Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters' Defined Contribution Pension Fund v. Tri State Interior Finishes

CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedSeptember 10, 2024
Docket1:21-cv-00126
StatusUnknown

This text of Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters' Defined Contribution Pension Fund v. Tri State Interior Finishes (Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters' Defined Contribution Pension Fund v. Tri State Interior Finishes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters' Defined Contribution Pension Fund v. Tri State Interior Finishes, (S.D. Ohio 2024).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO WESTERN DIVISION

INDIANA/KENTUCKY/OHIO REGIONAL Case No. 1:21-cv-126 COUNCIL OF CARPENTERS’ DEFINED Hopkins, J. CONTRIBUTION PENSION FUND, et al., Litkovitz, M.J. Plaintiffs,

vs.

TRI-STATE INTERIOR FINISHES, LLC, et al., ORDER Defendants. Plaintiffs, the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters Defined Contribution Pension Fund, the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters Pension Fund, the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters Welfare Fund, the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship and Training Fund, and the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters, filed this action “seeking unpaid contributions, wage deductions, liquidated damages, and interest revealed to be due and owing by the audit for bargaining-unit work performed . . . within the trade and territorial jurisdiction of the Union” under sections 502 and 515 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and section 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C § 185. (Doc. 31 at PAGEID 64). This matter is before the Court on plaintiffs’ motion to compel responses to initial discovery requests (Doc. 30), as supplemented (Doc. 31). Defendants Tri-State Interior Finishes, LLC (TSI) and Harris Floor Coverings, Inc. (Harris) filed a response in opposition (Doc. 33), to which plaintiffs replied (Doc. 34). I. Background This action was originally filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. (Doc. 1). Plaintiffs amended their complaint (Doc. 6), and the parties subsequently agreed to transfer the case to this Court. (Doc. 21). The case was assigned to District Judge Cole. Plaintiffs served their First Sets of Interrogatories and Requests for Production to defendants’ counsel on December 3, 2021. (See Docs. 31-1 to 31-4). Following an extension of

time, defendants served their responses on February 17, 2022. On April 22, 2022, plaintiffs’ counsel emailed letters to defendants’ counsel identifying perceived deficiencies in defendants’ responses. (See Docs. 31-5 and 31-6). When the parties could not reach a resolution, plaintiffs sought an informal discovery conference before District Judge Cole. (See July 26, 2022 docket notation). Plaintiffs represent that, at this conference, the parties determined that a stipulated protective order with an attorneys’ eyes only designation would allow them to resolve most outstanding discovery issues, which is consistent with District Judge Cole’s July 29, 2022 docket notation. On September 2, 2022, District Judge Cole entered a stipulated protective order with an attorneys’ eyes only provision. (Doc. 29). When defendants had still not submitted any

documents or information to supplement their responses to plaintiffs’ First Sets of Interrogatories and Requests for Production by October 5, 2022, plaintiffs filed their motion to compel (Doc. 30), as supplemented (Doc. 31). On October 12, 2022, defendants produced approximately 200 pages of documents (Bates numbers 9-175 from Harris and Bates numbers 773-812 from TSI). Defendants state that these included “a comprehensive client list from the past several years, tax returns from each Defendant from the past several years, bank account statements from each of Defendants’ bank accounts, and copies of vehicle titles and registration documents for all of the vehicles owned by Defendants.” (Doc. 33 at PAGEID 141). During the July 29, 2022 informal discovery conference and in plaintiffs’ motion to compel (compare Docs. 30-31 with Docs. 31-5 through 31-7), plaintiffs raised issues with the same discovery responses/production: • Interrogatories directed to Harris numbered: 5, 6, 14, 15, 17, and 18

• Interrogatories directed to TSI numbered: 6, 14, 15, 17, and 18 • Requests for production by Harris numbered: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 11 • Requests for production by TSI numbered: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 11 II. Legal standard Rule 26(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that “[p]arties 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.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). Determining the scope of discovery is within this Court’s discretion. See Bush v. Dictaphone Corp., 161 F.3d 363, 367

