Jones v. Goldstein

41 F.R.D. 271, 10 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 836, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10662
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedDecember 6, 1966
DocketCiv. No. 17267
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 41 F.R.D. 271 (Jones v. Goldstein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. Goldstein, 41 F.R.D. 271, 10 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 836, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10662 (D. Md. 1966).

Opinion

FRANK A. KAUFMAN, District Judge.

I.

At a pre-trial conference on November 22,1966, counsel for the parties informally presented to the Court their opposing positions with regard to certain matters relating to discovery in this case, and requested the Court to determine the questions presented without any further proceedings. The Court will do so pursuant to Local Rule 7.

II.

The complaint alleges that the defendant Goldstein, acting within the scope of his employment with the defendant A & H Transportation, Inc., filed a complaint and caused to be issued a warrant for the arrest of one “William Warren Jones”; that said complaint charged the criminal offense of not returning a motor vehicle at the termination of the period for which it was rented; that the warrant was forwarded to Virginia along with a physical description of “William Warren Jones”; that when a Virginia officer attempted to serve this plaintiff (“William Woody Jones”) he observed that the plaintiff’s description did not correspond to the description accompanying the warrant; that the warrant was returned to the Maryland authorities with a photograph and description of the plaintiff; that upon receipt of this information from the Maryland authorities and without undertaking any further efforts to establish the identity of the true culprit, the defendant Goldstein maliciously and wrongfully filed a second complaint alleging the same offense and changing the name and physical description to match that of the plaintiff; that plaintiff was subsequently arrested and detained; and that the charge against the plaintiff was later dismissed in criminal proceedings. Both defendants have answered, denying most of these allega[273]*273tions and setting forth three affirmative defenses.

III.

Plaintiff has served interrogatories on each of the defendants. The defendants have each refused to respond to certain of the questions propounded. Plaintiff has moved to compel answers to those questions.

A. Plaintiff’s Interrogatory No. 2 addressed to each of the two defendants:

2. Set forth the facts upon which you base your sixth defense that plaintiff’s declaration does not state a cause of action or claim upon which relief can be granted, setting forth the facts as you understand them to be, whereby plaintiff’s declaration is deficient as set forth in your sixth defense.

The plaintiff’s motion to'compel an answer is hereby denied as it relates to each of the two defendants.

The defendants’ Sixth Defense reads as follows:

1. For an affirmative defense, the Defendants allege that neither the Declaration, as a whole, nor any of the said five (5) Counts in the said Declaration heretofore filed by the Plaintiff, states a cause of action or claim upon which the relief asked for by the said Plaintiff can be granted.

Federal Rule 12(b) (6) provides, in part, that “every defense, in law or fact, to a claim for relief in any pleading, * * *, shall be asserted in the responsive pleading thereto if one is required, except that the following defenses may at the option of the pleader be made by motion: * * *, (6) failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, * *

“The motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b) (6) performs substantially the same function as the old common law general demurrer.” 2 MOORE, FEDERAL PRACTICE J[ 12.08, at 2244 (1965).

Defendants’ Sixth Defense would seem to raise legal issues only. Plaintiff’s Interrogatory No. 2 would require the defendant to state its legal positions with regard to the entire case. Such an inquiry is too broad.

B. Plaintiff’s Interrogatory No. 3 addressed to each of the two defendants:

3. Regarding the occurrences set forth in the plaintiff’s declaration, give a concise statement of the facts as to how you contend that the occurrences took place, setting forth what knowledge you have as to how arrest warrants were issued for plaintiff.

The plaintiff’s motion to compel an answer is hereby denied as it relates to both of the two defendants without prejudice to plaintiff to rephrase the question. As drawn, the plaintiff’s aforegoing interrogatory is too broad. Defendants can only “be required to answer interrogatories as to [their] position on specific points.” Buining v. The Transporter, 171 F.Supp. 127, 135 (D.Md.1959) (Interrogatory No. 28).

C. Plaintiff’s Interrogatory No. 4 addressed to the defendant A & H Transportation, Inc.:

4. If you contend that a person not a party to this action acted in such a manner as to cause or contribute to the occurrences set forth in plaintiff’s declaration, give a concise statement of the facts upon which you rely.

The plaintiff’s motion to compel an answer is hereby granted as it relates to the defendant A & H Transportation, Inc. A party may be required factually to particularize allegations made in his pleadings. May v. Baltimore & Ohio R. R. Co., 17 F.R.D. 288, 290 (D.Md. 1955). In Baltimore Transit Co. v. Mezzanotti, 227 Md. 8, 17-19, 174 A.2d 768, 773-774 (1961), the wording of Interrogatory “d” is almost identical with the wording of Interrogatory No. 4 herein. Further, the language of the applicable Maryland Rule set forth in the Mezzanotti case at 227 Md. 8, 12 n. 1, 174 A.2d [274]*274768, 770 n. 1, is similar to that of Federal Rule 26(b). Although the defense which is the subject matter of this interrogatory is not in specific terms raised in defendants’ answer to the complaint, it may fairly be read into the Seventh Defense wherein the defendants assert that they did not commit the torts alleged by the plaintiff.

D. Plaintiff’s Interrogatory No. 9 addressed to the defendant A & H Transportation, Inc.:

9. Are the officers and directors of your corporation, officers and directors of any other corporations. If the answer to this question is in the affirmative, state which officers and directors are officers and directors of any other corporations.

The motion to compel an answer is hereby denied. The interrogatory as drafted solicits material which would not seem to be relevant to plaintiff’s cause of action. Conceding that the requirement of relevancy is to be liberally construed in connection with discovery under the Federal Rules, nevertheless the Court does not believe that Rule 33 provides litigants with carte blanche to pry into all of the affairs of a party opponent. Some connection between the answer sought to be elicited and the nature of the litigation must appear. Should the plaintiff wish to determine whether the defendant Goldstein acted, with regard to the subject matter of the allegations in this case, as the agent or servant of a corporation in addition to or other than the defendant A & H Transportation, Inc., he is hereby granted leave to propound an interrogatory to either or both defendants which directs itself with sufficient specificity to such matter.

IV.

Neither of the defendants signed their respective answers to the interrogatories served upon them.

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Bluebook (online)
41 F.R.D. 271, 10 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 836, 1966 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10662, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-goldstein-mdd-1966.