Gusman v. Comcast Corp.

298 F.R.D. 592, 2014 WL 1340192, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46956
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. California
DecidedApril 2, 2014
DocketCivil No. 13-cv-1049-GPC (DHB)
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 298 F.R.D. 592 (Gusman v. Comcast Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gusman v. Comcast Corp., 298 F.R.D. 592, 2014 WL 1340192, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46956 (S.D. Cal. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER RESOLVING JOINT MOTION FOR DETERMINATION OF DISCOVERY DISPUTE

DAVID H. BARTICK, United States Magistrate Judge.

On March 5, 2014, Plaintiff James Gusman (“Plaintiff’) and Defendant Comcast Corporation (“Comcast” or “Defendant”) filed a Joint Motion for Determination of Discovery Dispute. (ECF No. 29.) The Court held a telephonic Discovery Conference on March 14, 2014 to discuss issues raised in the joint motion. (ECF No. 33.) Following the Discovery Conference, the parties submitted a Joint Status Report. (ECF No. 37.) Having considered the arguments of the parties and the applicable law, and for the reasons set forth herein, the Court DENIES Plaintiffs motion to compel Comcast to produce its outbound dial list and documentary evidence of prior express consent. Additionally, the Court GRANTS IN PART Comcast’s motion to compel production of Plaintiffs retainer and fee agreements.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff commenced this putative class action on May 2, 2013 by filing a complaint alleging that Comcast violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), 47 U.S.C. § 227 et seq. (ECF No. 1.) Specifically, Plaintiff alleges that “[bjeginning in February 2013, Defendant began contacting Plaintiff, sometimes as many as ten times in a single day, with an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS’) as defined by 47 U.S.C. § 227(a)(1) using an ‘artificial or prerecorded voice’ as prohibited by 47 U.S.C. [§ ] 227(b)(1)(A) in order to discuss Defendant’s prescription services with Plaintiff.” (Id. at 4:22-26.) Plaintiff further alleges he informed a representative on each occasion “that Plaintiff was not a current subscriber to Defendant’s servicers nor had Plaintiff ever been a subscriber.” (Id. at 5:4-6.) Plaintiff did not provide his cellular telephone number, which he obtained on or about February 1, 2013, to Comcast at any time. (Id. at 5:7-11.) Plaintiff further alleges Comcast’s use of an ATDS to contact Plaintiff was not done for emergency purposes, the calls constitute solicitations under [595]*595the TCPA, and “Plaintiff did not provide prior express consent to receive calls or messages on Plaintiffs cellular telephones.” (Id. at 5:21-26.)

According to the operative Complaint, Plaintiff seeks to certify the following class: “[A]ll persons within the United States who received any unsolicited marketing and artificial or prerecorded voice messages from Defendant without prior express consent which message by Defendant or its agents was not made for emergency purposes, within the four years prior to the filing of this action.” (Id. at 6:4-8.)

II. DISCUSSION

A. Legal Standards

The threshold requirement for discoverability under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is whether the information sought is “relevant to any party’s claim or defense.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). In addition, “[fjor good cause, the court may order discovery of any matter 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.” Id. The relevance standard is thus commonly recognized as one that is necessarily broad in scope in order “to encompass any matter that bears on, or that reasonably could lead to other matter that could bear on, any issue that is or may be in the case.” Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. Sanders, 437 U.S. 340, 351, 98 S.Ct. 2380, 57 L.Ed.2d 253 (1978) (citing Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 501, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947)).

However broadly defined, relevancy is not without “ultimate and necessary boundaries.” Hickman, 329 U.S. at 507, 67 S.Ct. 385. Accordingly, district courts have broad discretion to determine relevancy for discovery purposes. See Hallett v. Morgan, 296 F.3d 732, 751 (9th Cir.2002); Vinole v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., 571 F.3d 935, 942 (9th Cir.2009) (“District courts have broad discretion to control the class certification process, and ‘[wjhether or not discovery will be permitted ... lies within the sound discretion of the trial court.’ ”) (citing Kamm v. Cal. City Dev. Co., 509 F.2d 205, 209 (9th Cir.1975)). District courts also have broad discretion to limit discovery. For example, a court may limit the scope of any discovery method if it determines that “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.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(2)(C)(i).

Generally at the pre-class certification stage, discovery in a putative class action is limited to certification issues such as the number of class members, the existence of common questions, typicality of claims, and the representative’s ability to represent the class. Oppenheimer Fund, 437 U.S. at 359, 98 S.Ct. 2380. Although discovery on the merits is usually deferred until it is certain that the case will proceed as a class action, the merits/certification distinction is not always clear. Facts that are relevant to the class determination frequently will overlap with those relevant to the merits of the ease. See Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Dukes, — U.S. -, 131 S.Ct. 2541, 2551-52, 180 L.Ed.2d 374 (2011) (explaining that often the “rigorous analysis” under Rule 23(a) “will entail some overlap with the merits of the plaintiffs underlying claim. That cannot be helped.”).

B. Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel

Plaintiff seeks a court order compelling Comcast to produce (1) its outbound dial list of calls made to consumers using an ATDS (ECF No. 29 at 5:23-8:2), and (2) documentary evidence of prior express consent. (Id. at 8:4-10:25.)

1. Outbound Dial List

Plaintiffs Request for Production No. 71 to Comcast states:

Produce any and all DOCUMENTS relating to or regarding, and including, any and all reports for each outbound dial list to persons that YOU called on behalf of YOURSELF, and/or an third party, in-[596]*596eluding those outbound dial lists, in electronically searchable format (CSV for comma delimited format), generated by any autodialer campaign in which YOU or YOUR agents engaged since four ears pri- or the filing of this action to the date of responding to these document requests.

(ECF No. 29-1 at 13:8-14.)

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298 F.R.D. 592, 2014 WL 1340192, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46956, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gusman-v-comcast-corp-casd-2014.