(6th Cir. 1998) (citing Lewis v. ACB Bus. Serv., Inc., 135 F.3d 389, 402 (6th Cir. 1998)). The scope of discovery under the Federal Rules “is traditionally quite broad[,]” Lewis, 135 F.3d at 402 (citing Mellon v. Cooper-Jarrett, Inc., 424 F.2d 499, 501 (6th Cir. 1970)), and Rule 26 acknowledges that “[i]nformation within this scope of discovery need not be admissible in evidence to be discoverable.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(1). If a party objects to the relevance of information sought in discovery, “the party seeking discovery must demonstrate that the requests are relevant to the claims or defenses in the pending action.” Anderson v. Dillard’s, Inc., 251 F.R.D. 307, 309-10 (W.D. Tenn. 2008) (citing Allen v. Howmedica Leibinger, 190 F.R.D. 518, 522 (W.D. Tenn. 1999)). “Based upon the purpose of the Civil Rules, however, that threshold is relatively low.” Albritton v. CVS

Caremark Corp., No. 5:13-cv-00218, 2016 WL 3580790, at *3 (W.D. Ky. June 28, 2016). “If th[e] [discovering] party demonstrates relevancy, the party resisting discovery bears the burden of demonstrating why the request is unduly burdensome or otherwise not discoverable under the Federal Rules.” Anderson, 251 F.R.D. at 310 (citations omitted). Several decisions issued by district courts in the Sixth Circuit have found that the burden

is on the resisting party to demonstrate with specificity that a discovery request is unduly burdensome or that the discovery sought is not discoverable under the Federal Rules. Kafele v. Javitch, Block, Eisen & Rathbone, No. 2:03-cv-638, 2005 WL 5095186, at *2 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 20, 2005) (“As a general rule, ‘[a]ll grounds for an objection . . . shall be stated with specificity.’ . . . The mere statement by a party that an interrogatory or request for production is overly broad, burdensome, oppressive and irrelevant is not adequate to voice a successful objection.”) (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 33(b)(4)). See also Kline v. Mortgage Elec. Sec. Sys., No. 3:08-cv-408, 2014 WL 5460575, at *3 (S.D. Ohio Oct. 27, 2014) (same); In re Heparin Prods. Liab. Litig., 273 F.R.D. 399, 410-11 (N.D. Ohio 2011) (same); and Groupwell Int’l (HK) Ltd. v. Gourmet Exp., LLC, 277 F.R.D. 348, 360 (W.D. Ky. 2011) (same). Although these decisions predate the

December 1, 2015 amendment of Rule 26(b)(1), nothing in the amended Rule indicates that the allocation of burdens under the Rule has been altered. Courts continue to hold that the party who files a motion to compel discovery “bears the burden of demonstrating relevance.” Albritton, 2016 WL 3580790, at *3. A party may move for an order compelling disclosure of discovery on notice to other parties under Fed. R. Civ. P. 37.

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Related

Samuel R. Mellon v. Cooper-Jarrett, Inc.
424 F.2d 499 (Sixth Circuit, 1970)
David McDermott v. Continental Airlines, Inc.
339 F. App'x 552 (Sixth Circuit, 2009)
Bush v. Dictaphone Corp.
161 F.3d 363 (Sixth Circuit, 1998)
Allen v. Howmedica Leibinger
190 F.R.D. 518 (W.D. Tennessee, 1999)
Anderson v. Dillard's, Inc.
251 F.R.D. 307 (W.D. Tennessee, 2008)
In re Heparin Products Liability Litigation
273 F.R.D. 399 (N.D. Ohio, 2011)
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97 F.4th 351 (Sixth Circuit, 2024)

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Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters' Defined Contribution Pension Fund v. Tri State Interior Finishes, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/indianakentuckyohio-regional-council-of-carpenters-defined-contribution-ohsd-2024.