in understanding the nature of the flooring surface and whether it was unreasonably dangerous. Any video footage would also be relevant, and she contends that it is well known that cruise lines in general have numerous surveillance videos throughout their vessels. According to the Plaintiff, although the Defendant has indicated that it has no video of the actual incident, there may have been video footage taken close to the time of the incident, but which no longer exists. The Plaintiff seeks to discover the investigative procedure employed by the Defendant and [671]*671the reason why the photograph in question no longer exists.

The Plaintiff further contends that she has learned through discovery the identity of at least one passenger, Ann Biggs, who fell on the deck of the Island Cafe within the last two years, and who was not previously identified by the Defendant.3 The Plaintiff also has learned from produced documents, that despite the Defendant’s assertion that the decking is not unreasonably dangerous, the Century’s senior assistant food manager (the person who identified Ms. Biggs), characterized the area where she slipped as “very slippery and dangerous,” and noted that “we have a few falls every cruise, despite precautionary measures.”

When the Defendant’s corporate representative, Ms. Amanda Camos, was deposed, she was asked why Ms. Biggs’ identity had not been disclosed. Ms. Campos revealed that the injury investigation reporting system on-board the ship did not contain Ms. Biggs’ name. Ms. Campos was unfamiliar with the threshold requirements for entry of a passenger slip and fall incident into the ship’s database, and was likewise unfamiliar with other issues with respect to the ship’s incident reporting system.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
286 F.R.D. 667, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 184865, 2012 WL 6869846, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/felicia-v-celebrity-cruises-inc-flsd-2012.