In Re Timothy Joseph Grant

District Court, S.D. California·Decided July 9, 2021·No. 3:20-cv-02465·Unknown

Opinion

IN RE: Case No.: 20-cv-02465-DMS (JLB)

ORDER DENYING Debtor. PLAINTIFF/COUNTERCLAIM PELLON LAY, DEFENDANT PELLON LAY’S MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE Plaintiff, ORDER RE: PSYCHIATRIC AND v. PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT AND MENTAL HEALTH TIMOTHY JOSEPH GRANT, Defendant. [ECF No. 49]

AND RELATED COUNTERCLAIM. Before the Court is a Motion for Protective Order re: Psychiatric and Psychological Treatment and Mental Health Counseling Records filed by Plaintiff/Counterclaim Defendant Pellon Lay (“Lay”). (ECF No. 49.) Lay requests that the Court issue a protective order directing that Lay’s psychological and psychiatric treatment and mental health counseling records (collectively, “mental health records”) not be produced directly to Defendant/Counterclaim Plaintiff Timothy J. Grant (“Grant”). (Id. at 6.) Instead, Lay requests that the Court order the appointment of a discovery referee/special master (“special master”) to review Lay’s mental health records and recommend an appropriate resolution and require Lay and Grant to each be responsible for one half of the cost of this appointment. (Id.) Grant opposes the motion. (ECF No. 50.) Lay filed a reply. (ECF Nos. 51; 52.) For the reasons set forth below, the Court DENIES Lay’s Motion for Protective Order. A. Procedural Background On or about April 3, 2020, Grant filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 7 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, Case No. 20-01895-LT7. (ECF No. 16 (“Compl.”) ¶¶ 1, 5.) The present dispute was initiated by Lay on June 12, 2020, when he filed an adversarial complaint for non-dischargeability of debt in Grant’s bankruptcy case, which was assigned Adversary No. 20-90082-LT. (Id. ¶ 1.) Lay filed suit for willful and malicious injury stemming from a 2019 incident between the parties that occurred at a Mobil gas station in San Diego, California. (Id. ¶¶ 6–20.) On December 18, 2020, the parties stipulated and jointly moved to have the adversary proceeding transferred to U.S. District Court for a trial on Lay’s personal injury tort action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 157(b). (ECF No. 1.) Thereafter, the matter will be returned to the Bankruptcy Court for further proceedings regarding dischargeability under 28 U.S.C. § 523(a)(6). (See ECF No. 4 at 1.) The Honorable Dana M. Sabraw granted the parties’ joint motion on February 10, 2021. (Id. at 1–2.) B. Factual Background1 The incident took place on November 7, 2019, as the parties were emerging from the car wash at a Mobil gas station. (Compl. ¶ 6; see also ECF No. 18 ¶ 12.) When Lay 1 Except as otherwise noted, the following allegations are taken from Lay’s began to exit the car wash, he found he could not leave because Grant was blocking the exit. (Compl. ¶ 7.) Lay honked his horn, but Grant did not respond. (Id.) Eventually, Lay exited his car and approached Grant to ask him to move his car. (Id. ¶ 8.) Grant, who was texting on his mobile phone, “responded with a barrage of abusive language, threatening harm to Lay.” (Id. ¶¶ 8–9.) Grant then exited his car and “struck [Lay] with a metal steering wheel security arm bar.” (Id. ¶ 10.) Grant chased Lay through the car wash parking lot and hit him on his “face, head, neck, shoulders, and about his body.” (Id. ¶ 11.) Lay was left bleeding and had a cut behind his left ear. (Id. ¶ 12.) His head/neck area was also bruised and became swollen and painful. (Id.) Lay required medical care, including numerous stitches to close the open wounds on his head. (Id.) Two car wash employees prevented Grant from leaving the scene and the San Diego Police Department arrived in response to a 911 emergency call. (Id. ¶ 13–14.) As a proximate result of the acts and omissions of Grant, Lay alleges: (1) that he was injured and has received and continues to receive medical care for his injuries, which may lead to some permanent disability to him and residual damages (id. ¶ 16); (2) that he sustained, and will sustain, special damages consisting of medical bills and related healthcare expenses (id. ¶ 17); (3) that he “suffered general damages, pain and suffering, interruption of the enjoyment of life, and emotional distress” (id. ¶ 18). In his prayer, Lay seeks, inter alia, punitive damages. (Id. at 4.) On July 9, 2020, Grant, proceeding pro se, filed an Answer and Counterclaim in Bankruptcy Court. (ECF Nos. 17; 18.) Grant brought claims against Lay for battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligence related to the incident at the gas station car wash. (ECF No. 18 ¶¶ 74–102.) Grant alleges that while he was still seated in his car, Lay approached him, berated him, and then punched him in the face with his left fist “without warning or provocation.” (Id. ¶¶ 19–25.) He further alleges that he struck Lay with the metal steering wheel security arm bar or “club” in self-defense. (Id. ¶¶ 39–44.) Grant alleges that after the incident he was arrested on the charge of assault with a deadly weapon. (Id. ¶ 53.) Grant alleges he suffered injuries to his ear and neck for which he was subsequently treated on two occasions at Urgent Care. (Id. ¶¶ 57–59.) Grant further alleges that the blow to the face “and the resulting concussion” triggered some or all of his “current psychological issues and the consequent need for [] psychological treatment, resulting in [his] stopping work due to the medical disability.” (Id. ¶¶ 61–69.) In February 2020, Grant entered a guilty plea to the felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon (Cal. Pen. Code § 245(a)(1)), “including the admitted ‘personal use of a dangerous or deadly weapon’” (id. § 11927(c)(23)) in People v. Timothy Joseph Grant, Case No. SCD284113 (San Diego Superior Court). (ECF No. 18 ¶¶ 63–64.) As a result of his felony conviction, Grant, who is a California attorney, had his license to practice law suspended on an interim basis by the California State Bar on November 3, 2020. (ECF No. 29 at 2.) Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 provides that parties: may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case, considering the importance of the issues at stake in the action, the amount in controversy, the parties’ relative access to relevant information, the parties’ resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit. Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). The December 2015 amendment to Rule 26 reinforced the proportionality factors for defining the scope of discovery and, thus, under Rule 26, relevancy alone is not sufficient to obtain discovery. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1) advisory committee’s note to 2015 amendment. Discovery must also be proportional to the needs of the case. Doherty v. Comenity Cap. Bank, No. 16cv1321-H-BGS, 2017 WL 1885677, at *2 (S.D. Cal. May 9, 2017) (citing Mora v. Zeta Interactive Corp., No. 1:16-cv-00198- DAD-SAB, 2017 WL 1187710, at *3 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 10, 2017)). Rule 26 requires that courts “limit the frequency or extent of discovery otherwise allowed by these rules or by local rule if it determines that . . . the proposed discovery is outside the scope permitted by Rule 26(b)(1).” Fed. R. Civ. P.

In Re Timothy Joseph Grant, (S.D. Cal. 2021).

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