Hansen v. Country Mutual Insurance Company

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 2, 2021
Docket1:18-cv-00244
StatusUnknown

This text of Hansen v. Country Mutual Insurance Company (Hansen v. Country Mutual Insurance Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hansen v. Country Mutual Insurance Company, (N.D. Ill. 2021).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS EASTERN DIVISION

CHAD HANSEN and MELISSA HANSEN, ) on behalf of themselves and all others ) similarly situated, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) ) 18 CV 244 ) vs. ) Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cummings ) COUNTRY MUTUAL INSURANCE CO. ) d/b/a COUNTRY FINANCIAL and ) ELITE CONSTRUCTION CO. INC., ) ) Defendants. )

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Plaintiffs Chad and Melissa Hansen have filed a renewed motion to compel the production of documents and to allow an inspection/use of the XactAnalysis software of defendant Country Mutual Insurance Company (“CMIC”) (Dckt. #160) and an accompanying motion to modify the discovery schedule and the motion for class action briefing schedule (Dckt. #175). The parties disputed the degree to which CMIC complied with this Court’s September 28, 2020 ruling (hereinafter, the “Order”) in their briefing concerning the renewed motion to compel. To facilitate a resolution of the renewed motion, the Court entered a January 6, 2021 order (Dckt. #178) directing CMIC to file a supplemental memorandum to address the contested matters. After CMIC filed its supplemental memorandum (Dckt. #179), plaintiffs filed a motion for leave to file a short document addressing representations in defendant’s supplemental memorandum (Dckt. #180). As will be explained, plaintiffs’ renewed motion to compel is granted to the limited extent specified below. Plaintiffs’ motions to modify the class action briefing schedule and for leave to file a short document in response to CMIC’s supplemental memorandum are also granted. A. Plaintiffs’ Renewed Motion To Compel Plaintiffs bring this putative class action alleging that CMIC engaged in multiple acts of breach of contract, common law fraud, consumer fraud and deceptive business practices,

unreasonable and vexatious claims practices, negligence, and conversion. As this Court explained in its Order on plaintiffs’ most recent motion to compel, discovery in this case has been on-going for more than two years and CMIC has expended significant effort and produced a massive amount of material in response to plaintiffs’ discovery requests. (Dckt. #144 at 1-2.) CMIC also certified its compliance with the Order with a ten-page statement supported by the sworn declarations of its Director of Property Claims (John Butkus) and its XactAnalysis Account Manager (Gary Kiester). (Dckt. ##147, 147-1, 147-2.) In their renewed motion to compel, plaintiffs – in reliance on their outdated and overly expansive view of the appropriate scope of discovery under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 261

– challenge CMIC’s compliance with this Court’s prior ruling and their discovery requests as a whole. Specifically, plaintiffs assert that the Court should order CMIC to: (1) grant plaintiffs access to CMIC’s XactAnalysis software for inspection and use; (2) produce ESX files from CMIC’s sample claim forms to the extent that they reside on CMIC’s network or in Veriskk’s

1 Although plaintiffs cite the current version of Rule 26, they mistakenly rely on caselaw that predates the 2015 amendments to the Rule to construe it. (See Dckt. #160 at 2-3.) Courts have rejected this approach. See, e.g., Alexander v. 1328 Uptown, Inc., No. 18-CV-1544 (ECT/ECW), 2019 WL 4929931, at *3 (D.Minn. Oct. 7, 2019); Bonanza Beverage Co. v. Millercoors, LLC, No. 218CV01445JADGWF, 2019 WL 302491, at *3 (D.Nev. Jan. 23, 2019). As presently drafted, “[t]he discovery rules are not a ticket to an unlimited, never-ending exploration of every conceivable matter that captures an attorney’s interest” and parties are instead “entitled to a reasonable opportunity to investigate the facts – and no more.” Motorola Sols., Inc. v. Hytera Communications Corp., 365 F.Supp.3d 916, 925 (N.D.Ill. 2019) (internal quotation marks omitted). cloud; (3) produce all Xactimate and Xactcontents macros and certify compliance; (4) produce the remaining document it asserts is protected by the attorney-client privilege in unredacted form; and (5) produce its unprivileged internal policy, procedure, and practice documents from June 2016 through the present. CMIC reports that Verisk can produce an additional field of XactAnalysis data2 that it

previously believed could not be captured and it represents that it will produce this data to plaintiffs “in short order” as soon as it receives the data from Verisk. (Dckt. #179 at 1.) CMIC does not oppose an extension of the expert discovery deadlines so that plaintiffs’ experts can incorporate this additional data into their analyses. (Dckt. #179 at 1, 4 n.6.) The parties also agree that CMIC has all ESX files in Verisk’s cloud regardless of the date of the files. (Dckt. #179 at 5; Dckt. #180 at 1.) CMIC otherwise opposes plaintiffs’ renewed motion to compel. 1. Plaintiffs are not entitled to access, inspect, and use CMIC’s XactAnalysis Software

Plaintiffs renew their assertion that the Court should permit them to access, inspect, and use CMIC’s XactAnalysis software based on their claim that CMIC has, in several respects, failed to comply with the Order. The Court disagrees for the following reasons. a. CMIC and Verisk have (with one exception) produced the accessible XactAnalysis data sought by plaintiffs

In its Order, this Court reiterated Judge Pallmeyer’s prior ruling that CMIC should work with Verisk to produce the underlying XactAnalysis data so that plaintiffs could retain an expert to analyze the data. Specifically, this Court ordered the parties to schedule a conference call between themselves and Verisk so that plaintiffs could clearly identify the data that they were seeking and the data could be promptly produced to them. (Dckt. #144 at 4.) The parties agree

2 The data field in question is titled “Additional text/notes by adjuster.” (Dckt. 179-1 at 3.) that CMIC complied with the Court’s Order by facilitating two calls between plaintiffs and Verisk. The parties further agree that: (1) plaintiffs made an eight-page written request for Verisk to produce a “large amount of [XactAnalysis] data” (Dckt. #168 at 23);3 (2) Verisk produced a volume of XactAnalysis data to CMIC in response to plaintiffs’ request; and (3) that CMIC in turn produced the data to plaintiffs.

Plaintiffs nonetheless assert that they are entitled to access CMIC’s XactAnalysis software because Verisk did not produce the majority of the data requested by them, including data related to price deviations and estimate deviations, and the data Verisk failed to produce is available to CMIC through its XactAnalysis software. (Dckt. #160 at 5 n.2; Dckt #171 at 3, 7 n.10; Dckt. #180-1 at 1-3.) CMIC strongly disputes plaintiffs’ assertions. In particular, in CMIC’s supplemental memorandum and the accompanying declaration of Brent Francom (who is the Assistant Vice President with XactAnalysis at Xactware Solutions, Inc., a Verisk Analytics Company), CMIC addressed each of the data fields or category of data that plaintiffs claim that CMIC failed to produce. (See Dckt. #179 at 1-4; Dckt. #179-1 at 2-6.)

CMIC explained that the remaining XactAnalysis data fields sought by plaintiffs were not produced for one or more of the following reasons: (1) the data field requested does not exist; (2) the data field requested is not tracked or stored; (3) the data field requested “is not an extractable field that exists as a data point and cannot be determined without [Verisk] performing a

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Hansen v. Country Mutual Insurance Company, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hansen-v-country-mutual-insurance-company-ilnd-2021.