Ivins v. Corrections Corp.

291 F.R.D. 517, 2013 WL 3894000, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105039
CourtDistrict Court, D. Montana
DecidedJuly 26, 2013
DocketNo. CV-12-103-BLG-SEH-CSO
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 291 F.R.D. 517 (Ivins v. Corrections Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Montana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ivins v. Corrections Corp., 291 F.R.D. 517, 2013 WL 3894000, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105039 (D. Mont. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER ADDRESSING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO COMPEL

CAROLYN S. OSTBY, United States Magistrate Judge.

Plaintiff Christopher Ivins (“Ivins”) states two claims against Corrections Corporation of America (“CCA”): (1) wrongful discharge from employment; and (2) defamation/blacklisting. ECF 1-1 (Complaint) at 3-4.1 Now [519]*519pending is Ivins’ Motion to Compel Discovery (ECF 25, 26), which CCA opposes (ECF 27).

I. BACKGROUND

Ivins alleges that he was hired by CCA in March 2004 and that he was named Assistant Warden at the Crossroads Correctional Center (“Crossroads”) near Shelby, Montana, in August 2008. ECF 5 at 2. While performing his duties as Assistant Warden, he “experienced some resistance from key staff members” but the response from CCA was that Ivins should simply focus on his own job. Id. On January 26, 2011, he was called into a meeting with his superiors and served with a “Problem Solving/Diseiplinary Notice.” Id. at 2-3. On March 7, 2011, he was terminated from employment at Crossroads.

Alleging a wrongful discharge claim under MCA § 39-2-904, Ivins states that the termination was wrongful, not for good cause, and in violation of CCA’s own written policies and procedures. ECF 5 at 3-U. Alleging a defamation/blacklisting claim under MCA §§ 39-2-802 and 803, Ivins states, on information and belief, that false and harmful information concerning his performance at Crossroads was disseminated to the public and within the corrections community. ECF 5 at J. CCA denies these claims and asserts various affirmative defenses. ECF 6.

Ivins served written discovery requests upon CCA. CCA responded to Ivins’ First Combined Discovery Requests on December 5, 2012 (ECF 26 at 37-69), and to Ivins’ Second Discovery Requests on April 19, 2013 (ECF 71-88). Ivins contends that CCA failed to provide complete responses to seven requests for production: Requests 1, 2, 13, 14,16,17, and 20.

CCA’s primary objections to these seven discovery requests focus on two principal issues. First, CCA objected to requests that it contends seek documents protected by the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrines. CCA prepared a privilege log identifying the documents withheld. See ECF 26 at 90-92. Second, CCA objected to requests seeking records pertaining to Crossroads employees Cecily Simons and Kari Kinyon contending that the records are neither relevant nor reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence and are protected from disclosure by the Montana Constitution Art. II, Sec. 10, right of privacy.

II. LEGAL STANDARD FOR MOTIONS TO COMPEL

A party may move to compel discovery responses when the party disagrees with the objections interposed by the other party and wants to compel more complete answers. See Moreno Rivera v. DHL Global Forwarding, 272 F.R.D. 50 (D.P.R.2011). The Court has broad discretion to manage discovery. Hunt v. County of Orange, 672 F.3d 606, 616 (9th Cir.2012) (citation omitted); Jeff D. v. Otter, 643 F.3d 278, 289 (9th Cir.2011) (citing Little v. City of Seattle, 863 F.2d 681, 685 (9th Cir.1988)).

If no claim of privilege applies, the production of evidence can be compelled regarding any matter that is “relevant to any party’s claim or defense----” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1). The Court can limit discovery requests if it finds that “the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit, taking into account the needs of the case, the amount in controversy, the parties’ resources, the importance of the issues at stake in the litigation, and the importance of the proposed discovery in resolving the issues.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(2)(C)(iii).

A party must state objections with specificity. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 33(b)(4); 34(b)(2)(B) and (C). This Court’s Local Rules also require specific reasons for discovery objections. Local Rules 26.3(a)(2)-(3) require that an objection “must be followed by a statement of reasons.” Just stating the bare objection is not sufficient to preserve the objection. See also Covad Communications Co. v. Revonet, Inc., 258 F.R.D. 17, 19 (D.D.C.2009) (answers to discovery must be “true, explicit, responsive, complete, and candid”).

The burden lies on the objecting party to show that a discovery request is improper. Where a party’s objections are themselves vague and impermissibly over-broad, and no specifies are given, the objecting party fails to carry its burden. See McLeod, Alexander, Powel & Apffel, P.C. v. Quarles, 894 F.2d 1482, 1485 (5th Cir.1990) [520]*520(holding that the party resisting discovery must show specifically how each discovery request is not relevant or how each question is overly broad, burdensome, or oppressive); Contratto v. Ethicon, Inc., 227 F.R.D. 304, 308-09 (N.D.Cal.2005) (finding declaration of counsel insufficient to warrant protection of documents). Even when the required showing is not made, however, the Court still has the obligation to review the discovery requests to ensure that they are non-frivolous requests. Moreno Rivera, 272 F.R.D. at 57.

III. DISCUSSION

A. Records Regarding Other Crossroads Employees

The discovery requests at issue here are Requests for Production Nos. 13, 14, 16, and 17. With respect to Crossroads’ Business Manager Cecily Simons, Ivins’ requests for production and CCA’s responses are as follows:

Request for Production No. 13: Please produce any and all portions of Cecily Si-mons’ personnel file pertaining to: performance, training, any CCA investigation, complaints by and against Ms. Simons, applications for positions at CCA, promotions, any and all disciplinary actions and any and all communications between CCA and Ms. Simons that do not involve private medical or family matters.
Response: Objection. The information sought is overly broad, unduly burdensome, irrelevant and not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. Moreover, the information requested, even if it were relevant or reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence is protected from disclosure by the Montana Constitution Art. II, See. 10’s right of privacy. See State v. Burns, [253 Mont. 37,] 830 P.2d 1318 (Mont.1992); Montana Human Rights Div. v. City of Billings, [199 Mont. 434,] 649 P.2d 1283 (Mont.1982).

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291 F.R.D. 517, 2013 WL 3894000, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105039, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ivins-v-corrections-corp-mtd-2013.