Hall v. Harleysville Ins.

164 F.R.D. 406, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 871, 1996 WL 37760
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 29, 1996
DocketCivil A. No. 94-6656
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 164 F.R.D. 406 (Hall v. Harleysville Ins.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hall v. Harleysville Ins., 164 F.R.D. 406, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 871, 1996 WL 37760 (E.D. Pa. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

JOYNER, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, Thomas and Denise Hall, seek discovery of Defendant Harleysville Insurance Company. This action concerns Har-leysville’s alleged use of consumer credit reports during their investigation of Thomas Hall’s worker’s compensation claim. Part of Plaintiffs’ claim is that Harleysville knowingly misused the consumer credit reports. The proposed discovery goes to Harleysville’s alleged knowledge and willfulness.

We shall address each discovery request separately, however, the same discovery rules apply to all the requests. First, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1) permits:

discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action, whether it relates to the claim or defense of the party seeking discovery or to the claim or defense of any other party, including the existence, description, nature, custody, condition, and location of any books, documents, or other tangible thing and the identity and location of persons having knowledge of any discoverable matter. The information sought need not be admissible at the trial if the information sought appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.

Once discovery is provided, the respondent is “under a duty to supplement or correct the disclosure or response to include information thereafter acquired ... if the party learns that in some material respect the information disclosed is incomplete or incorrect.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 26(e).

Relevance is broadly construed and determined in relation to the facts and circumstances of each case. Stabilus v. Haynsworth, Baldwin, Johnson & Greaves, P.A., 144 F.R.D. 258, 265-66 (E.D.Pa.1992) (citing Continental Control Sys. v. Racal-Vikonics, 101 F.R.D. 418 (E.D.Pa.1983); McClain v. Mack Trucks, Inc., 85 F.R.D. 53, 61 (E.D.Pa.1979)). When there is doubt about relevance, a court should tend toward permitting discovery. Id. at 265 (citing Heat & Control, Inc. v. Hester Indus., Inc., 785 F.2d 1017, 1024 (Fed.Cir.1986)).

Finally, when a party asserts a privilege, the party should “make the claim expressly and shall describe the nature of the documents, communications, or things not produced or disclosed in a manner that, without revealing information itself privileged or protected, will enable other parties to assess the applicability of the privilege or protection.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(5); Stabilus, 144 F.R.D. [408]*408at 268. With these fundamentals in mind, we turn to the requests at hand.

Interrogatories and Requests for Production of Documents

Interrogatories ten through fourteen and Requests for Production of Documents eleven through nineteen are all based on the same premise; that Harleysville has used in the past and continues to use consumer credit reports in its investigation of insurance claims. So, Interrogatory ten asks for an identification of all systems and procedures by which Harleysville could determine or track the times it has sought or obtained consumer credit reports and Interrogatory eleven seeks the identification of all employees who have knowledge of such systems or procedures. Harleysville denied requesting credit reports and thereby denied any systems or procedures available to track such requests. Interrogatory twelve asks how many times Harleysville asked any co-defendant detective agency to obtain a consumer credit report for investigative purposes; Interrogatory thirteen asks whether Harleysville has sought or obtained consumer credit reports on claimants from 1991 to the present and Interrogatory fourteen asks for details about those requests. Again, Harleysville responded that it has never sought or obtained consumer credit reports for investigative purposes.

The Document Requests seek, among other things, any requests for consumer credit reports, all contracts between Harleysville and any consumer credit reporting agency and records relating to fees paid to detective agencies.

In this Motion, Plaintiffs attest that a Har-leysville employee testified at her deposition that within the past several months, Harleys-ville had received two credit reports relating to two other claimants named Weidermaier and DeSantis from a detective agency known as the Hart Agency. In addition, this deponent and one other Harleysville employee testified that it would be possible to identify other instances where credit reports were obtained by polling all the adjusters or by conducting a file by file search. The first deponent testified further that Harleysville had not undertaken such a search. In addition, Plaintiffs maintain that a co-defendant testified that he provided Harleysville with credit reports on approximately five to ten other occasions.

According to Plaintiffs, this evidence indicates first, that Harleysville did not properly answer its Interrogatories, because it flatly denied making any requests for credit reports without searching its records first. Second, it demonstrates that Harleysville incorrectly answered the Interrogatories because there were at least two instances when credit reports were received that Harleys-ville did not acknowledge.

Harleysville first responds by re-asserting its position that it has not requested consumer credit reports for investigatory purposes and that its answers were therefore appropriate. Second, Harleysville defends its employee’s testimony by explaining that she had mistakenly requested the credit reports but that they were returned promptly upon receipt. Third, Harleysville explains its co-defendant’s testimony by pointing to additional testimony, wherein he explains that he may have pulled Plaintiffs’ credit reports on his own initiative. These additional facts, Harleysville contends, demonstrate no contradiction in its original answers.

Second, Harleysville maintains that any search of its files would be unduly burdensome and would require ceasing work for an entire day while its entire work force searched the files page by page. In addition, Harleysville contends that Plaintiffs’ request would require creating evidence for Plaintiffs, an obligation that is not imposed under the Federal Rules. Hicks v. Arthur, 159 F.R.D. 468, 470 (E.D.Pa.1995).

Finally, Harleysville contends that the requests are irrelevant because no evidence, but only Plaintiffs’ counsel’s imagination, suggests a pattern of wrongdoing on Har-leysville’s part.

We find that Harleysville has indeed answered Plaintiffs’ written discovery improperly. Both Interrogatories ten and thirteen asked whether Harleysville had sought or obtained credit reports. According to Har-leysville’s own admissions, it has sought these reports, although apparently by acei-[409]*409dent, and has received several reports from at least one co-defendant, although it contends it returned the reports promptly. Harleysville was under a duty to answer completely and not make its own determinations that the allegedly mistaken receipt of credit reports was irrelevant to this litigation.

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Bluebook (online)
164 F.R.D. 406, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 871, 1996 WL 37760, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hall-v-harleysville-ins-paed-1996.