Langenfeld v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc.

299 F.R.D. 547, 22 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1052, 2014 WL 1909448, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65580, 122 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1772
District Court, S.D. Ohio·Decided May 13, 2014·No. No. 2:13-cv-469·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

GREGORY L. FROST, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court for consideration of Defendant Armstrong World Industries, Inc.’s objections to the Magistrate Judge’s April 8, 2014 Order (ECF No. 43) and memorandum in support of those objections (ECF No. 44), as well as Plaintiff Karen Langenfeld’s response in opposition (ECF No. 46). For the reasons that follow, the Court SUSTAINS the objections (ECF Nos. 43 & 44), SETS ASIDE the Magistrate Judge’s April 8, 2014 Order (ECF No. 40), and GRANTS Defendant’s motion to compel production of medical information (ECF No. 31).

I. BACKGROUND

This case involves Defendant’s alleged violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act [549]*549(“FMLA”) (29 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq.), Title VII (42 U.S.C. § 2000e-2), and Ohio’s equal employment statute (Ohio Rev.Code § 4112.02). For the alleged FMLA violations, Plaintiff seeks damages for economic losses. For the alleged Title VII and § 4112.02 violations, Plaintiff seeks compensatory damages for both economic and non-economic losses, including damages for pain and suffering.

The present dispute involves the scope of discovery to which Defendant is entitled on the issue of Plaintiffs claimed mental and emotional distress. Defendant propounded the following discovery requests on Plaintiff:

INTERROGATORY NO. 6

Does Plaintiff claim that she suffered or incurred any physical, mental, emotional, or psychological injuries, conditions, disabilities, or symptoms as a result of her employment with Defendant, the cessation of that employment or any actions allegedly taken by Defendant? If so, for each physical, mental, emotional, or psychological injury, condition, disability, or symptom that Plaintiff contends was caused, exacerbated, or contributed to by her employment with Defendant, the cessation of that employment or any actions allegedly taken by Defendant, please identify:

(a) the nature of the injury, condition, disability, or symptom;
(b) the incident, event, or action allegedly causing the injury, condition, disability, or symptom;
(e) the name, mailing address, and telephone number for any doctor or medical provider with whom Plaintiff consulted or is currently consulting for the injury, condition, disability, or symptom, and the date(s) of such consultation; and
(d) any diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, or medication Plaintiff has received as a result of the injury, condition, disability, or symptom.

INTERROGATORY NO. 7

Has Plaintiff ever been a patient of, consulted with, or been treated by any medical professionals, nurses, therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, or other health care providers in the past ten (10) years? If so, for each state:

(a) the name, address, and telephone numbers; and
(b) the approximate date and reason for the consultation, treatment, or visit.

(ECF No. 32-1, at 8-9.)

Defendant also served Plaintiff with requests for production seeking any documents that support, reference, or relate to her claim for non-economic damages. {Id. at 27-35.) In conjunction with those requests, Defendant requested that Plaintiff execute releases to allow it to obtain medical records directly from her medical providers. (ECF No. 32-2.)

Plaintiff responded to the above-referenced Interrogatories by objecting on several grounds. (ECF No. 32-4, at 3.) Plaintiff answered that she “alleges that Defendant’s conduct caused her garden variety pain and suffering and emotional distress, for which she has not received treatment from any doctor or medical provider.” {Id.) Plaintiff refused to produce any medical records or execute the medical releases.

Defendant filed a motion to compel, arguing that Plaintiffs medical information is discoverable under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26. (ECF Nos. 31 & 32.) Plaintiff responded that her medical information is irrelevant to the present lawsuit and is privileged from disclosure. (ECF No. 37.) Plaintiff claims that, by seeking only “garden variety” emotional distress damages, she did not put her mental state at issue so as to waive any privilege applicable to her medical records. Plaintiff also asserts that, even if her medical records are discoverable, she should be permitted to request those records and produce them to Defendant, rather than sign the releases. On this latter point, Defendant argues that signing releases is the most efficient way to produce medical records, and that Plaintiff should be compelled to produce all such records subject to the Agreed Protective Order entered on September 23, 2013. (ECF No. 39 (Defendant’s reply); ECF No. 21 (Agreed Protective Order).)

[550]*550The Magistrate Judge denied Defendant’s motion to compel. In his April 8, 2014 Order, the Magistrate Judge held that the federal psychotherapist-patient privilege protects Plaintiffs medical records from disclosure. (ECF No. 40.) The Magistrate Judge acknowledged that some courts have adopted a broad approach to waiver and held that any allegation of emotional distress waives the privilege; however, he elected to follow a line of eases in which courts took a more narrow approach, holding that a plaintiff claiming emotional distress only places his/her medical condition in controversy and waives the privilege in certain circumstances. The Magistrate Judge concluded that Plaintiff did not place her medical condition at issue so as to waive the psychotherapist-patient privilege in this case.

Defendant timely objected to the Magistrate Judge’s Order pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(a). The Court now considers those objections.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Under Rule 72(a), a party may object to a magistrate judge’s order on nondispositive matters. The district judge must consider those objections and “modify or set aside any part of the order that is clearly erroneous or is contrary to law.” Fed. R.Civ.P. 72(a). “Review under Rule 72(a) provides ‘considerable deference to the determinations of magistrates.’ ” In re Search Warrants Issued Aug. 29, 199k, 889 F.Supp. 296, 298 (S.D.Ohio 1995) (quoting 7 Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 72.03).

III. ANALYSIS

Rule 26 governs discovery in federal courts. Pursuant to Rule 26, “parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party’s claim or defense.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 26(b)(1). The parties dispute whether Plaintiffs medical information is discoverable in this case.

A. Interrogatory No. 6

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Langenfeld v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc., 299 F.R.D. 547, 22 Wage & Hour Cas.2d (BNA) 1052, 2014 WL 1909448, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65580, 122 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1772 (S.D. Ohio 2014).

299 F.R.D. 547 (Langenfeld v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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