Johnson v. Kraft Foods North America, Inc.

236 F.R.D. 535, 65 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 196, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40923, 2006 WL 1675942
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJune 16, 2006
DocketNo. 05-2093-JWL-DJW
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 236 F.R.D. 535 (Johnson v. Kraft Foods North America, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. Kraft Foods North America, Inc., 236 F.R.D. 535, 65 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 196, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40923, 2006 WL 1675942 (D. Kan. 2006).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

WAXSE, United States Magistrate Judge.

Pending before the Court is Defendants’ Motion to Compel (doe. 54) additional infor[538]*538mation and documents in response to Defendants’ first written discovery requests. To that end, Defendants frame the disputed issues as follows:

• Plaintiff asserts “general objections” in such a way that makes it impossible for Defendants to determine which of the “general objections” apply to a particular request or interrogatory, as opposed to those which are merely hypothetical;
• Plaintiff fails or refuses to produce requested tax returns;
• Plaintiffs production of documents makes it impossible to determine which documents are responsive to particular requests and interrogatories;
• Plaintiff unilaterally, and without explanation, limits his production to documents he has deems are “relevant”;
• Plaintiffs answers to certain interrogatories are non-responsive; and
• Plaintiff has not properly identified documents produced in response to interrogatories as required by Fed.R.Civ.P. 33(d).

As set forth more fully below, Defendants’ Motion will be granted in part and denied in part.

A. General Objections

Plaintiffs responses to Defendants’ First Interrogatories and First Request for Production of Documents include at least twelve separate “general objections,” which purport to object to each discovery request propounded “to the extent” that the request calls for various categories of information. More specifically, Plaintiff maintains that the general objections apply to each and every discovery request and are incorporated by reference thereto.

This Court has on several occasions “disapproved [of] the practice of asserting a general objection ‘to the extent’ it may apply to particular requests for discovery.”1 The Court has characterized these types of objections as “worthless for anything beyond delay of the discovery.”2 Such objections are considered mere “hypothetical or contingent possibilities,” where the objecting party makes “ ‘no meaningful effort to show the application of any such theoretical objection’ to any request for discovery.”3 Thus, this Court has deemed such “ostensible” objections waived or declined to consider them as objections at all.4

The Court agrees with these cases and holds that a general objection which objects to a discovery request “to the extent” that it asks the responding party to provide certain categories of documents or information is tantamount to asserting no objection at all. In other words, such a general objection does not preserve the asserted challenge to production. In coming to this conclusion, the Court considers Plaintiffs reliance on Cardenas v. Dorel Juvenile Group, Inc.5 to support his proposition that general objections — if properly clarified and substantiated — are considered potentially valid objections. Plaintiffs reliance on Cardenas, however, is misplaced. In Cardenas, the Court considered the validity of the general objections on the merits because the general objections did not seek to abstractly challenge the requests “to the extent” that [539]*539such requests called for a certain category of information or documents.6 In fact, the Cardenas court specifically distinguished Sonnino and Swackham/mer, noting that in those cases, the parties inappropriately used the phrase “to the extent that” in their general objections. In so distinguishing, the Cardenas court explicitly acknowledged that “such objections are based on ‘mere hypothetical or contingent possibilities, where the objecting party makes no meaningful effort to show the application of any such theoretical objection to any request for discovery.’ ”7

Based on this discussion, the Court deems Plaintiffs “general objections” waived and will order Plaintiff to answer each interrogatory, and respond to each request for production, without consideration of his purported “general objections.”

B. Plaintiff’s Tax Returns

Defendants’ Request 28 seeks “All federal, state, and local income tax returns, and any schedules or documents submitted therewith, including, but not limited to Forms W-2 and 1099, whether filed jointly or separately, by, or on behalf of Plaintiff, for the years 2002 through the present.” In addition, Request 28 requests Plaintiff “execute the attached release allowing Defendants] to obtain records regarding the same.”

In response to this request, Plaintiff states he will produce relevant, non-privileged responsive documents but will not execute the release as requested. Plaintiff subsequently did produce his tax returns for the years 1999-2004, but he redacted information that he believed to be unrelated to his earned income, such as the income of his wife, her social security number, information on dependents, and deductions. Defendants allege Plaintiff should not have redacted any information from his tax returns because (i) he failed to properly preserve any objections that might have allowed him to do so; and (ii) he failed to show that the information requested is readily obtainable from other sources.

Although, as a general rule, courts do not favor compelling production of tax returns, no absolute privilege exists preventing their discovery.8 To that end, this district has developed a two-pronged test to assure a balance between the liberal scope of discovery and the policy favoring the confidentiality of tax returns.9 “First, the court must find that the returns are relevant to the subject matter of the action. Second, the court must find that there is a compelling need for the returns because the information contained therein is not otherwise readily obtainable.”10 “The party seeking production has the burden of showing relevancy, and once that burden is met, the burden shifts to the party opposing production to show that other sources exist from which the information is readily obtainable.”11

To the extent the tax return in this case reveals Plaintiffs income, Defendants have satisfied the first prong of the test by showing Plaintiffs return is relevant to the issue of damages. Plaintiff claims economic losses. He seeks back and front pay. He has put his income at issue.

And, as to the second prong of the test, the Court finds Plaintiff has failed to provide sufficient evidence to establish that the information found in the returns is readily available from other sources. Therefore, the Court will order Plaintiff to produce tax returns consistent with Defendants’ Request for Production of Documents 28. Plaintiff shall be prohibited from redacting any information evidencing his income, from any source, active or passive, before and after his separation of employment.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
236 F.R.D. 535, 65 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 196, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40923, 2006 WL 1675942, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-kraft-foods-north-america-inc-ksd-2006.