In Re Jacobs

300 S.W.3d 35, 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 8112, 2009 WL 3347486
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided October 20, 2009·No. 14-09-00123-CV·Published·Cited by 46 cases

Opinions

MAJORITY OPINION

JEFFREY V. BROWN, Justice.

In this original proceeding, the relators, Mark A. Jacobs, M.D., Debra C. Gunn, M.D., and Obstetrical and Gynecologist Associates, P.A., seek a writ of mandamus ordering the Honorable Mike Wood, presiding judge of Probate Court No. 2 of Harris County, to set aside his two orders of January 23, 2009 — one compelling the deposition of Dr. Jacobs and one compelling net-worth discovery for the past two years — and his order of January 30, 2009, clarifying the two January 23 orders. We conditionally grant the petition in part and deny it in part.

I

Real parties in interest, Andre McCoy, Individually and as Permanent Guardian of Shannon Miles McCoy, an Incapacitated Person (the “McCoys”), have sued the re-lators and others1 for negligence and gross negligence in providing medical care and treatment to Shannon while she was an obstetrical patient at Woman’s Hospital of Texas from September 13, 2004 to September 14, 2004. On November 16, 2007, the McCoys served the relators with requests for discovery of net-worth information. When the relators objected to the requests for production, the McCoys filed a motion to compel discovery.

[39] On January 23, 2009, the trial court held a hearing and signed an order directing the McCoys to amend their pleadings to provide more specific allegations of gross negligence against the relators following the completion of the depositions of Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Gunn. Subject to the filing of a sufficient pleading as to gross negligence, the trial court further ordered the relators to produce “the actual financial statements they have provided to a lender within the past two (2) years that identifies the assets and liabilities of each Defendant.” Alternatively, if the relators had not submitted any such financial statement to a lender within the two years preceding the date of the order, the court ordered each relator to:

(i) Produce an affidavit swearing that no such financial statement has actually been submitted to a lender in the past two (2) years; and
(ii) Produce an affidavit under oath in the format of what would have been provided to a lender as to net worth.

The order directed that the relators produce such net-worth information no later than thirty days after the McCoys sufficiently pleaded gross negligence. In the order, Judge Wood also prohibited the McCoys from seeking to compel any additional responses to their outstanding net-worth discovery requests, and announced that any net-worth information provided to the McCoys would be “safeguarded by a protective order.” On January 23, Judge Wood signed another order granting the McCoys’ motion to compel the deposition of Dr. Jacobs, and directed that the deposition may not exceed three hours on the record.

On January 26, the relators filed a motion to clarify the order regarding the discoverability of net worth. The relators stated they did not understand when to produce the net-worth information to comply with the order and requested the trial court to so specify. Also, the relators requested a written order on what net-worth matters, if any, the McCoys would be allowed to cover during the depositions of Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Gunn.

On January 30, the trial court signed an order clarifying its prior orders regarding the discoverability of net-worth information. The trial court directed the relators to produce the information by February 6, 2009, and ruled that the McCoys would be permitted to depose Dr. Gunn and Dr. Jacobs about their net worth.

In their petition, the relators argue that the trial court abused its discretion with respect to the orders of January 23 and 30 by directing the relators to (1) produce net-worth information for the past two years in the form of actual financial statements they have provided to lenders; (2) create a net-worth document in the format of what would have been provided to a lender; and (3) present Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Gunn for deposition regarding their net worth without any temporal or subject-matter limitations. The relators further assert they have no adequate remedy by appeal because their rights to due process and privacy are in jeopardy of being permanently lost or compromised.

II

To be entitled to the extraordinary relief of a writ of mandamus, the relator must show that the trial court clearly abused its discretion and he has no adequate remedy by appeal. In re Team Rocket, L.P., 256 S.W.3d 257, 259 (Tex.2008) (orig. proceeding). The party resisting discovery bears the heavy burden of establishing an abuse of discretion and an inadequate remedy by appeal. In re CSX Corp., 124 S.W.3d 149, 151 (Tex.2003) (orig. proceeding) (per curiam). A trial court abuses its discretion if it reaches a [40] decision so arbitrary and unreasonable as to constitute a clear and prejudicial error of law, or if it clearly fails to correctly analyze or apply the law. In re Cerberus Capital Mgmt., L.P., 164 S.W.3d 379, 382 (Tex.2005) (orig. proceeding) (per curiam); Walker v. Packer, 827 S.W.2d 833, 839 (Tex.1992) (orig. proceeding).

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

In Re Jacobs, 300 S.W.3d 35, 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 8112, 2009 WL 3347486 (Tex. Ct. App. 2009).

300 S.W.3d 35 (In Re Jacobs) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

in Re Stephen M. Yamin, Sr. and Mary Ann Yamin
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
in Re Brian Potashnik
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
in Re Defy International, LLC
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
in Re City of Pharr, Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
in Re Sun Coast Resources, Inc.
562 S.W.3d 138 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)
WM.. v. Am. Airlines, Inc.
338 F. Supp. 3d 1203 (D. Oregon, 2018)
in Re First Transit Inc. and Latosha R. Emanuel
499 S.W.3d 584 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016)
in Re: Michelin North America, Inc.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
in Re Advanced Powder Solutions, Inc.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Vonda Barnhart v. Sylvia Morales and Luis Perez
459 S.W.3d 733 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015)
Karl Wawarosky v. Fast Group Houston Inc.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015