Lucas v. GC Servs. L.P.

226 F.R.D. 328, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27597, 2004 WL 3201649
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedNovember 3, 2004
DocketNo. 2:03 CV 498
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 226 F.R.D. 328 (Lucas v. GC Servs. L.P.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lucas v. GC Servs. L.P., 226 F.R.D. 328, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27597, 2004 WL 3201649 (N.D. Ind. 2004).

Opinion

ORDER

RODOVICH, United States Magistrate Judge.

This matter is before the court on the Renewed Motion to Compel filed by the [329]*329plaintiffs, Paul and Ruby Lucas, on September 22, 2004; the Cross-Motion to Stay Discovery filed by the defendants, GC Services, DLS Enterprises, and GC Financial Corporation, on October 5, 2004; the Motion to Add Supplemental Authority to Motion to Dismiss filed by the defendants on September 17, 2004; the Motion to Add Supplemental Authority to Certain Motions Pending filed by the defendants on October 19, 2004; and the Motion for Leave to File Additional Authority in Support of Opposition to Dismiss and Opposition to Strike the Expert Opinion of Dr. Timothy Shanahan filed by the plaintiffs on October 25, 2004. For the reasons set forth below, the motion to compel is GRANTED, the motion to stay is DENIED, the motion to add supplemental authority filed on September 17, 2004 is GRANTED, the motion to add supplemental authority filed on October 19, 2004 is DENIED, and the motion to add additional authority filed on October 25, 2004 is GRANTED.

Background

This discovery dispute arises from a suit filed by Paul and Ruby Lucas on November 19, 2003, alleging that a dunning letter sent to them by the defendant, GC Services, violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”). Defendants DLS Enterprises and GC Financial Corporation are the general partners of GC Services (collectively called “GCS”).

On January 30, 2004, the plaintiffs filed their first motion for Class Certification, which the plaintiffs renewed by permission of the court on August 20, 2004. On February 25, 2004, the plaintiffs served discovery on the defendants in the form of requests for admissions, interrogatories, and requests for production of documents. The majority of this discovery was relevant to the issue of class certification. On April 21, 2004, the defendants responded to the plaintiffs’ discovery. These responses are the subject of the current motion to compel.

On June 10, 2004, the plaintiffs filed their first motion to compel seeking to compel the defendants to answer their discovery more completely. On June 24, 2004, the defendants filed a crossmotion to compel because the plaintiffs did not sign their responses to the discovery propounded by the defendants. On August 6, 2004, this court denied both motions to compel without prejudice because neither party filed a certification pursuant to Local Rule 37.1.

On September 2, 2004, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ amended complaint for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). On September 22, 2004, the plaintiffs renewed their June motion to compel because the defendants still had not corrected their deficient discovery responses. The renewed motion contained an affidavit from the plaintiffs’ attorney, Alexander H. Burke, stating that the parties attempted to confer on September 20, 2004. Attorney Burke stated that the defendants’ position was that the plaintiffs’ original discovery was rendered moot by this court’s Order of August 6, 2004, and that the plaintiffs must propound new discovery requests. Finally, on October 5, 2004, the defendants filed a motion to stay discovery until after the court ruled on the defendants’ motion to dismiss. The discovery deadline for this case is January 31,2005.

Discussion

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(a)(2)(A) states that “[i]f a party fails to make a disclosure required by Rule 26(a), any other party may move to compel disclosure and for appropriate sanctions,” provided that the movant certifies that it first attempted to confer with the side not making disclosure. Rule 37(a)(3) states that “an evasive or incomplete disclosure, answer, or response is to be treated as a failure to disclose, answer, or respond.” Finally, Rule 37(c)(1) states that a party who fails to disclose, provides false or misleading disclosure, or refuses to admit information required by Rule 26(a) without “substantial justification” may be sanctioned unless such failure was “harmless.” See Musser v. Gentiva Health Services, 356 F.3d 751, 755 (7th Cir.2004); Salgado v. General Motors Corp., 150 F.3d 735, 742 (7th Cir. 1998). The trial court has broad discretion to determine whether a violation is justified [330]*330or harmless. See David v. Caterpillar, Inc., 324 F.3d 851, 857 (7th Cir.2003).

Under Rule 37(c), the trial court may impose sanctions which include the payment of attorney’s fees, designating certain facts as established, preventing the disobedient party from supporting or opposing designated claims or defenses or “introducing designated matters in evidence,” and striking pleadings. See Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(b)(2)(A)-(C); Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(c)(1). However, the sanctions chosen by the court must be such that “a reasonable jurist, apprised of all the circumstances, would have chosen as proportionate to the infraction.” Salgado, 150 F.3d at 740; In re Golant, 239 F.3d 931, 937 (7th Cir.2001). Although the court “need not make explicit findings concerning the existence of a substantial justification or the harmlessness of a failure to disclose,” the court may consider the “bad faith or willfulness involved in not disclosing the evidence at an earlier date.” David, 324 F.3d at 857.

In this instance, the GCS’s discovery responses were egregiously evasive and incomplete. Within their responses to the plaintiffs’ requests for admissions, GCS objected to Request No. 2 to admit the designation “867-01” was a “form number” because the term “form number” was vague and ambiguous. Despite the plaintiffs attaching photocopies of the letters GCS sent to the plaintiffs and inviting GCS to review the originals at its convenience, GCS denied Requests Nos. 3-8 to admit the number of persons to whom those form letters were sent on the grounds that the exhibits did not “accurately reflect the font print on the letters sent by GCS.” GCS refused to answer Requests No. 9-11 regarding the “defendant’s” net worth on the basis that the term “defendant” was vague and ambiguous, and then stated that it would be willing to provide this information if a class is certified.

Turning to the defendants’ answers to interrogatories, the defendants stated that they could not determine who authorized, approved, or was aware of the form letter sent to the plaintiffs because it was developed over a substantial period of time.

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226 F.R.D. 328, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27597, 2004 WL 3201649, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lucas-v-gc-servs-lp-innd-2004.